WAYS OF WORKING – Subject Series Summary

This is McLaughlin and McLaughlins Project Professional’s first Subject Series Summary regarding Ways of WorkingWays of Working aggregates a collection of topics that may be helpful to program and project managers.  This summary update provides an overview of prior posts and provides a baseline for future posts that will follow on a timely basis.

The topics include:

This summary is very brief and simply serves as an index for readers to follow.  Of course, detailed descriptions are contained in the individual posts.  The Subject Series page may also be helpful.  It contains links to several popular series that consist of multiple posts that build upon earlier discussions.

Ideally this Subject Series provides a starting point to investigate best practice on many topics of interest or features of project management.  If you have a suggested topic, please feel free to contact us and let us know. [Read more…]

Owner Furnished (Supplied) / Free Issue Equipment and Materials

Introduction

Owner furnished (supplied) equipment (OFE), also known by other terms such as “free issue” presents unique planning and scheduling challenges.  The idea is that another party to the contract procures / orders and supplies equipment, material (even services, such as utilities or scaffolding) to the contractor.  The notion is that the contractor receives the equipment, goods or services and then erects, installs or otherwise uses these items.

The motivation for this type of arrangement can be one or more of several seemingly logical concepts.  Equipment with long lead times for fabrication and delivery may be ordered in advance of placing a contract for the equipment erection or installation.  Another motivation relates to cost savings.  Some believe ordering equipment and commodities (bulk materials) can be done by a general contractor or owner (owner, developer, employer) and thereby save a markup by a subcontractor.  In these cases, an interface is created between the ordering/procurement entity and the execution (engineering, erection, installation, fabrication, etc.) entity.  The creation of this interface becomes the issue. [Read more…]