NEC User Group newsletter, issue 41, January 2008

Cambridge NEC contract managed online

by Paul Wilkinson (BIW Technologies)

Davis Langdon recently worked with BIW Technologies to develop an online solution to support its NEC contract administration role on a £9.75 million city centre redevelopment in Cambridge.

In 2004, Davis Langdon was appointed to provide project and cost management, including contract administration services, on a project for St John’s College, Cambridge. The ‘Triangle Site’ project involved conversion of two properties into a medical centre and refurbishment of 12 listed buildings to provide ground-floor commercial space with residential accommodation for students in the floors above.

The client was happy to use the NEC despite a lack of familiarity with the contract among the project team. Davis Langdon was also keen to find an alternative to the paper-based system and email as a communication medium but, wary of adopting a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach due to previous experience of similar systems, was looking for a solution that was flexible enough to meet the specific project requirements.

The firm therefore collaborated with BIW Technologies to develop a comprehensive suite of standard forms and documented procedures which met all of the NEC process requirements. Approximately six months after works started on site, BIW’s contract administration module was adopted and trialled alongside the current processes.

Over 100 compensation events

In the first four months, over 100 compensation events were issued. Since each of these then generated further processes (for example contractor’s quotations and project manager’s assessments), strong management procedures were needed to maintain control of the project. In addition to the NEC processes, the contractor’s request-for information process was also added to the BIW module.

Having a single repository for all project communications proved invaluable, said project manager Chris Akers. ‘The BIW system allows you quickly to search any type of communication and identify, say, all of the compensation events for which a quotation has not yet been received, or identify all of the early warnings which are open at that time. The system also allows you to explore the history of an issue quickly and easily due to the in-built audit trail and links to associated documents. A further benefit is being able to bring information to team meetings, by filtering and exporting the information into spreadsheets and reports.’

For further information please contact the author on +44 (0)1483 712620 or email paul.wilkinson@biwtech.com

(View supplement online here; PDF of original article also available - see right)