Monday, 21 May 2018
The Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) and Austroads, have released the draft National Capital Works (NCW4) General Conditions of Contract for feedback.
The NCW4 has been developed by government for use by government agencies.
With AS2124 outdated and its intended replacement AS11000 not being progressed, APCC and Austroads have initiated development of a new General Conditions of Contract with a focus on improving the efficiency of project delivery and reduce the potential for contractual disputes by driving greater consistency in the contractual conditions and clauses used by our members.
It is important to note that NCW4 is primarily for Construct Only contracts with special conditions to be considered at the jurisdictional level. The clauses have been developed for public sector use.
There are numerous inclusions in NCW4 to align it with contemporary Australian construction Construct Only contracts, such as:
- provision for current legislation (GST, WHS, Security of Payment and Personal Property Securities);
- distinction between working days and business days;
- use of a Commercial Framework, which is customised by each agency to cover matters such as schedule of rates, bill of quantities, lump sums, overheads, profit, rise & fall etc.;
- clarification of the entitlement to delay costs;
- clarification of which documents can be relied upon by the contractor;
- options for alternative dispute resolution;
- clarification of the procedure for claims; and
- more extensive use of defined terms to avoid ambiguity.
It is worth noting that the risk allocation of NCW4 is fundamentally the same as that in AS2124. In addition, to keep the transition process as simple as possible, the clause numbering of NCW4 generally aligns with that of AS2124.
To develop NCW4 to its current stage, extensive APCC and Austroads member collaboration and consultation has occurred. It has now reached the stage where wider government and industry feedback is required.
Furthermore, a set of Explanatory Notes have been developed which will be released together with NCW4.
The purpose of this consultation is to seek feedback on the content, suggested improvements and understand any major barriers to adoption of NCW4.
When providing feedback, please be constructive. If you have any concerns or suggested improvements, provide examples of alternative wording.
Please note that both industry and government are being consulted, consequently there may be further changes to NCW4 subject to the feedback received.
The closing date for feedback has been extended to COB Thursday 21 June 2018. Feedback should be emailed to info@apcc.gov.au.
Download the documents here: