Experience Matters

On behalf of an insurer representing a contractor, prepared an expert report and provided testimony regarding the analysis of an owner’s property damage claim following a fire at an oil terminal, which damaged the tank areas, including associated equipment, piping, electrical and instrumentation. Also evaluated the validity of the owner’s warranty claims that existed prior to the fire and included in the owner’s alleged damages. Prepared an expert report and testified in deposition, which led to a settlement of the dispute.

The project centered on the EPC design/build of a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant to replace an existing, overutilized facility in order to meet the current and future needs of the city. Due to site constraints, the plant involved stacking SBR’s on top of each other and building the new works parallel to maintaining the old plant prior to demolition. EU environmental regulations were critical to maintaining high standards of odor and treated water outputs. The plant ultimately failed to meet performance standards, was delayed in construction, and had operational issues for the local residential areas. Engaged to provide support in developing the main contractor’s construction claims (in conjunction with the main contractor’s consortium partners) against the owner and assist with resolution of insurance claims for E&O problems during the design process. This involved CPM and disruption analysis, plus coordinating outside counsel and other experts to support the contractor’s position.

On behalf of an owner, analyzed entitlement, schedule delay and damages related to a contractor’s $12 million claim against a major international chemical company associated with the construction of two process units in an existing chemical plant. The initial EPC contractor was terminated and sought recovery of its cost overruns as a result of field change orders. The owner alleged that the work was defective as a result of engineering errors, field installation errors, and welding defects.

Assisted an owner in the defense of a $12 million claim on a project involving the design, delivery and construction of a new cement production line from ore receiving to finish mill and product loadout. The EPC contractor claimed increased costs due to alleged owner-caused delays and disruption arising from late delivery of proprietary design information, materials, and equipment; and impacts to labor productivity due to numerous changes to the work and contractor’s alleged acceleration to overcome delays.

On behalf of an owner, evaluated a piping module subcontractor’s delay claim associated with a GTL facility. Evaluated the integrity of the subcontractor’s schedules and verified the impact of changes to the subcontractor’s schedule. Participated with the EPC contractor and owner to achieve a settlement of the time extension and cost components of the subcontractor’s claim.

Analyzed detailed as-planned and as-built schedules for two state prison projects and a city prison project.

On behalf of an apartment building owner, performed an assessment to determine whether a contractor met its contractual and/or industry standard of care obligations associated with project management, project schedule development and progress updating, and construction management. Also prepared a schedule delay analysis of the project to identify delays to the project substantial completion date, determined their causes, and allocated responsibility for each delay to the parties. Prepared an expert report of findings and opinions.

On behalf of an insurance company, analyzed a $200 million insurance claim for non traditional coverages resulting from delays and cost overruns on the construction of an oil sands mine facility and upgrader unit in Alberta. Prepared expert witness reports in support of the ICC arbitration.

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.

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.