FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
NEC is a family of contracts that promotes effective project management and procurement principles. These contracts have been successfully used on projects from a wide variety of sectors and across the world.
The NEC4 Facilities Management Contract (FMC) suite is a set of contracts tailored for procuring facilities management services. NEC collaborated with the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) to develop these contracts, ensuring that they demonstrate and encourage best practice and meet the diverse needs of the facilities management sector, while promoting the NEC tenets of collaboration, efficiency and best practice.
The FMC enables clients to offer more integrated and consistent procurement strategies, add value to the supply chain and develop more collaborative relationships. Uniquely, every NEC4 contract states that parties are required to “act in a spirit of mutual trust and co-operation”. This differentiates NEC from traditional contracts which follow an adversarial approach.
In addition, NEC has a range of support services for the adoption of FM contract. These include training courses, white papers, and practice notes that could boost your knowledge and skills in facilities management procurement. Additionally, you can connect with our active and engaged community on LinkedIn.
FM Specific Training
The Introduction to the NEC4 Facilities Management Contract (FMC) is one-day practical training course which provides a comprehensive overview of the Facilities Management Contract suite, breaking down its key components for key users. Delegates attending this course will gain an insight into when to use the NEC4 Facilities Management Contract (FMC), how to put it together, the contract strategy, and how it is managed effectively. It is designed for those with minimal experience with NEC contracts or the FMC form but can also be beneficial to those wishing to recap their knowledge.
Upcoming training dates:
- 22 May 2024 (Virtual delivery)
- 03 July 2024 (Virtual delivery)
Enhance your knowledge and skills through our advanced courses, which take your expertise to the next level with our ‘Getting it Right: Preparing the NEC4 Facilities Management Contract’ (Virtual delivery | 21st June) and Getting it Right: Managing the NEC4 Facilities Management Contract (Virtual delivery | 17th June).
Practice Notes
NEC in collaboration with the IWFM and other partners have also developed a series of Practice Notes relating to the FMC, to give more detailed guidance on issues of concern to the facilities management sector. These have included topics such as social value requirements, paying a living wage throughout the supply chain, and implications of international and cross-border contracts. Access all the FM practice notes here.
NEC also hosts FM-related webinars to help users get the best value out of the contracts, offering guidance on the various practice notes that have been released. The latest webinar considers the issue of using the FMC in a national, international or cross-border context, the various approaches to contractual relationships that can be adopted, and how the contract accommodates its use in other countries.
Project using the FMC
The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is the UK’s largest public procurement organisation, supporting the public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. Its construction commercial agreements are the biggest in the country, through which public sector construction customers plan to award around £3 billion annually using NEC contracts. In 2022, CCS partnered with NHS England to manage the £2 billion a year NHS Procure 23 framework, which mostly uses NEC including the FMC. Read our case study here.
