Project Recovery & Claims Management - Pipelines

We have completed assignments as construction expert witnesses for leading law firms specialising in construction disputes related to major onshore pipeline projects in Queensland, Australia, and British Columbia, Canada, which involved significant construction claims. Furthermore, these disputes resulted from ineffectual project management implementation by both owner and contractor management teams, who lost control of their objectives due to mistrust, poor decision-making, and deficiencies in planning and construction execution. Had both teams agreed to the concept of project recovery management and appointed an independent and experienced recovery project manager to develop practical strategies for project recovery. Then, these projects may have been put back on an agreed course with realistic scheduled end dates without resorting to arbitration.

Many projects get into difficulties and suffer significant schedule slippage and cost overruns because the necessary coordination and controls are not in place. Had the correct systems been effectively implemented, the warning signs would have been obvious, and the project team would have had time to implement measures to remedy the situation. 

However, this seldom happens in my experience because the project team is not performing as a team and is inclined not to communicate. They work in isolation, focused on their assigned activities, often with optimism and confidence in their abilities and the belief that even if the activity is late, everything will be alright in the end. That is not how it works; events conspire against them. The causes or impacts are not adequately understood and, worse still, not shared with the team. See below an extract from a document on “avoiding major project failure” published by KPMG. In my experience, their analysis could not have been more valid.

“While team optimism and confidence are great attributes, we have found that troubled projects almost never recover without dramatic intervention. If management is not aware of project issues until they are catastrophic, it is almost impossible for management to take any action that will rescue the project and avoid failure. This is why it is important for management, the project team, and stakeholders to avoid isolating themselves. They must not rely only on internally generated project information but also on independent information prepared by stakeholders with unbiased information and perspectives”.¹

PCM Ltd provides project recovery management services and practitioners in the role of recovery project manager. We have the capability to accomplish critical improvements and complete your project with the least overall adverse effects.

In addition, as claims management specialists, we have considerable experience processing construction claims for delay and disruption or a change in the works. Our professional services provide the required determination and application to achieve outstanding results under exceptionally challenging commercial environments. Furthermore, we have a first-class reputation for claims settlement within the onshore pipeline construction industry.