Early Warnings and Early Warning Meetings

This chapter examines the early warning system under clause 15, the most distinctive contract management mechanism in NEC4. Clause 15.1 sets out four triggers and a mutual obligation on the Contractor and the Project Manager to notify as soon as either becomes aware. Clause 15.2 then sets the start-up timeline, with the first Early Warning Register due within one week of the starting date and the first meeting within two weeks, and clause 15.3 frames the standing meetings as a collective problem-solving exercise rather than a forum for allocating cost. Where the Project Manager states in the clause 61.5 instruction to quote that an experienced Contractor could have given an early warning, clause 63.7 reassesses the compensation event as if the warning had been given and reasonable mitigation taken. The Project Manager carries the same notification obligation, but the Contractor’s sanction is the heavier of the two. The chapter closes on the early warning failures that most often surface as compensation events.