We are the employer on an NEC3 ECC Option B (priced contract with bill of quantities). Our contractor has notified a compensation event on the basis that a bill item was not in accordance with the standard method of measurement referred to in the contract. This is despite the item description being clear. Furthermore, the contractor did not qualify its tender on this item at tender stage. Can the contractor notify this as a mistake requiring correction under clause 60.6?
If you wish to change those rules, you need to make those changes clear when describing what the method of measurement is. The tenderers are not obliged to check the bill of quantities to make sure that there are no errors in them. After all, the contractor is not your quality checker.
Clause 60.7 makes it clear that the contractor can assume that the bill of quantities has been taken off correctly when pricing the works. The lack of any qualifications cannot change the risk profile in the contract.