What does NEC4 clause 60.1(9) mean?

Clause 60.1(9) limits the Project Manager's reasons for saying no. The event is that the Project Manager withholds an acceptance for a reason not stated in the contract. Wherever the contract requires the Contractor to submit something for acceptance, such as a design, a Subcontractor, a programme or proposed subcontract conditions, the clause concerned lists the reasons for which the Project Manager may not accept it, and the contract also allows the Project Manager to withhold acceptance for other reasons; the effect of clause 60.1(9) is that withholding for one of those other reasons is a compensation event. To rely on the paragraph the Contractor shows the submission, the reply withholding acceptance, the reason the reply gives, and that the reason is not one the relevant clause states. Where the reply gives no reason the position is weaker, because the Contractor must then show what the real reason was; a request for the reason in writing is the first step. The Contractor notifies the event under clause 61.3 within eight weeks of becoming aware of the withheld acceptance. The change to the Prices is assessed under clause 63.1 as the effect on actual Defined Cost by the date of the notification and forecast Defined Cost afterwards, plus the Fee, in practice the difference between what the refused proposal would have cost and what the Contractor had to do instead; the Contractor is expected to have mitigated by resubmitting or proposing an alternative promptly. What most often goes wrong is that the refusal is dressed up in a stated reason the facts do not support and the Contractor accepts it without challenge, or that a programme is not accepted for a stated reason and the Contractor tries to use this paragraph when the real complaint lies elsewhere. Any delay to the Completion Date is assessed separately under clause 63 by the programming expert.