Where a contractor's programme is approved or accepted by the architect or engineer, is the contractor bound to follow it or may it amend the programme at its own discretion?

SCCSI
Presented by
Society of Construction Claims Specialists International
sccsinternational.org
Legal and contractual solutions - Programme

Where the architect or contract administrator approves or accepts a contractor's programme or engineer, is the contractor obliged to follow it, or may the contractor amend it at its own discretion?

Amending an accepted programme, and when approval is required

A programme is meant to be flexible, and a contractor usually expects to revise it to recover delay. Whether the contractor may amend an accepted programme at will, or must first obtain agreement, turns on the form of contract.

Quick answer

It depends on the form: unless the contract expressly requires approval to amend, the contractor may revise an accepted programme at will, but where the programme is a contract document or the form requires consent, under GC/Works/1, MF/1 or the Engineering and Construction Contract, the contractor must obtain agreement first, and an architect not asked to accept a revised programme may consider that information need not be issued to suit it

It depends on the form of contract. A programme is usually a flexible document, rarely a contract document, so that the contractor can revise it, most often to recover its own delays, without being tied to every original date. Under most JCT and ICE work there is no express requirement to seek approval before amending, and the contractor may revise the programme as it wishes. Some forms are different: GC/Works/1 lists the programme as a contract document and, by condition 33(2), the contractor submits amendments for the project manager's agreement; MF/1, clause 14.4, needs the engineer's consent to any material change; and the Engineering and Construction Contract, by clauses 32.1 and 32.2, requires each revised programme to be submitted to the project manager for acceptance. Even where no approval is required, an architect who has not been asked to accept a revised programme may believe that drawings need not be issued in time to suit it, so the practical course is to submit revisions for acceptance.

General ruleA programme is flexible and rarely a contract document
No express requirementThe contractor may revise the programme as it wishes
GC/Works/1, MF/1, ECCApproval or acceptance required before amendment
GC/Works/1The programme is a contract document; use condition 33(2)
The stingAn architect not asked to accept a revision may withhold timely information

The rest of this solution is for members

Fifty of the two hundred contractual solutions are free to read. This is one of the remaining hundred and fifty, which Premium and Pro carry.

See what Premium includesAlready a member? Sign in