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In EPC projects, what is the best procedure to control procurement of bulk material?

Bulk material like Piping, steel rebars, sand for backfill,...etc. are hard to be estimated in EPC projects and more likely to have budget overrun, what should be done?

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Question added by mohamed mansour , Planning and Controls Lead Engineer (act as: Project Controls Manager) , Arabian Bemco Contracting co. ltd.
Date Posted: 2013/04/24
Youssef Mouzahem
by Youssef Mouzahem , Senior Commercial Manager , Jacobs

Three main and simple steps: 1.
Accurate estimation during planning phase.
2.
Warehouse management and material control during execution.
3.
Tracking records during monitoring phase.

I am sorry, but I do not have deep enough expertise to help you with this question.
You can contact Reju Nair for more information on LinkedIn.

Ojal Singh
by Ojal Singh , Senior Cost Engineer , Tecnimont

1. Proper estimation in proposal stage

2. Regular analysis of cost and quantity variation during execution stage

3. warehouse management and providing front end availability

ASIF BE Mech IEng PMP
by ASIF BE Mech IEng PMP , Projects Manager - Buildings Utilities & infrastructure , Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation

procurement based on exact specs , and site condition to match and claims need to be defined properly once such technocommercial bridge is created the new concept is requesting manufacturer for faster deliveries or keeping trasnport selection as client option ,putting clause of manufacturing and assembly time requirement of approved factory.such details will help. in todays subcontracting concept a material engineering team is worth for EPC . 

shailesh chauhan
by shailesh chauhan , Mechanical Engineering Manager , Alghanim International

Proper Estimation, Reducing Costs and Improving Procurement Efficiency

Viorel Dumitrache
by Viorel Dumitrache , general manager , BETA

First of all, such materials are subject to commodities exchange prices, i.e.
their prices are not constant, nor they are accurately predictable, since the only variable they depend on is offer and demand.
Therefore, you may take a commercial safety, linking them expressly with a reference price (e.g.
"Price is valid at London commodities exchange prices of today.
Variations greater than +/-3% will lead to corresponding variations of offer price").
As well, you may limit offer's validity to a period where your bulk materials are having a predictable trend, but it is always a gamble, since you cannot predict everything.
For example, steel prices have doubled in a period of2-3 years, somewhere between2002 and2004.
In the same time, a common period between offer and contract may be more than2 years, depending on the international economic situation.
Therefore, the best would be to transfer this risk to the client, which will have a supplementary incentive to make a fast decision.
Just a personal opinion, avoid LSTK deals, which transfers all the risk to the contractor.
Such deals are to be signed when you are sure that all details of the projects are very well known.
On the other hand, if I would be obliged to bid for a LSTK job, I would put all "safety coefficients" in price, correspondingly increasing it, and obliging customer to an increased financial effort.
Therefore, I would not recommend to either side such an approach.
I repeat, it is just an opinion.
Any other specific comments/clarifications, you may contact me directly at

GURUMOORTHY GOVINDARAJAN
by GURUMOORTHY GOVINDARAJAN , Lead Piping Engineer , KBR Inc. - United Arab Emirates

Inventory control through SAP

Atul Pratap
by Atul Pratap , Construction Manager , PUNJ LLOYD LTD.

The requirement of bulk materials should be estimated periodically e.g. monthly or quaterly depending upon project lifecycle.The estimation should always follow closely the engineering progress.It is a good strategy to maintain buffer stock of certain minimum quantity to avoid delay in the project due to supply chain management issues.

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