The NEC Contract Board has very recently announced that a new NEC4 contracts suite will be made available in June 2017.
While very little information on the detail of the changes to the NEC suite of contracts has been made available, the NEC4 suite of contracts has reportedly been updated and streamlined following feedback from the industry, considering government priorities and emerging best practice. It is also understood that some of the key changes in the NEC4 suite is the introduction of two new contracts namely:
- The Design, Build and Operate Contract, where design, construction, operation and even maintenance can be provided in a single contract and/or by a single supplier; and
- The Alliance Contract which is a collaborative, multi-party agreement for use on large scale and complex projects.
A key benefit of the NEC4 suite of contracts is that it will make provision for Building Information Modelling ("BIM") and early contractor involvement.
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