The engineering and construction contract and its implications for project programming procedures

The New Engineering Contract was introduced in 1993 with a view to achieving three aims of flexibility, clarity and simplicity, and to provide a stimulus to good management. Now in its third edition and with a new title of the Engineering and Construction Contract, it places great emphasis on project programming and requires early warnings of anticipated delay and its effect on cost. As a result many contractors are establishing procedures to ensure compliancy with these contractual requirements. A questionnaire survey was carried out, supplemented by semi structured interviews, within a major civil engineering contractor in order to investigate the standard programming procedures (known as the Established Approach) in terms of their functionality and applicability to the contract clauses, and their impact on project management. The results show that the Established Approach not only complies with the programming requirement of the contract, but also is a very good project management tool. But to make it work, staff need proper training and should be allowed sufficient time to operate the system. Commitment from both employers and project managers is also needed.