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Try NEC3 and NEC4
practice questions.

Practise NEC3 and NEC4 ECC with questions about contract procedures and project situations. Read an explanation after each answer and review topics you need to study further.

Try the six free questions below, or download the app for free Quick 10 practice on iPhone and Android.

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Practise the contract mechanisms

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Read the explanation after each answer and revisit the relevant subject in the reference material.

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Work through a practical scenario, then read the reasoning and follow the reference link.

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Try the sample questions

Choose NEC3 or NEC4 and answer three sample questions. Read the explanation after each answer. These website samples are free to use on a phone or computer, with no account or download.

These examples use NEC3 and NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contracts (ECC). They are for practice; the contract used on your project may contain amendments.

NEC3 ECC · Example 1 of 3

A Contractor's procurement manager learns that a specialist switchgear supplier has moved from a 14-week to a 32-week lead time. The installation is not programmed for another seven months and there may be an alternative supplier.

What does the contract require the Contractor to do?

  1. Wait until the effect on Completion is confirmed, then notify a compensation event
  2. Give early warning now, because the matter could delay Completion or increase the total of the Prices
  3. Resequence the works and submit a revised programme without raising the supply issue
  4. Raise it at the next monthly progress meeting, since the installation is seven months away
Show answer and explanation

Best answer: Give early warning now, because the matter could delay Completion or increase the total of the Prices

The Contractor and Project Manager need to warn promptly when they become aware of a relevant threat to cost, time or the performance of the finished works. Certainty is not the trigger. With seven months before delivery, the team still has time to investigate alternatives and protect the programme.

Learning point: Early warning is triggered by a matter that could have an effect, not one that already has.

NEC3 ECC · Example 2 of 3

When is the Contractor required to submit a revised programme under NEC3 ECC?

  1. When instructed, when the Contractor chooses, and at the stated interval
  2. Only when a compensation event has been implemented
  3. Monthly, on every contract, regardless of what the Contract Data says
  4. Only when the Project Manager instructs one
Show answer and explanation

Best answer: When instructed, when the Contractor chooses, and at the stated interval

There are three separate triggers for submitting a revised programme. The interval stated in the Contract Data is the one most often overlooked, because it runs whether or not the Project Manager requests a submission. A Contractor which has not kept to that interval is in a weaker position when the effect of a compensation event on the programme falls to be assessed.

Learning point: The duty to submit revised programmes at the stated interval runs whether or not anyone asks for one.

NEC3 ECC · Example 3 of 3

The Contractor's own site engineer finds a Defect in completed drainage that the Supervisor has not noticed.

What does the contract require?

  1. Nothing until the Supervisor notifies it
  2. The Contractor notifies the Supervisor and corrects it in time
  3. The Contractor corrects it quietly and records the cost
  4. The Contractor notifies the Project Manager, who instructs the correction
Show answer and explanation

Best answer: The Contractor notifies the Supervisor and corrects it in time

The Contractor and Supervisor each notify Defects they find until the defects date. The correction duty does not depend on the Supervisor discovering the problem. The correction deadline depends on notification, Completion and, for taken-over works needing access, the access provision.

Learning point: The Contractor must notify its own Defects, not wait for the Supervisor to find them.

NEC4 ECC · Example 1 of 3

On an NEC4 contract the Contractor learns that a planned road closure may not be granted in time. It is not yet certain that anything will be delayed.

What should the Contractor do?

  1. Wait until the closure is refused, then notify a compensation event
  2. Raise it at the next monthly progress meeting for information
  3. Give early warning now, because the matter could affect time or cost
  4. Reprogramme around it quietly and notify only if the effect materialises
Show answer and explanation

Best answer: Give early warning now, because the matter could affect time or cost

A credible threat to cost, contractual time milestones or the performance of the finished works is enough to require early action. Neither the Contractor nor the Project Manager should wait for damage to become certain. Early warning gives the team a chance to reduce the effect; any compensation-event entitlement still needs its own analysis.

Learning point: Early warning is about what could happen. Certainty is not the threshold.

NEC4 ECC · Example 2 of 3

Why does an NEC4 Contractor want an Accepted Programme in place?

  1. Every payment is withheld until every programme has been accepted.
  2. Because it is the baseline against which delay is assessed
  3. Because acceptance transfers responsibility for the sequence to the Client
  4. Programme acceptance freezes the Completion Date permanently.
Show answer and explanation

Best answer: Because it is the baseline against which delay is assessed

An Accepted Programme supports assessment of the effect on planned Completion. Without the relevant programme, the Project Manager uses the assessment provisions, including its own programme where required. The core first-programme payment retention concerns submission of the required information, not acceptance of every revision.

Learning point: The Accepted Programme is the baseline for assessing delay. Not having one weakens the Contractor.

NEC4 ECC · Example 3 of 3

The Contractor designed the steelwork. The constructed work meets the Scope but departs from the design accepted by the Project Manager.

Can this departure from the accepted design be a Defect?

  1. No, Scope compliance is always the only test.
  2. Yes. Contractor-designed work must also satisfy its accepted design and applicable law.
  3. No, acceptance transfers design responsibility to the Client.
  4. Only if the Client dislikes the finished appearance.
Show answer and explanation

Best answer: Yes. Contractor-designed work must also satisfy its accepted design and applicable law.

Scope compliance does not end the enquiry for Contractor-designed work. Compare it with the accepted design and applicable law as well. Acceptance by the Project Manager does not relieve the Contractor of its design responsibility.

Learning point: Use all relevant limbs of the Defect definition.

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These six website samples are free. The app has a free Quick 10 sample; full practice, reference tools and detailed progress require paid access.

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