Owner Advisory.

Lender Advisory.

OWNER/LENDER INDEPENDENT ENGINEER SERVICES

 

Provision of independent engineer or “bank engineer” services are available to owners, lenders, sureties and investors to help with technical aspects of a capital project. We protect a client’s interests by familiarization with and monitoring of compliance with the agreed financing plan or loan agreement for project development, design and construction, and close-out processes. Our lender’s engineer (“LE”) specialists employ expert judgement and strategic analysis tactics gained through years of project planning, design, construction and risk management experience to provide independent and objective advice on a project’s performance during any phase of its life cycle. In this role our neutral LE has client authorization to access, observe and provide frank opinion on the health of a project. Our client is assured of timely technical feedback, including if necessary notice of a contractor’s potential failure to match construction progress with planned disbursements, inability to service the debt, or misuse of funds. Further, our client is better informed on project issues such as conflict among various project participants, lack of needed information or knowledge by stakeholders, or ambiguity among participants on vital decisions.

In addition to project reporting, progress confirmation, budget and schedule tracking, draw and payment certification, contract change, and consulting on key decisions, examples of service areas where our LE can add monitoring, coordination and reporting value include, but are not limited to, the following:

 

Project Initiation Phase

  • Business case assessment
  • Cost/benefit analysis
  • Project evaluation, feasibility and planning
  • Stakeholder alignment
  • Technology review and selection
  • Basic engineering contractor performance
  • Site assessment
  • Project risk identification
  • Scope definition
  • Contract formulation
  • Permitting and licensing

 

Design and Procurement Phase

  • Contractor performance
  • Value engineering studies
  • Constructability review
  • Process Safety Analysis
  • HAZOP studies
  • Procurement progress
  • Purchase order administration
  • Quality assurance
  • Risk management
  • Contract change
  • Dispute identification

 

Construction Phase

  • Contractor performance
  • Construction contract administration
  • Progress meetings
  • Construction risk management
  • Quality assurance
  • Construction safety
  • Mechanical completion certification
  • Process safety and startup review
  • Contract change
  • Dispute identification

 

Commissioning and Start-up Phase

  • Operator training
  • Completion verification
  • Performance testing
  • Dispute resolution
  • Contract closure

 

 

 

 
CONTACTS

 

Robert G. James, PE, CFLC
Jan K. Varma, P.Eng.
Ken Bush, PE, PMP
Troy E. Reynolds, PE
Ronald L. Smith

 

REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS

 

  • Assessment of project status of completion and plant equipment condition for an abandoned combined cycle power plant in Connecticut under review for acquisition by a venture capital organization.
  • Due diligence advice prior to its acquisition of several equipment fabrication shops in the Pacific N.W. was provided to an equipment provider in the power generation sector. Services included inspection of plant and fabrication equipment, shop safety and quality operations, and project execution processes.

We have extensive experience in directly managing EPC projects and advising owners, contractors, investors and lenders.  We bring this experience to bear in performing due diligence services across industry sectors:  

Petrochemical

  • Project advisory and supervision services for a 1.3 million ton/year ethylene cracker in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. The scope included technology front end engineering, procurement, construction and start up.
  • Design management for expansion of a major ethylene plant on the US Gulf Coast. Plant capacity was increased 70% by the addition of four new cracking furnaces and implementation of an innovative recovery process.
  • Site resident engineering services for the construction phase of an ethylene unit expansion project in Beaumont, TX. The upgrade involved addition of three new cracking furnaces and a new cold train, doubling the unit’s capacity to 900 million pounds per year.
  • Oversight services for engineering, design, procurement and construction management for an upgrade and capacity increase of a US Gulf Coast Polysilicon facility.
  • Program management services including project development and economic justification; FEED and appropriations estimates; and execution of detailed engineering, design, construction and start-up for a major operator based in The Woodlands, TX.
  • Management services for a polymer compounding organization’s global capital projects program involving projects for existing operations in the US and Canada and development of a grassroots facility in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

Refining

  • Project management services for a multi-billion dollar heavy oil processing plant expansion at an existing Tar Sands facility in northern Alberta, including EPC execution of the offsites and utilities for the project.
  • Management of in-Kingdom engineering procurement and construction operations for a major utility upgrade of a 550,000 bpd refinery complex at Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia.
  • Management of site operations during construction of an upgrade of three crude processing units for a major California based oil corporation at their Nederland, TX refinery.

Gas Processing

  • Project management services for an LPG project being developed in the Arabian Gulf by the Abu Dhabi Gas Liquification Company (ADGAS), involved working on the PMC team directly with the engineering contractor and the owner to develop the FEED package.
  • Project management advisory services for a major helium producer involved analysis and reports addressing the quality of its supplier’s engineering contractor’s failed design-build delivery method for construction of a natural gas processing unit in western Wyoming.

 

 

 

Power Generation

  • Construction examination pursuant to state of Florida threshold inspection regulations during construction of an emergency generator unit at the Turkey Point Nuclear Station in South Florida.
  • Consulting services addressed evaluation of alleged engineering errors and omissions by a Chicago based global engineering contractor in the design of a 630 MW cogeneration facility in South Carolina.
  • Management of PMC services providing oversight of an Atlanta based engineering contractor for the design of a 1000 MW combined cycle gas generation project to be constructed in Freestone County, TX.
  • EPC management services for a captive power project with generation capacity of 220 MW located in a petrochemical complex in Singapore.

Commercial Building

  • Owner representation during design and construction of a solid waste fleet maintenance facility for Dade County Solid Waste Department, Miami, FL.
  • Project estimating to determine construction demobilization and remobilization costs due to interruption of operations for a health center under development by a major hospital in Sugar Land, TX.
  • Consulting services regarding hurricane preparation by a general contractor constructing a 35-story condominium tower in South Padre Island, TX.
  • Construction advisory services regarding compliance with manufacturers’ specifications by an installation contractor applying metal roofing at an automobile dealership in Alice, TX.
  • Architectural constructability review and estimating services provided in support of litigation for repair of failed balconies at a 240 unit residential complex in Galveston, TX.

Infrastructure

  • Project oversite and management advisory services in the UAE for seven remote area desalination plants. Each project included desalination process and waste water disposal equipment providing an average of 1.2 MMGD of treated water to the Villages and Islands division of the government of Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity District.
  • Resident engineering services to the Florida Department of Transportation for a road widening and bridge construction project in Cooper City, Florida, including construction management for widening an arterial surface roadway and construction of four new bridges.
  • Contract review services regarding alleged error and omissions, change orders, and adherence to industry standards in application of the engineering and construction process for construction of a roadway project in the city of Pearland, TX.

Project Risk Management

  • A project risk management program developed for a South Korean contractor addressed project risk analysis and regular follow up mitigation. The program, which includes training of project managers in the value of risk management, followed an ethane cracker project to the field in Uzbekistan where instruction was provided for project management.
  • Risk analysis principles were used to develop mitigation plans during preparation of a contractor’s fixed price proposal based only on a performance specification for a refinery and loading dock project in far east Russia.