Under the ECC conditions a project manager is appointed to administer the contract and he has no duty to act independently or impartially.1 He represents the employer, so acts for the employer who is committed by his managers decisions. Consequently the employer has no right under the contract to take a dispute with his manager to adjudication or arbitration. But if the contractor disputes any action of the project manager, this comprises a dispute between the contractor and the employer which can be taken to adjudication or arbitration.
Asupervisor on site (with assistants if need be) is also appointed to carry out certain specified duties relating only to the quality of construction. He inspects and tests the work (Clauses 40 and 41) and instructs the contractor to search for and remedy defects (Clauses 42 and 43). He submits reports to the project manager and the contractor. Where his appointment is separate from that of the project manager, their respective responsibilities need to be carefully defined and co-ordinated.
The project managers duties include many similar to those listed above for the engineer under the ICE conditions, in particular under the ECC these include:
giving early warning of changes (Clause 16);
resolving ambiguities in the documents (Clause 17);
deciding and certifying completion (Clause 30);
accepting or not accepting the contractors programme (Clause 31);
instructing a suspension of work (Clause 34);
certifying take over of the works (Clause 35);
assessing and certifying payments due (Clauses 50 and 51);
deciding on compensation events, asking for quotations from the contractor for these and assessing any payment or time extension due (Clauses 6065).
Further differences between the ECC conditions and ICE conditions are dealt with in Sections 17.3, 17.8, 17.11 and 17.12.