Subcontract Administration under the NEC4 ECS

This chapter covers subcontract administration under the NEC4 Engineering and Construction Subcontract (ECS). It opens with the commercial weight of subcontracting, where subcontract packages routinely carry sixty to eighty per cent of Defined Cost on Option C. The ECS mirrors the Engineering and Construction Contract in structure and core mechanism, but departs in defined timeframes (notably the seven-week time-bar under ECS clause 61.3 against the main contract eight) and in the absence of Option F and Option W3 at the subcontract level. The Contractor’s dual role of being managed upstream and managing the Subcontractor downstream is the spine of the chapter. The recurring failures examined are back-to-back drafting, missed flow-downs, and the SME supply chain problem. Missed flow-downs are the largest single source of upstream Disallowed Cost. The chapter closes on the practical management of compensation events flowing across two contracts.