NEC has matured from being a revolutionary contract in the early 1990s with some interest and use from forward thinking organisations seeking change in how they go about engaging suppliers in a non-adversarial manner. NEC2 was published in 1995 and was increasingly the contract of choice of many organisations in the United Kingdom. NEC3 is the result of feedback from industry on many years of successful use and is the first time that the complete integrated set of NEC documents have been launched at the same time. The family has been expanded to provide a Term Service Contract, Term Service Short Contract, Supply Contract, Supply Short Contract and a Framework Contract, all complemented with the standard NEC approach of including guidance notes and flow charts.
NEC is a family of standard contracts, each of which has these characteristics:
Its use stimulates good management of the relationship between the two parties to the contract and, hence, of the work included in the contract.
It can be used in a wide variety of commercial situations, for a wide variety of types of work and in any location.
It is a clear and simple document using language and a structure which are straightforward and easily understood.
NEC is an integrated set of contract documents that are designed to provide Clients and their suppliers with project-focused outcomes. The intention is that use of NEC will lead more frequently to achievement of Client's objectives for all projects in terms of its ultimate quality, performance, cost and time aspects. It should also be possible to set more rigorous targets for these objectives with greater confidence in achieving them.
NEC is drafted on a relational contracting basis that embodies efficient management processes. It is the belief that collaborative working across the entire supply chain optimises the likely project outcomes when compared with a typically fragmented and non-integrated approach to designing and constructing projects. NEC gives the tools to the users to draw out their skills to apply to the environment they are working in.
