Experience Matters

On behalf of an engineering design and project management firm of a fuel oil and diesel oil bulk storage tank farm facility, evaluated and rebutted claims by the owner regarding alleged delays, loss of revenue, repair costs, and cost overruns caused by errors and omissions in design and negligence that hampered the safe and profitable operation of the storage facility. Prepared an expert report for submission to the Appeals Circuit at the Commercial Court of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, rebutting the engineering design and project management firm-caused design errors, omissions, and delays.

Prepared a $45 million claim including delay analysis and damages calculations for an Italian construction firm that constructed two hospitals.

Provided litigation support for the construction cost overruns and delays for several commercial building projects including a luxury hotel and a major office building.

Prepared a mechanical contractor’s $20 million claim for delay, additional work, labor disputes, and loss of productivity regarding a $790 million delayed coker project at the Cerro Negro Oil Upgrading Project. Assisted counsel in the preparation of its briefs and document discovery requests. Prepared an expert report that was intended for witness testimony at ICC arbitration hearings in Geneva, Switzerland; however, the case settled before the hearing was conducted.

The executive management of this EPC contractor desired to make its project financial forecasting more robust after suffering a number of project write-downs. After verifying that these write-downs were more than an accounting exercise, the EPC contractor wanted an independent third party to evaluate its bidding and execution practices, benchmark them against industry practices, and develop an integrated project risk management/project governance system that executive management could rely upon. Engaged to evaluate the written procedures and practices of each of the four divisions against industry practices. After the steps required to make those procedures and practices more robust were defined, the team worked with the client to revise the procedures and adjust its practices to make the output of the bidding and execution processes more reliable and transparent to management. This work also involved developing a client custom project governance program to identify high-risk bids and projects during execution and define the tools/staff needed to address these high-risk situations.

Performed an analysis in support of an owner’s claim against an international EPC contractor’s performance, delays, and $100 million cost overrun regarding a Spar production facility that was fabricated in Finland for installation in the Gulf of Mexico. Issues involved material delays, welding rework, quadrupling of labor man-hours, wet mating of hard and soft tank/truss, delay, liquidated damages, conversion of contract issues, and related damages.

Provided project management and control services for a contractor providing fire alarm and voice paging systems work on Concourses A, B, and C, the airport office building, and the terminal complex at the Denver International Airport. Assisted client in cost control monitoring, schedule interfaces, change negotiations, and problem resolutions on a $12 million contract. Prepared financial and schedule analyses for the project and interfaced with the project management team for monthly pay applications and resolution of issues. Assisted in the client’s successful settlement of $6 million of outstanding changes with the owner due to unexpected changed conditions and third party contractor interference.

On behalf of an owner, analyzed contractual responsibilities for cost overruns and delays on the fabrication of components of an offshore drilling rig.

Provided construction claims management services for the owner of a hydroelectric power project. The CAD$6.5 billion, 1,550 MW project involved the construction of four reservoir generating stations and a 150 km road.

On behalf of an owner, assessed a contractor’s claims involving change orders, delays, and acceleration regarding the design and installation of the topsides for a deep-sea crude oil FPSO project to be installed in Brazil. Evaluated the contractor’s claims regarding loss of productivity for the refurbishment work of the FPSO vessel and for the topsides installation in Dubai. Also supported the owner in resolving a subsea contractor’s prolongation claim.