With participation from industry leaders including Sasol and Anglo American, the session delivered real-world perspectives on overcoming long-standing administrative inefficiencies in construction contracting using purpose-built technology.
The challenges with traditional NEC contract management
NEC contracts, while designed for collaboration, are often managed using outdated tools: spreadsheets, emails, and shared folders. This leads to serious operational blind spots; lost version control, compliance risks, fragmented communication, and administrative overload.
Brad Cahill, Business Development Manager at Digital Beehive, emphasised that while 72% of NEC contracts in the UK are managed digitally, only 33% of subcontracts are and the figures for NEC South Africa are likely much lower. This presents a huge opportunity for organisations to improve performance, reduce risk, and drive better project outcomes.
Introducing Contract Bee – purpose-built for NEC
Contract Bee is Digital Beehive’s flagship contract management platform, purpose-built for the administration of NEC3 and NEC4 contracts. It centralises communications, automates NEC workflows, provides real-time dashboards, and improves visibility across entire project portfolios.
Key benefits include:
- A single source of truth for contract data
- Automated early warnings and compensation event workflows
- Role-based access control and audit trails for compliance
- Real-time analytics and custom dashboards with data visualisation tools
- Seamless scalability from individual contracts to full programmes
Watch the Webinar here >>
Case Study: Anglo American R11.5 Billion UHDMS Project
Project overview:
Anglo American is implementing Contract Bee on its Seishen UHDMS project in the Northern Cape, a R11.5 billion brownfields upgrade aimed at converting the existing Dense Medium Separation (DMS) plant to Ultra-High DMS. This transition enables the processing of low-grade material, reducing waste and extending the life of mine operations.
Contract strategy:
Anglo American chose an NEC Option B Contract (Priced Contract with Bill of Quantities) with decoupled profit incentives and rigorous dispute avoidance mechanisms. KPI incentives (X12 and X20) were built into the contracts both at project-wide and contractor-specific levels to foster collaborative behaviours.
Digital Beehive also developed the bespoke Contract Data Amendments module for Anglo American and the South African market, a common mechanism understood in the SA region, but not used elsewhere in the world of NEC.
Implementation outcomes:
Anglo American’s team, led by Renier Goosen and on-site contracts manager Ray Henzen, highlighted several practical gains:
- Early warnings are fully digital and live, enabling targeted risk reduction meetings. Issues are tracked and prioritised in real time based on impact ratings.
- Compensation events (CEs) follow NEC workflows from notification through to implementation — tracked against contractual timelines with automated reminders.
- Communication accuracy is vastly improved — all contract notices are clause-linked, pre-coded, and supported by custom fields such as work package identifiers.
- Dashboarding via API integration into Power BI allows project leadership to monitor budget utilisation, work package costs, and closeout timelines with ease.
- Approval workflows are role-based, aligned to Delegations of Authority Framework with clear audit trails and thresholds to manage commercial accountability.
Having a live, structured system has transformed our risk management. We’re not chasing paper; we’re solving problems before they escalate.
Case Study: Sasol – Nationwide Contract Portfolio Pilot
Project overview:
Sasol identified the need for a contract administration overhaul following a time-and-motion study that revealed excessive manual workload in its commercial teams. Activities like tracking CEs, checking governance compliance, and compiling reports were taking up disproportionate time especially across regional offices. Sasol launched a competitive procurement process, evaluating both bespoke and off-the-shelf solutions. Sasol began a six-month pilot in November 2024, onboarding nearly 100 users across capital projects. Digital Beehive tailored Contract Bee to Sasol’s governance structure, document controls, and role-specific workflows.
Implementation Outcomes:
- Live reporting transformed progress meetings, allowing project managers to view commercial health indicators across multiple contracts at a glance without needing status briefings from commercial officers.
- Improved governance and discipline, with audit-ready records and locked-down workflows that eliminate errors in clause references, pricing logic, and approval trails.
- Strong user adoption was achieved through a “pull, not push” strategy. Project teams quickly saw how much time the platform saved them and how much easier it was to manage deadlines, alerts, and contract data in one place.
- Positive behavioural change means portfolio leaders now use Contract Bee data to identify response bottlenecks and underperforming teams enabling targeted interventions.
It’s not just digital – it’s intelligent. It helps ensure compliance, saves time, and reduces duplication of effort. It’s a game-changer for our commercial discipline.
Not Just Software But A Better Way of Working
The overarching message from both case studies is clear: Contract Bee doesn’t just digitise NEC contracts – it transforms how they are managed. By centralising information, automating complex workflows, and improving collaboration, organisations are reducing risk and improving delivery across the board.
The Future is Digital and Collaborative
The webinar concluded with a lively Q&A session addressing everything from system integration, handling behavioural change, managing subcontractor access, and navigating cloud security concerns.
With growing demand for faster, safer, and more transparent project delivery – especially in public infrastructure – it’s evident that NEC contract management must evolve and digital platforms like Contract Bee are leading the way.
