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The paper begins with a brief history of the New Engineering Contract (NEC) and outlines the response by the NEC Panel to the proposals made in the Latham Report. The main principles adopted for the design of the contract are described and the main procedures which are used to implement the design principles are outlined. Emphasis is given to the way in which the procedures are intended to stimulate good management of contracts. The final section of the paper deals with risk allocation and management in NEC. The way in which the choice of contract strategy influences risk allocation is considered first and this is followed by a discussion of the principles used for the detailed allocation of risks in NEC. Risks which are carried by the employer are described and assessed through a novel procedure in NEC.

This paper examines the early experiences of the use of the New Engineering Contract (NEC) based on research at the University of Birmingham. It starts with a brief description of the research methodology before giving an overview of the extent of use of NEC, both in the UK and overseas, and the choices of contract strategy options which have been made. The third and main part of the paper concerns the experiences of the contract in use. The impact of the NEC on contract preparation is assessed followed by a review of the effectiveness of the new contract procedures and their implications. The changes in the roles and staffing that are required in the NEC are then considered and this leads to a discussion of the changes in culture and attitude which are stimulated by NEC. An emphasis has been put on the practical issues which a new user of the NEC will need to consider. Before concluding, the paper briefly presents the findings on whether the NEC is achieving its aims of improved clarity.

The introduction of the New Engineering Contract (NEC) in the United Kingdom came at a time when the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club were embarking on major contract works. This new contract provided the type of simple, flexible document ideal for our organization, which seeks to enter into co‐operative joint ventures with contractors. This, however, has not been an example followed by other Employers in Hong Kong and this paper gives the author's views on the reasons for this and the prospects of a change in the future. The paper then summarises presentations by members of the Jockey Club's professional consultants and one of the Contractors at the Hong Kong NEC Conference. The Club's projects are described in detail, however, the timing of the paper in advance of completion of the two major projects prevents a final assessment of the use of NEC in Hong Kong.

Project delays and cost over-runs are few common major problems arising from conventional contracts. To overcome these issues, the Hong Kong Government has been practicing the use of the New Engineering Contract (NEC) forms in several public works projects. However, despite the successful outcomes and the positive signs of adopting NEC, it appears that NEC forms of contracts are not widely adopted in the Hong Kong construction industry even after 25 years of their first introduction. The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges and barriers for not implementing NEC widely in Hong Kong.

Based on a questionnaire survey data collected from 45 senior industry professionals, and six semi-structured interviews, the study evaluated the perceptions of construction professionals as to why NEC is still not popular in the industry and reported the relative importance of challenges in the implementation of NEC in Hong Kong.

The results reveal that “People are not willing to change,” “Limited number of trained professionals” and “Insufficient case law and adjudication experience” are the most significant challenges and barriers in adopting NEC. These findings are also supported by the opinions of construction professionals through semi-structured interviews.

The findings are relevant and would benefit to the industry stakeholders for adopting NEC contracts by informing them of the most significant challenges so that proper strategies may be devised to overcoming them for early contractors’ involvement, controlling cost and time overruns in infrastructure projects.

The empirical evidence of the study provides an insight into the challenges faced by the construction industry of Hong Kong. NEC form of contract is the way forward in order to create a better working environment conducive for all the parties that would result in better construction project performance and productivity.

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

This paper explains why Eskom, a large electrical utility, has decided to adopt the New Engineering Contract system of documents and assist the owners of the NEC with its further development. It describes the effect this decision is having on Eskom's ‘culture’, the benefits the introduction is providing through the opportunity to retrain all its contract practitioners and the response from South African industry. Types of project to which NEC has been applied are discussed. Examples of problems and successes with the introduction phase are given, with particular reference to the settlement of disputes. The paper concludes with a reference to the South African Government's Procurement Reform Initiative which is seeking standardization of conditions of contract used throughout the Republic.

This chapter explores how the Korean electoral management bodies (EMBs) and the election administration ensure the autonomy of administrative management from political parties and the interior ministry. In particular, the analysis focuses on the role of recognition, rights independence, and professionalism in securing the election administrations in the EMBs. Recent studies have found that the contents of the independent variable, dependent variable, and other parameters influencing fair and autonomous election management system do not differ significantly. Therefore, the institutional independence of the EMBs is not intended to guarantee fairness and impartiality in Korea either. Since 1987, the authoritarian regime collapsed and democracy began to grow in Korea. Also, the role of the EMBs granted by the constitution started to be considered.

Actively recognizing the role and expanding the rights of the Korean National Election Commission (NEC) has become a decisive factor in the formation of the autonomous and neutral election management system. The scale, manpower and budget of organizations, and personnel have increased. The role of the EMBs has also expanded proportionally. The Korean NEC has enormous authority, such as investigative power and enforcement power that the EMBs of other countries do not have. After all, recognizing the role of bureaucracy and government employees will become a very important factor in ensuring the independence of the EMBs in developing countries. Furthermore, it will be a driving force to develop democracy in developing countries.

This paper describes some current research into the impact of the New Engineering Contract (NEC) on the culture of the industry. The intention is to explain the purpose of this research, describe the methodology used and report on some early findings. In the early sections, the authors outline the thinking behind the research and some of the difficulties involved and briefly consider the limitations of a conventional approach and compare it with an outline of the authors' own. They then look at the analysis of data, with reference to some findings of this and a previous study. In doing so, the authors focus on some cultural patterns which may be resistant to the changes the NEC is intended to promote and they go on to discuss some of the ways in which culture is transmitted between individuals, since, if the NEC is to be successful, it will involve changes in these patterns. In the final section, the authors discuss some implications for the future of the NEC.

Disputes under the New Engineering Contract (NEC) 2nd Edition involve a new approach to the role of Adjudicator. Clauses 90–93 have been radically revised. They reflect the recommendations of Latham's Report Constructing the Team, and growing international practice (e.g. the Channel Tunnel Disputes Panel). Also clarified are some questions over the 1 st Edition. The independent Adjudicator provides a mandatory third‐party neutral settlement process. The decision is final and binding, unless and until revised by the eventual tribunal (court or arbitration) after completion of the works, or termination. Legal drafting is achieved in the NEC style of plain English and present tense. Latham's objectives are reminiscent of traditional decisions of an independent Engineer, or of modern short form arbitration; but the new substantive approach is distinguished from both. The Adjudicator's decision determines the parties' rights and obligations. It does not depend on the Project Manager's implementation, but the latter is free to choose in accordance with the decision, e.g. by changing the Works Information as a compensation event. Distinctive of the NEC is the openness of procedure for the Adjudicator, and even‐handedness between the parties as to the continuing works while the Adjudicator is acting. The parties, by contract, given the independent Adjudicator jurisdiction to settle by its decision all disputes arising under or in connection with the contract. This is neither expert determination nor arbitration. The Adjudicator is to act fairly, not judicially. Some jurisdictional issues may remain, and are explored. There must be a proper substantive characterization of the new role, according to its true context and the parties' expressed intentions. NEC 2nd edition has clarified and enhanced the definition of the first third‐party stage fully to meet Latham's objectives, and to encourage by rapid but effective early resolution of disputes, within the overall NEC philosophy, a substantial reduction in the incidence of disputes.

The standard forms of construction contract are receiving greater attention in the management of projects scholarship as they probably influence the project success and project disputes. The extant literature suggests that the standard forms of construction contract are one of the top sources of disputes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of the standard forms of construction contract, FIDIC and NEC, in reducing disputes in the Palestinian construction industry.

The researchers have used qualitative methods to collect data and more specifically have undertaken 12 semi-structured interviews.

The study reveals that the standard forms of construction contract can be a tool to minimise disputes, but certainly not to eradicate them, and NEC appears to be more capable than FIDIC to do so.

This study contributes to knowledge by bringing an industrial perspective into the role of standard forms of contract in disputes creation and avoidance. The interviewees, recurrent users of FIDIC contract, criticised certain features and expressions and proposed some solutions.