It depends which float. If a compensation event used float before planned Completion, you generally get no extra time for it, though you can still get paid for the cost. If it reached the gap between planned Completion and the Completion Date, that terminal float is protected, because the Completion Date moves with planned Completion.
The test is at clause 63.5 of the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) and 63.3 in NEC3. Nothing in the contract names an owner for float; the answer comes out of how delay is measured. The guide to float under NEC has the background, and more situations like this are in NEC questions answered.
Do this first: the eight weeks are running
- Notify the event even if you think there is no delay. If the Project Manager hasn't notified it, you have eight weeks from becoming aware of it under clause 61.3. An instruction changing the Scope should be notified by the Project Manager under 61.1, and isn't caught by the same bar, but there is no gain in relying on that.
- Save the programme file. Keep the native file of whichever Accepted Programme applied at the dividing date, with float values visible on the affected path.
- Run the event through it. Add the changed work and see what happens to planned Completion and to any planned Key Date.
- Price the cost separately from the time. See below.
- Quote within three weeks of being instructed to (62.3). The quotation has to show any programme alterations too (62.2).
A worked example: three different results
A fictional depot extension with illustrative figures. Planned Completion is week 50 and the Completion Date is week 53, so terminal float is three weeks. The Project Manager instructs extra work adding four weeks to a drainage activity.
| Float on that path before the event | Planned Completion moves to | Completion Date moves to | Terminal float afterwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 weeks | Week 50 | Week 53 (no change) | 3 weeks |
| 3 weeks | Week 51 | Week 54 | 3 weeks |
| Nil (critical) | Week 54 | Week 57 | 3 weeks |
In the first row, you get no time, and four of the six weeks of flexibility on that path are gone. In all three, terminal float survives. That is the deal the contract offers: float inside the programme is available to whichever event gets there first, and the gap at the end is yours.
What you can still recover
| Item | Recoverable? |
|---|---|
| Defined Cost of the extra work, plus Fee | Yes, even with no delay |
| Crews or plant kept on longer because the activity grew | Yes, if the forecast shows they are really needed |
| Resequencing inside the float | Yes, if it changes Defined Cost |
| Risk allowances for matters with a significant chance of occurring (63.8 in NEC4; a similar rule in NEC3) | Yes, in the forecast, if justified. If the event leaves a once-spare path tight, say what risk that creates |
| The float itself, as a separate priced item | No. The contract has no such payment |
Assessing compensation events covers how the forecast is built.
What the Project Manager is likely to say
- "It's on float, so it isn't a compensation event." That is wrong. Whether it is an event depends on 60.1, not on the delay. Being on float only affects the time part of the answer.
- "Your float was already gone before this." That can help you, if the programme shows it. It can also hurt, if float vanished in a revision just before the event without a clear reason. Expect a question.
- "You've got terminal float, use that." Delay isn't measured against the Completion Date, so this doesn't follow. Terminal float explains why.
Practical points outside the contract wording
Keep revised programmes current, because the float you are assessed on is the float the programme showed at the time. Show time risk allowances properly as well, since they are planned time and aren't spare. And read your Z clauses before quoting: some amendments reallocate float or change the delay test, which would override all of the above.
Related guides
- NEC Questions Answered: Real Situations on Site
- We Missed a Key Date: What Does It Cost?
- The PM Says We Have Not Reached Completion: Who Decides?
- The Client Moved In Before Completion: What Happens?
- The Contractor Has Stopped Updating the Programme
- The Contractor Has Not Submitted a First Programme
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