My company paid an independent contractor for labor and materials and he is now asking for a W9 instead of 1099NEC. Can someone explain the difference?

If you paid someone you would not give them a W9, they would give you a W9, so you could give them a 1099-NEC.  The W9 is basically the subcontractor version of a W4.  The 1099-NEC is the subcontractor version of the W-2.

That was 100% my understanding of how it worked. He told me that his CPA told him backwards and I wanted to double check. Thank you!