NEC4 PSC clause index
126 references from the NEC4 Professional Service Contract, grouped by topic. These are our own plain words, not the contract's wording, so keep your own copy to hand.
General rules and communications
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 13.1 | Every communication the contract calls for has to be readable, and possible to copy and keep on record. Guide |
| 13.3 | Where the contract asks for an answer, it is given within the period for reply unless the contract says otherwise. Guide |
| 13.4 | The Service Manager answers anything sent for acceptance: it accepts it, or explains why not (more information being needed is one reason) in enough detail for the Consultant to put it right and send it again. Guide |
| 13.5 | The period for reply to a communication can be extended only if both agree before the reply is due. Guide |
| X9.1 | (Option X9) The Client owns the rights in material the Consultant prepares (unless the Scope says otherwise); the Consultant hands over the documents that transfer them Guide |
| X11.1 | (Option X11) The Client may end the Consultant's work for a reason the Termination Table does not list; it notifies both the Service Manager and the Consultant Guide |
| X20.2 | (Option X20) The Consultant reports its performance against each Key Performance Indicator, at the intervals in the Contract Data Guide |
| X20.3 | (Option X20) The Consultant proposes how to improve where it forecasts missing a Key Performance Indicator target Guide |
| X29.4 | (Option X29) The Consultant sends its climate change plan for acceptance, and revised plans as the contract requires Guide |
Submissions for acceptance
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 13.4 | More information is needed to judge the submission fully Guide |
| 21.1 | The Consultant proposes someone to replace a key person named in the Contract Data, with their name, relevant qualifications and experience, for acceptance. Guide |
| 21.1 | The proposed person is less qualified or experienced for the job than the key person they replace Guide |
| 23.2 | The Consultant sends the name of each firm it proposes to subcontract work to, for acceptance before it appoints them. Guide |
| 23.2 | Appointing them would stop the Consultant providing the service Guide |
| 23.3 | The Consultant sends the documents it proposes for each subcontract (pricing left out) for acceptance. This is not needed for an NEC form used without changes, or where the Service Manager has agreed to do without it. Guide |
| 23.3 | The documents would stop the Consultant providing the service Guide |
| 23.3 | The documents leave out a statement that the parties will work together in mutual trust and co-operation Guide |
| 40.2 | Within the period in the Contract Data, the Consultant gives the Service Manager its quality policy statement and quality plan for acceptance, and any changed quality plan later. Guide |
| 40.2 | The quality policy statement or quality plan would not let the Consultant provide the service Guide |
| 84.1 | Before the starting date and at each renewal, the Consultant sends certificates, signed by its insurer or broker, showing the insurance the contract requires is in force, for acceptance. Guide |
| 84.1 | The insurance does not meet what the contract requires Guide |
| 84.1 | The insurer is not financially strong enough to carry the insured liabilities Guide |
Instructions
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 14.3 | An instruction altering the Scope or a Key Date Guide |
| 14.3 | An instruction putting right information from the Client that has been found to be wrong Guide |
| 15.2 | An instruction to attend an early warning meeting Guide |
| 16.1 | An instruction saying how an ambiguity or inconsistency between the documents is to be resolved Guide |
| 16.2 | An instruction changing the Scope because it asks for something illegal or impossible Guide |
| 18.1 | An instruction on how to handle an event that prevents the work (prevention) Guide |
| 21.2 | An instruction, with reasons, to remove a person from work on the service Guide |
| 32.2 | An instruction to send a revised programme Guide |
| 34.1 | An instruction to stop work or not to start it Guide |
| 34.1 | An instruction that stopped work may restart or start, or that it is taken out of the Scope Guide |
| 35.1 | An instruction to quote for finishing early (acceleration) Guide |
| 40.3 | An instruction to put right a failure to follow the quality plan Guide |
| 62.1 | An instruction to send alternative quotations for a compensation event Guide |
| 92.2 | An instruction on termination to pass over to the Client the benefit of the Consultant's subcontracts and other contracts for the work Guide |
Early warnings
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 15.1 | A rise in the total of the Prices Guide |
| 15.1 | A delay to Completion Guide |
| 15.1 | A delay in meeting a Key Date Guide |
| 15.1 | The service becoming less useful to the Client Guide |
| 15.1 | An effect on the work of the Client, a contractor of the Client or another consultant Guide |
| 15.1 | A rise in the Consultant's own total cost (a warning the Consultant may give) Guide |
| 15.1 | Either side warns the other as soon as it knows of something that could push up the total of the Prices, or delay Completion or a Key Date, disrupt the work of the Client, a contractor of the Client or another consultant, or make the service less useful to the Client. The Service Manager puts each one on the Early Warning Register. Guide |
| 15.3 | An early warning meeting looks for ways to avoid or reduce the registered matters, agrees who does what about them, and decides which have been dealt with or have passed and can come off the Register. Guide |
| 15.4 | After each early warning meeting the Service Manager updates the Early Warning Register with the decisions taken and sends it to the Consultant, with an instruction for any change to the Scope those decisions need. Guide |
Key Dates
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 22.3 | If a Key Date's Condition is not met in time and the Client has to pay more as a result, the Consultant pays that extra cost, as assessed by the Service Manager. Guide |
| 30.3 | Each Key Date's Condition has to be met by that Key Date; that is the Consultant's responsibility. Guide |
Programme
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 31.1 | Unless the Contract Data already names a programme, the Consultant sends its first programme for the Service Manager to accept, within the period the Contract Data sets. Guide |
| 31.2 | A programme sent for acceptance is in the form the Scope asks for and sets out, among other things: the dates the contract sets (Key Dates and the Completion Date among them) and planned Completion; when, and in what order, the Consultant's work and work by the Client and others will be done; float and time risk allowances; when the Consultant needs access, acceptances, information and things from others; and how each piece of work will be done. Guide |
| 31.3 | The Service Manager answers a programme sent for acceptance within the period allowed, either accepting it or explaining why not. Guide |
| 31.3 | The Service Manager accepts the programme. Guide |
| 31.3 | The Service Manager rejects the programme for one of the reasons the contract allows: its plans are impractical, it leaves out required information, it is unrealistic about the Consultant's plans, or it conflicts with the Scope. Guide |
| 31.3 | If the Service Manager neither accepts nor rejects a programme in time, the Consultant may notify that failure. If there is still no answer in the further time the contract allows, the programme counts as accepted. Guide |
| 32.1 | A revised programme records the progress made and how it affects the rest of the work, the plan for dealing with delays and putting right notified Defects, and any other changes the Consultant wants to make. Guide |
| 32.2 | The Consultant sends a revised programme for acceptance when instructed (within the period for reply), whenever it chooses, and at least as often as the Contract Data requires. Guide |
Defects
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 41.1 | Up to the defects date, each side tells the other of every Defect it finds, straight away. Guide |
| 41.2 | The Consultant puts a notified Defect right in time to keep its effect on the Client and others as small as possible. Guide |
| 41.2 | If the Consultant leaves a notified Defect uncorrected in time, the Service Manager assesses what it costs the Client to have others correct it, and the Consultant pays that. Guide |
Payment
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 50.1 | The amount due is assessed by the Service Manager on each assessment date: the first is set by the Service Manager to suit the contract's procedures, and later ones come round at the interval the Contract Data gives. Guide |
| 50.2 | Before each assessment date the Consultant sends the Service Manager an application for payment, in the form the Scope asks for, setting out the amount it considers due. Guide |
| 50.5 | If the Contract Data names no programme, the Service Manager holds back a quarter of the value of the service provided to date, in each assessment, until the Consultant sends a first programme with all the information the contract requires. Guide |
| 51.1 | After each assessment date the Service Manager certifies the payment, showing how it was assessed, within the time allowed; the Party owed the money then sends an invoice. Guide |
| 51.2 | Each certified sum is paid within the time the contract allows after the invoice and the assessment date; any late payment, including one late because no certificate was issued, carries interest. Guide |
| 51.3 | An amount corrected in a later certificate carries interest. Guide |
| X20.4 | (Option X20) The Consultant is paid the Incentive Schedule amount for meeting or beating a Key Performance Indicator target Guide |
| Y2.2 | (Option Y(UK)2) The contract fixes when each payment (and the final payment) falls due and its final date for payment; the Service Manager's certificate is the payment notice, giving the sum due (which may be nil) and how it was worked out Guide |
| Y2.3 | (Option Y(UK)2) To pay less than the notified sum, a Party gives notice of the sum it considers due, and the basis for it, no later than the prescribed period (seven days) ahead of the final date for payment. Guide |
| Y2.4 | (Option Y(UK)2) On termination for some of the listed reasons, a certified sum still unpaid is paid, unless a pay less notice was given in time Guide |
Final assessment
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 53.1 | The Service Manager assesses the final amount due, and certifies any final payment, within the time the contract allows after the defects date and the correction of the last Defect (or after a termination). Guide |
| 53.2 | If the Service Manager does not make the final assessment in time, the Consultant may send its own assessment of the final amount due, with the details. Guide |
| 53.3 | The final assessment becomes conclusive unless a Party refers a dispute about it within the time the contract allows. Guide |
Termination
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 53.1 | After a termination certificate the final amount due is assessed within the stated time, as the final assessment. Guide |
| 90.1 | To terminate, a Party tells the other Party and the Service Manager, giving its reason. Guide |
| 90.1 | The Service Manager certifies termination promptly when the reason given is one the contract allows. Guide |
| 91.2 | If the Consultant does not put right in time a default the Service Manager notified, the Client may terminate. Guide |
| 91.3 | If the Consultant does not stop in time a default it was told of, the Client may terminate. Guide |
| 91.4 | An amount due left unpaid for the stated weeks after it should have been paid lets the Consultant terminate. Guide |
| 92.1 | What happens on termination: the Client may finish the service, and the other procedures the Termination Table names for the reason. Guide |
| 93.1 | What the amount due on termination is made up of, with the items the Termination Table adds or takes off for the reason. Guide |
Compensation events
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 60.1(1) | The Service Manager changes the Scope by instruction (except one made to accept a Defect, or one changing Scope the Consultant provided, made at its own request or to fit Scope the Client provided) Guide |
| 60.1(2) | The Client does not give access to a person, place or thing when the contract requires Guide |
| 60.1(3) | Something the Client has to provide arrives later than the Accepted Programme shows Guide |
| 60.1(4) | The Service Manager instructs that work stops or does not start, or changes a Key Date Guide |
| 60.1(5) | The Client or Others work outside the times on the Accepted Programme or the conditions in the Scope Guide |
| 60.1(6) | A communication from the Consultant gets no reply from the Service Manager in the time the contract sets Guide |
| 60.1(7) | The Service Manager goes back on a decision already given to the Consultant Guide |
| 60.1(8) | The Service Manager withholds an acceptance for a reason the contract does not give (acceptance of an acceleration quotation, or of a proposal not to correct a Defect, excepted) Guide |
| 60.1(9) | An event that the contract lists among the Client's liabilities Guide |
| 60.1(10) | The Service Manager corrects an assumption it gave about a compensation event Guide |
| 60.1(11) | Any other breach of contract by the Client that no other compensation event covers Guide |
| 60.1(12) | An event neither Party could prevent, so unlikely, as seen at the Contract Date, that an experienced consultant could not reasonably have allowed for it, which stops the Consultant finishing the service (or finishing by the Accepted Programme date) and is not another compensation event Guide |
| 60.1(13) | The Consultant corrects a Defect it is not liable for Guide |
| 60.1(14) | The Service Manager instructs a correction to information provided by the Client Guide |
| 60.1(15) | The Service Manager turns down the Consultant's quotation for a proposed instruction Guide |
| 60.1(16) | An extra compensation event that the Contract Data lists happens Guide |
| 61.1 | When the Service Manager causes an event with an instruction, a notification or a changed decision, it notifies the event as a compensation event at that same time. Guide |
| 61.2 | Along with the notification, the Service Manager asks the Consultant for quotations, unless the event is the Consultant's fault or has no effect on Defined Cost, Completion or a Key Date. Guide |
| 61.3 | The Consultant notifies an event it believes is a compensation event that the Service Manager has not notified. If it is late (outside the time the contract allows), the Prices and dates do not change, unless the event came from an instruction, notification or changed decision of the Service Manager. Guide |
| 61.4 | The Service Manager answers a compensation event the Consultant has notified within the time allowed: either nothing changes, or the Consultant is to send quotations. Guide |
| 61.4 | This is a compensation event, and the Consultant is to send quotations. Guide |
| 61.4 | The Prices and dates stay as they are: the event is the Consultant's fault, or it has not occurred and is not expected to, or it was notified too late, or it does not affect Defined Cost, Completion or a Key Date, or the contract does not list it as a compensation event. Guide |
| 61.4 | If the Service Manager gives no answer, the Consultant may notify that failure. If there is still no answer in the time the contract allows, the event counts as a compensation event and quotations count as instructed. Guide |
| X2.1 | (Option X2) A change in the law that governs the project, taking effect after the Contract Date Guide |
| Y2.5 | (Option Y(UK)2) The Consultant suspends performance as the Construction Act allows Guide |
Replies and assessments
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 61.6 | Where the effects are too uncertain to forecast, the Service Manager sets assumptions for the quotations, and notifies a correction if one turns out wrong. Guide |
| 63.1 | The change to the Prices is worked out from the effect on what the work done before the dividing date actually cost (Defined Cost), what the work after it is forecast to cost, and the resulting Fee. That date is the day of the instruction, notification or changed decision behind the event; for any other event, the day it was notified. Guide |
| 63.5 | The delay to the Completion Date, or to a Key Date, is how much later the event makes planned Completion (or the planned date for meeting that Key Date's Condition) than the Accepted Programme showed, as it stood at the dividing date. Guide |
| 64.1 | The Service Manager makes its own assessment if the Consultant has not quoted in time, has assessed the event wrongly and no revised quotation is asked for, has not sent a programme the contract requires, or its latest programme has not been accepted for a reason the contract gives. Guide |
| 64.3 | The Service Manager gives its assessment, with the details, within the time the Consultant would have had to quote, counted from when the need for it became clear. Guide |
| 64.4 | If the Service Manager does not assess in time, the Consultant may notify that failure. If there is still no answer in the time the contract allows, the Consultant's quotation counts as accepted. Guide |
| 66.1 | A compensation event is implemented once the Service Manager accepts the quotation, notifies its own assessment, or a quotation counts as accepted. Guide |
| 66.3 | Once implemented, a compensation event's assessment stays as it is, except where the contract allows a change. Guide |
Quotations
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 62.2 | Each quotation sets out how much the Prices should change and any delay the event causes to Key Dates and the Completion Date, with the working behind it and any changes the Accepted Programme needs. Guide |
| 62.3 | The Consultant sends quotations within the time allowed after being asked for them. Guide |
| 62.3 | The Service Manager answers a quotation within the time allowed: an instruction to send a revised quotation, an acceptance, or notice that it will make its own assessment. Guide |
| 62.3 | The quotation is accepted. Guide |
| 62.3 | The Consultant is to send a revised quotation. Guide |
| 62.3 | The Service Manager will make its own assessment. Guide |
| 62.4 | A revised quotation can be asked for only once the reasons have been explained; the Consultant sends it within the time allowed. Guide |
| 62.5 | The time to send a quotation, or to answer one, can be extended only if both agree before it runs out. Guide |
| 62.6 | If the Service Manager does not answer a quotation in time, the Consultant may notify that failure. If there is still no answer in the time the contract allows, the quotation counts as accepted. Guide |
Proposed instructions
| Clause | In plain English |
|---|---|
| 65.1 | The Service Manager may ask for a quotation for an instruction it is only proposing, saying by when it may give it; the Consultant does not act on it unless it is given. Guide |
| 65.2 | The Service Manager answers the quotation by the date it may give the instruction: an instruction to send a revised quotation, the instruction itself with the quotation accepted, or notice that the quotation is not accepted (no answer in time counts as not accepted). Guide |
| 65.2 | The instruction is given, as a compensation event, and the quotation is accepted. Guide |
| 65.2 | A revised quotation is asked for, with the reasons. Guide |
| 65.2 | The quotation is not accepted. Guide |
Where next?
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General information in our own words, not legal advice. Your own contract, its Contract Data and any Z clauses decide.