Get in touch – we will tell you what your contract covers today and what it leaves open.
Side
the operator only
Span
Award to warranty
Basis
Your terms and conditions, VOB, FIDIC
400+
turnarounds and projects as our base of experience
Contract management
The contract governs what applies when something deviates.
A project contract is drawn up under time pressure, with many parties and different interests. Managed well, it is the instrument with which you control deviations instead of suffering them.
A legally sound contract is not yet a working basis. The project team needs to know what it means day to day: who may instruct what, which deadlines are running, what has to be notified and how. That is why our work starts before award with the contract structure and continues at contract start – with a workshop for everyone involved and a register that translates the contract into the language of the project. During the project we manage it: deadlines in view, changes assessed and prepared for instruction, deviations detected early.
A variation is not a dispute. It is the response the contract provides for a change.
Preventive and executive – who is responsible when
Swipe sideways to view →Contract management runs continuously, from award to warranty. Claims management only comes in when a deviation occurs – and then draws on what was agreed and recorded beforehand.
If a deviation occurs anyway, claims management builds on this: we review the contractor's claims for entitlement and amount, determine your own claims and demonstrate their schedule impact. ep-cm is owner-managed and does not belong to any group with executing trades – in every contractual question we represent only one side: yours.
The schedule impact of an obstruction
Swipe sideways to view →As-planned vs. as-built: one event pushes everything that follows further back. The gap between the planned and the actual end is the schedule impact – and that is exactly what has to be proven.
The basis for this comes from the other disciplines of project control: version-controlled documentation from Document Control, the assessed impact on cost from Cost Control and the baseline against which the impact on the schedule is calculated from Project Scheduling. In a shutdown, the daily records from Execution Coordination are added.
Scope of services
What we take on
Six building blocks across the full span of the contract – from the structure before award to the claim that is already on the table.
Contract structure & contracting strategy
Before award: which form of contract, how the packages are cut, how risk is allocated. Deciding this deliberately means less negotiation later – many variations are already built into the contract.
Contract start & contract register
A kick-off workshop with everyone involved translates the contract into the day-to-day reality of the project: obligations of both parties, deadlines, notification duties and authority to instruct are kept in a register that the project team knows and uses.
Contract control in the project
Deadlines are monitored, deviations from the agreed scope of work spotted early – in both directions. That keeps the contract a management tool, rather than something opened again only when a dispute arises.
Managing changes & variations
Every change is assessed before it is carried out and instructed only by those authorised to do so. A verbal promise in the plant is a common origin of a later claim.
Securing evidence from day 1
Disruptions, changes and hindrances are recorded daily – with cause, effect, and impact on schedule and cost. This includes the operator's own duties to cooperate: site access, approvals, plant handover. These are exactly what most claims against the operator arise from.
Reviewing claims, substantiating entitlements
When a variation claim arrives, we review its basis and amount against the contract and the chain of causation: what is justified gets paid, what does not stand up is rejected on the facts. If you have an entitlement arising from delay, underperformance or defects, we quantify it and demonstrate the schedule impact.
What you gain
What you gain
On your sideWe represent the operator's interests exclusively – independent of the companies carrying out the work.
Stay predictableA well-managed contract keeps quality, schedule and cost where they were agreed – variations do not come as a surprise.
Able to actYour team knows deadlines, obligations and authorities before they matter.
A solid positionEntitlements are proven, not asserted – and in negotiations, that is exactly what counts.
The partnership holdsFactual in tone, reliable in approach – the contractor often keeps working in your plant for months.
Our approach
From contract to claim
Four steps – the first three decide how often the fourth is needed at all.
01
Before award
We help choose the contract structure that fits the project: form of contract, cut of the packages, risk allocation, deadlines and notification duties. What is settled here does not have to be negotiated later.
02
Contract start
In the kick-off workshop, everyone involved gets to know the contract they will be working with from now on: who may instruct what, which deadlines apply, what is notified and how. The contract register comes out of this.
03
In the project
The contract is managed, not just administered: deadlines in view, changes assessed and prepared for instruction, disruptions recorded as they happen. That is what makes the difference later.
04
Review and substantiate
When a claim comes in, we review its basis and amount. If you have a claim of your own, we determine it methodically and demonstrate the schedule impact. If it escalates, we provide the facts on which your law firm and experts build.
Context
Contract management or claim management?
Both. One prevents, the other executes – and both belong in one pair of hands.
01Preventive: contract managementFrom cutting the packages before award to the register in the project: the scope of work is sharpened, deadlines and authorities are known to all, deviations show up early. Most of what is settled here never becomes a claim.02Executive: claim managementOnce the deviation is there: reviewing the contractor's claims, quantifying and substantiating your own entitlements, demonstrating the schedule impact – on the foundation laid by contract management.03After the fact: establishing what happenedWhen claims are already on the table and we are brought in late: we reconstruct the sequence of events from the site diary, correspondence and schedules and tell you what can be proven today – and what cannot.
How does contract management differ from claims management?
Contract management is preventive: before award, it sharpens the definition of the required work, allocates risks deliberately and, during the project, ensures that deadlines, obligations and authorities are known and observed. Claims management builds on this and is needed once a deviation has occurred: reviewing claims, determining and substantiating your own entitlements. The two belong together – if you only do the second, you are working without a foundation.
Does this replace a lawyer?
No, and that is expressly not our role: we do not provide legal advice. We manage the contract within the project, secure the facts as the project progresses, review the circumstances, cause and amount of a claim from a technical and commercial perspective and demonstrate the schedule impact. Your law firm handles the legal assessment and representation – building on complete documentation. At best, good preparation makes the dispute unnecessary.
Do you also advise before contract award?
Yes, and that is the most effective point. Before award, it is decided which form of contract applies, how the packages are split and who bears which risk. If you answer these questions deliberately, you will have to negotiate far less later – a large share of variations in projects do not arise on site but were already built into the contract.
What goes into a contract register?
Everything the project team needs from the contract day to day: the obligations of both parties, deadlines and notification duties, who is allowed to instruct what, guarantees and warranty periods, every change with its status. A contract that only the legal department knows does not steer a project. The register turns it into a working basis – in language that is understood in the plant as well.
Do you also review claims from our contractors?
Yes, that is one of the main reasons we are called in. We review every variation claim for its basis and amount: what is contractually justified, we recommend for payment – what does not hold up, we reject with evidence and on the facts. Both happen in a cooperative tone: the contractor often continues working in your plant for months.
Does claims management strain the relationship with the contractor?
Not if it is practised the way it is meant to be. A variation is not an accusation but the response to a change that the contract provides for. If you review claims objectively, pay justified ones promptly and reject unjustified ones with evidence, you are predictable for the contractor – and predictability is the basis of any cooperation that lasts longer than one project. That is why everyone on your side speaks with one voice: the same rules, the same responsibilities, regardless of who happens to be at the table.
Which methods do you use to demonstrate construction delays?
With recognised delay analysis methods, such as time impact analysis or a comparison of as-planned vs. as-built. Which method fits depends on the contract, the available data and the point in time of the assessment. Each of them requires a reliable baseline schedule and clean progress recording.
Does this also apply to plant shutdowns?
Yes. In a turnaround, the evidence is in fact especially fleeting: a shutdown lasts weeks, decisions are made from shift to shift, and afterwards the people involved are scattered again. Anyone who only starts documenting after start-up has already lost most of the facts.
What does contract and claims management cost?
We charge by the hour, by day rates or at a fixed price – we work out together which model fits. Ongoing contract management costs considerably less than reconstructing a disputed claim after the event – not least because nothing has to be reconstructed. For a first indication, the type of contract and the scope of the project are enough for us. The initial call is free of charge and confidential.
Terms such as claim / variation and contract management are explained in our glossary – along with 57 other terms from the turnaround and project business.
Who manages your contract?
Get in touch – we will tell you what your contract covers today, what it leaves open and what of it can already be proven. The initial call is free of charge.