The Supervisor Under NEC4

The NEC4 Supervisor has essentially the same job as under NEC3, but most of its clause numbers have moved up by one. NEC4 adds clause 40 on quality management at the start of the section, and this shifts everything after it.

If you have come from NEC3, the risk is in your templates and habits, not in the duties. A search instruction citing 42.1, or a certificate citing 43.3, is an NEC3 reference. For the role itself, read the NEC Supervisor guide; this page covers what is specific to the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC).

The renumbering

Subject	NEC3 ECC	NEC4 ECC
Which tests and inspections apply	40.1	41.1
Materials, facilities and samples	40.2	41.2
Notifying tests and results; watching the Contractor's tests	40.3	41.3
Correct and repeat after a failed test	40.4	41.4
Avoiding unnecessary delay	40.5	41.5
Cost of a repeat test, assessed by the Project Manager	40.6	41.6
Testing before delivery	41.1	42.1
Instructing a search	42.1	43.1
Notifying Defects	42.2	43.2
Correcting a notified Defect	43.2	44.2
Defects Certificate	43.3	44.3
Accepting a Defect	44.2	45.2
Uncorrected Defects	45.1, 45.2	46.1, 46.2

The compensation events that depend on the Supervisor keep their numbers in clause 60.1: events (6), (8), (10) and (11).

What is new around the Supervisor

Clause 40: quality management

The Contractor must run a quality management system that meets the Scope, and provide a quality policy statement and quality plan within the period in the Contract Data. The Project Manager, not the Supervisor, can instruct the Contractor to correct a failure to follow the plan (40.3). That instruction isn't a compensation event. The Supervisor will often be first to see such a failure, so agree how it reaches the Project Manager. The quality management guide has the detail.

Changed names

The Employer is now the Client, and the Works Information is now the Scope. Replace these in your inspection forms, along with the clause numbers. The NEC4 terminology guide lists the other changes.

Mutual trust

The duty of mutual trust and co-operation now has its own clause, 10.2. It applies to how the Supervisor works with the Contractor, as well as to what it does.

Updating a Supervisor's documents for NEC4

1. Search instruction template: cite 43.1, and keep the requirement to give reasons.
2. Defect notification: cite 43.2. Keep it as a separate communication.
3. Defects Certificate: cite 44.3.
4. Test notice: cite 41.3.
5. Delivery release note: cite 42.1.
6. Delegation letter: still 14.2, naming each resident engineer or inspector and their actions.
7. Quality plan review: add it to your checks. If you find a failure, tell the Project Manager, who may use 40.3.

On a programme with both NEC3 and NEC4 jobs, label each form by edition. Using the wrong clause number is unlikely to invalidate a genuine notification on its own, but it weakens the record and invites an argument you could have avoided.

A quick example

A fictional rail project moves from NEC3 to NEC4 for its next phase. An inspector carries on using an old form, notifying a Defect "under clause 42.2". In NEC4, that number belongs to a different subject. The Contractor corrects the Defect anyway, but when the Project Manager later uses the record to assess an uncorrected Defect under 46.1, the file looks untidy. The fix took ten minutes to make at the start: replace the template and brief the team.

What doesn't change

• The Supervisor is still not a Party.
• It still can't change the Scope. That is 14.3, for the Project Manager.
• Either side still notifies Defects up to the defects date.
• The Client can still replace the Supervisor by notifying the Contractor of the new name (14.4).

Forms without a Supervisor

NEC4 doesn't use a Supervisor everywhere. In the Term Service Contract, the Service Manager does these jobs, and the Professional Service Contract has none. In the Engineering and Construction Subcontract, the Contractor does the Supervisor's part. Check the form before you reuse anything. For the full move between editions, see moving from NEC3 to NEC4, and for the list of roles, NEC roles.

Related guides

• NEC Roles: Who Does What on an NEC Contract
• The Contractor's Duties Under NEC
• The Client's Role Under NEC
• The Service Manager
• NEC Project Manager Responsibilities Checklist
• The NEC Supervisor

This guide is general information in our own words, not legal advice. Your contract and its Contract Data always govern. NEC, NEC3 and NEC4 are trade marks of Thomas Telford Ltd; Contract Status is not affiliated with or endorsed by NEC.