Engineering EPCM contractor

In our chosen model the owner is the entity which initiates the project, finances it, carries out the basic design and which will take possession of it and operate it once it is complete. Let us assume that this organization does not possess engineering, procurement and construction departments of sufficient size and capability to run the project in-house. Consequently, the owner engages an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contractor. 

Constmction contractors are chosen for their competence in the various disciplines. They bring to the site the necessary human and physical resources together with the stmcture, organization and procedures necessary to meet their contractual obligations. With the prior permission of the EPCM contractor, a construction contractor may subcontract part of its workscope, but in that case the construction contractor is entirely responsible for the quality of work of the subcontractor. The construction contractors receive engineering... 

During construction it might be preferable for the authorities engineer to be based on site. When the site is in a cmmtry with which the EPCM contractor is not familiar, it is essential to have an input of local knowledge. It is common practice also... 

There may well be considerable overlap between the responsibilities of the utility companies, the insurer and the authorities. For example, the electricity supply company may be the de facto or even the de jure authority for the plant electrical installation. In some countries the enforcement of regulations concerning boilers and lifting devices may in effect be left to the insurer. For this reason it may be advantageous for the EPCM contractor s authorities engineer also to be responsible for liaison with the insurer and the utility companies. 

Thus the extension/modification of an existing plant calls for meticulous attention to detail in pre-planning, in execution and in completion. Written procedures for all phases must be prepared well in advance and accepted by those concerned. The necessary staff, in particular in the engineering disciplines, must be available on site for monitoring and control. The respective responsibilities of EPCM contractor and owner have to be defined especially for construction completion, turnover and commissioning. Finally the project organization... 

Define the role of the EPCM contractor s engineering department on site, including document control, and the site s interface with the project information technology infrastructure (Chapter 6). 

Site engineer. This is the site representative of the EPCM contractor s head office engineering department responsibilities can include document control (see Chapter 6). 

The EPCM contractor s engineering department (ED) will have been responsible for designing the plant and for the technical input to purchase orders and construction contracts. These tasks will not have been fully completed at the time the site is opened. The ED will now assume the additional responsibility of providing the EPCM contractor s site team with the following inputs ... 

These documents will have been created in the EPCM contractor s engineering department (ED) from the starting point... 

A member of the EPCM contractor s site team, the owner s representative or a construction contractor, in fact any concerned party, may initiate a query concerning the on-site interpretation or application of an engineering document. The query could typically concern ... 

The originator uses Part A of the form proposed in Figure 6.1, site engineering query record (SEQR), to define the query and where applicable propose a solution, adding to the form any attachments he or she may consider necessary to illustrate the query he or she presents the form and attachments to the EPCM contractor site engineer. 

The site engineer is either able to answer the query himself or herself or has to refer it to the EPCM contractor s head office engineering department. 

For the owner time was pressing, so it was decided to simplify the project structure. In the first place the owner brought in one of its own engineers to head up the operation. He already possessed the experience of several plant construction completions and turnovers, had developed a procedure and came armed with computer software to track the operation. An integrated team was formed, comprising staff from the owner and the EPCM contractor. The contracts with the construction contractors for the mechanical, piping, electrical and control and instrumentation disciplines were closed out as such, and instead these firms made available teams of pipe fitters, welders, electricians, etc., to be integrated into the owner-EPCM contractor team. Their services would be paid for on the basis of time spent at houriy rates. 

Chapter 4 discusses the central role of the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contractor on the construction site, its organization and the duties of key members of its staff. An approach is given for the preparation from scratch of a quality plan for this organization and a typical organization chart is included. 

Consider now a second scenario, where the Owner first lets one contract. Contract X, for the EPCM (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management) of the facility. During the development stage the EPCM contractor then lets, on behalf of the Owner, one or more contracts for the equipment and services required in the production stage. In this case. Contract X spans all three stages and contains all the processes, including some of the production processes. 

Engineering, procurement, and construction management may be structured as a separate contract ( EPCM services or management contract ). The contractor s task is the engineering and management of the project and in the process competitively procuring the direct field cost (DEC) elements, that is, all the physical plant and its construction, on behalf of the client or on a reimbursable basis. The 80-or-so per cent of the plant costs composing the DEC are thus subject to competitive... 

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