The New Engineering Contract: NEC: A Legal Commentary

The New Engineering Contract (NEC) introduces a new systematic approach to contracting which is multidisciplinary in nature and fully interlocked in form. The NEC is flexible and easier to use than current traditional standard forms of contract. The NEC seeks to reduce adversariality and disputes through co-operative management techniques and incentives built into its procedures. The NEC: A Legal Commentary analyses and evaluates these and related claims of innovation closely examining the background to the NEC, its design objectives, structure, procedures and likely judicial interpretation to determine whether it improves upon the traditional standard forms of contract.
Special attention is given in the commentary to the development and the significance of the principles underlying preparation of the NEC as well as the arguments in favour of and against them. Separate chapters examine the NEC contract system as a whole and the new roles and responsibilities of those who will use it. Throughout the detailed commentary upon the NEC clauses comparisons to the traditional forms are also made to highlight unique features and principles of general application. Finally, the commentary also draws upon the body of project management literature and legal analysis to support its conclusions. The conclusion reached by the author is that the NEC makes a significant contribution toward the progressive evolution of standard forms of contract, addresses many of the traditional forms shortcomings, and offers one of the best models for their future development, direction and design.

Arthur McInnis is an Associate Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong and a Consultant with Denton Wilde Sapte.