Early Contractor Engagement
Front-End Planning Overview & Philosophy
At Surerus, we recognize the value of early engagement in front-end planning (FEP) pipeline projects to deliver buildable designs the first time out. Our early project engagement with FEP helps eliminate constantly evolving designs that require multiple stakeholder consultations and regulatory revisions that stretch project schedules and add cost.
Key Initiatives & Components
Early engagement in the project design cycle with construction-driven FEP is key to delivering successful pipeline projects. At Surerus, FEP goes beyond simple constructability input to actually driving designers and other front-end project stakeholders toward the optimal execution design right out of the gate. Our FEP helps focus clients’ environmental, socio-economic, geomatics, landowner and design teams on those issues most likely to impact construction execution.
A key component of our FEP is the development of an access, clearing, grading and reclamation (ACGR) plan. Our team will work with clients’ regulatory, environmental, land, geomatics and design teams to develop an ACGR plan that aligns stakeholder interests with a design that’s buildable to “hard money”. With an ACGR borne out of early FEP, Surerus brings cost and schedule certainty to clients earlier in the project lifecycle than traditional design-bid-build execution models. Key deliverables of FEP to our Clients are:
- A more defined less variable regulatory filing;
- Assurance that key environmental considerations are built into execution planning from the get-go;
- Confidence that commitments made to socio-economic stakeholders are built into execution plans at project inception and not abandoned later, often at great cost and expense; and
- A single AutoCAD platform that layers inputs from various platforms in engineering, environmental, geomatics, land and regulatory departments.
Delivery
The North American and, in particular, the Canadian pipelining markets are expanding, with projects getting larger and more complex in terms of diameter, stakeholder interests and costs. Owners and shippers are finding that traditional project delivery models struggle to meet theirs and stakeholders’ demands. Our early engagement FEP delivery model gives clients cost and schedule certainty, assisting them in obtaining FID funding.
Our FEP framework incorporates experienced pipeline professionals into clients’ front-end planning teams to ensure practical completion strategies are established early in the project. The Surerus FEP team consists of a program/project leader, construction superintendent and key technical leads (called upon as required), as well as a lead estimator and scheduler.
Following a successful project award, the Surerus FEP team will move forward as the core team leading the project. The group will provide an ACGR with an execution plan, schedule and estimate. At the client’s direction, Surerus’ FEP team will also deliver an AutoCAD model incorporating environmental, land and design data on a standard platform.
