Trigon - Engineering, Procurement, Construction

Alliance for Success

Our approach to completing projects and delighting clients- the Alliance for Success- differs from the traditional industry model. Typically, the incentives of project members (the client, engineering consultants, contractors, and major vendors) are not aligned and members may be poorly coordinated and even adversarial. The Alliance for Success creates a team out of all involved groups. The Alliance offers significant opportunities for improving the execution, installed cost and schedule of capital projects throughout the energy industry.

For years the oil and gas industry has utilized the following model to complete large projects:

The customer provides a project scope to an engineering company.
The engineering company creates a complex, "bullet-proof" bid package for contractors.
Contractors bid on a low-dollar basis, looking for exceptions and "holes" in the bid package.
The three parties are not in conversation with each other during this process, and the contractor generally doesn't get to see the design until it is complete.
Projects are rarely completed in the most efficient manner for the lowest cost on the best schedule.

After working in these traditional roles for many years in the pipeline design and construction business, we believe our Alliance for Success is the way to achieve truly successful projects. The allied parties treat the numerous sub-projects as only one project being executed by a team committed to its success. Further, we believe that the profits of the parties should be tied to the successful execution of the project in proportion to their risk.

Our goal is to do whatever is necessary to reduce the risks and obstacles associated with getting a project done on time and on budget, while providing the most cost-effective project solution for our clients.

This team concept approach makes the goals of the project the goals of the entire project team. Risks are shared and managed together, and the team succeeds together or fails together. The Alliance method hinges on a cost-based project budget, with profits and savings for all parties tied to the overall success of the project.

With the Alliance for Success, the team dissects the project; reviews and refines the schedule; honestly and accurately estimates the cost of all components; and identifies and separates the risks and risk costs. This is done in a completely open fashion with all real costs revealed and critiqued by all parties.

The team determines the most likely, possible maximum and possible minimum costs and probabilities of occurrence of each for the project, and then analyzes risks to determine which ones require additional attention to avoid derailing a schedule or delaying a project. Everyone is on the same page. Everyone is working toward a common goal. All parties must commit to work as an integrated team, to be open and aboveboard on all issues, and to commit to the success of the project.

The team then designs and constructs the project according to jointly agreed upon plans, schedule, construction techniques and material selection. Pros and cons for improvement or execution can be openly discussed and agreed upon. Suggestions for improvement can be reviewed and debated with concern only for the impact on the project. The interests for effective and profitable execution of the project are shared at all times since the only criteria for profit is tied to the success of the project. The need to argue and bicker is eliminated. Openness and the honest interchange of ideas prevail. Changes can be reviewed and implemented at any time based upon their merit for the project.

We feel this is an offer that is not currently available in the pipeline design and construction marketplace and that it is an offer that can have significant benefits to our clients, contractors, and vendors, as well as ourselves.

We have completed many projects using this process and it has proven successful. Although we are in a business that is technical in nature, we are finding that the true value in our work lies in tight coordination, great project management, excellent communication, and innovative commercial arrangements like the Alliance for Success.

If you would like more information on creative contracting terms under Trigon's Alliance for Success, please contact Stu Asselin, Vice President of Business Development, by email at sasselin@trigon-epc.com.