Programme Management

This chapter sets the programme as the contractual heart of NEC4 and works through the time-related clauses that govern it. Clause 31.2 prescribes a closed list of items that every programme submitted for acceptance must show. Clause 31.3 sets out four grounds for non-acceptance and the deemed acceptance mechanism that protects the Contractor when the Project Manager fails to respond. In contrast, clause 50.5 imposes a 25 per cent withholding sanction where no compliant programme has been submitted. Float, terminal float, and time risk allowances are addressed as separate concepts with separate ownership rules, alongside the practitioner treatment of concurrent delay and the clause 63.5 dividing-date assessment. The clause 36 acceleration procedure and the clause 35 takeover provisions complete the time framework. The chapter closes on the administrative failures that drive most time-related compensation event disputes.