Gain assurance over your contract administration with the Oracle Primavera Unifier NEC4 solution

The principle of mutual trust and cooperation is a fundamental concept underlying NEC4 construction contracts. It is a crucial guiding principle that promotes collaboration, open communication, and a positive working relationship among the parties involved in a construction project. The principle aims to foster an environment of trust, fairness, and teamwork, ultimately leading to successful project delivery.

Even well-structured contracts like the NEC suite still present several operational challenges:

• The administration of modern construction contracts results in a high volume of communication which is difficult to manage.
• It is difficult to access required information if it is disconnected or siloed.
• Contractual claims are required to be substantiated by fully detailed records kept by the employer and the contractor. A suitable common data environment is required for such thorough and auditable record keeping.
• Extension of time claims should be considered when there is an impact to the program's critical path, required integrated contract management, and schedule management functionality.

To effectively meet the requirements of the NEC suite of contracts, a collaborative contract administration environment is required to build and maintain a complete project information model, manage contractual communication, provide timely and accurate insight into project and contract performance, and effectively manage risk through active dispute avoidance.

The technology advantage

Overcoming a slow initial response to technology adoption by the construction industry, successful industry participants are embracing a digital transformation strategy to remain competitive.

Based on extensive industry experience and best practices, the Oracle Primavera Unifier NEC4 solution provides effective contractual compliance, instills confidence in management decisions, and improves the productivity of contract management teams through NEC4-aligned forms, workflows, communication types, contractual response times, notifications, change management processes, and reports.

With this scalable, secure, cloud-based solution from Oracle, organizations can now manage a single contract or easily scale to manage several contracts on a larger project or organization through a rapid deployment model. As appropriate, open integration with an ERP or other application contributes to establishing a project management ecosystem to eliminate disconnected processes and data sources.

The Oracle Primavera Unifier NEC4 solution not only provides native support for all options of the popular Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) but also for the Engineering and Construction Short Contract (ECSC), Professional Services Contract (PSC), Professional Services Short Contract (PSSC), Term Services Contract (TSC), and the Term Services Short Contract (TSSC). Additional NEC contract forms can be added upon request.

The Oracle Primavera Unifier NEC4 solution provides value across several areas, including:

Collaboration and information management

• Manage all contract information in a collaborative and secure common data environment
• Compile a comprehensive project information structure
• Deploy a complete document management capability
• Leverage standard reports and dashboards

Dispute avoidance, early warning, and compensation events

• Real-time collaboration and dispute avoidance between employer and contractor through system-generated early warnings
• Capture, track, and manage scope changes and compensation events with full traceability and audit capability

Measurement, valuations, and payments management

• Capture regular progress measurements and valuations against the contractual deliverables
• Certify payment applications against valuations
• Enable timely payment from employer to contractor

Program/schedule management

• Develop the contract CPM program and leverage standard Oracle Primavera P6 integration
• Coordinate activities between the employer and the contractor
• Prepare and analyze extension of time (EOT)-type events

Field management

• Use the standard mobile application to provide on-the-go collaboration to the field staff
• Capture site inspections, tests, and punch lists directly in the field
• Initiate workflows on a mobile device in the field and conclude them back in the office

Mini Success story—Dublin Airport

A recent €2 billion airport expansion project in Ireland required strict project controls to meet regulatory compliance. RPC, an Oracle partner, deployed Oracle Primavera Unifier and Oracle Primavera P6 applications to enable the airport to effectively scale their project management systems to meet the needs of the project. The implementation helped ensure project control and contracts management governance to meet the requirements of the NEC4 contracts.

“RPC has helped us to unlock the potential of Primavera Unifier and has been instrumental in successfully integrating it across cost, program and contract management,” says Mark O'Brien, senior cost manager at the Dublin Airport.

The Oracle Smart Construction Platform combines our industry-trusted applications with a common data environment and an ecosystem of partners to help owners and delivery teams work together and continuously improve performance. The platform connects teams and data, synchronizes work, and empowers individuals to make informed, proactive decisions. Power performance with proven Oracle Construction and Engineering solutions for scheduling, portfolio management, construction project management, project controls, construction payment management, and more.

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