Civil Engineering Project Management (4th Edition)

8.3 A note on alternative provisions of the
ECC conditions
The employer and his engineer 91
Under the ECC conditions a project manager is appointed to administer the
contract and he has no duty to act independently or impartially. 1 He represents
the employer, so acts for the employer who is committed by his manager’s
decisions. Consequently the employer has no right under the contract to take
a dispute with his manager to adjudication or arbitration. But if the contractor
disputes any action of the project manager, this comprises a dispute between the
contractor and the employer which can be taken to adjudication or arbitration.
A supervisor on site (with assistants if need be) is also appointed to carry out
certain specified duties relating only to the quality of construction. He inspects
and tests the work (Clauses 40 and 41) and instructs the contractor to search for
and remedy defects (Clauses 42 and 43). He submits reports to the project manager
and the contractor. Where his appointment is separate from that of the
project manager, their respective responsibilities need to be carefully defined
and co-ordinated.
The project manager’s duties include many similar to those listed above
for the engineer under the ICE conditions, in particular under the ECC these
include:
• giving early warning of changes (Clause 16);
• resolving ambiguities in the documents (Clause 17);
• deciding and certifying completion (Clause 30);
• accepting or not accepting the contractor’s programme (Clause 31);
• instructing a suspension of work (Clause 34);
• certifying take over of the works (Clause 35);
• assessing and certifying payments due (Clauses 50 and 51);
• deciding on compensation events, asking for quotations from the contractor
for these and assessing any payment or time extension due (Clauses 60–65).
Further differences between the ECC conditions and ICE conditions are dealt
with in Sections 17.3, 17.8, 17.11 and 17.12.
8.4 Limitations to the engineer’s powers under
ICE conditions
Under the ICE conditions the engineer can only instruct a variation of the
works which is ‘in his opinion necessary for the completion of the works’, or
‘desirable for the completion and/or improved functioning of the works’.
Thus the engineer cannot order matters which are, for instance, extraneous to
1 Although he has no duty to act impartially, he will in practice do so, to avoid a dispute arising which
the contractor takes to adjudication or arbitration.