Hydrocarbon Processing - August 2022 - 74

Plant Design, Engineering, Construction and Commissioning
project's scope. While such references
can be found in various places in construction
contract documents, bringing
them all together in one single document
helps with the joint understanding and
implementation of them.
In addition, the agreement on acceptance
criteria matters when the payment
to the contractor is tied to the completion
of certain milestones. Having clarity
on what constitutes the acceptance of
work reduces the likelihood of disagreements
on sensitive payment issues during
and after construction execution.
Recording requirements. How the
results of inspections and tests are documented
must be agreed upon upfront to
avoid conflicts during QC activities. The
retention of test and inspection evidence
is critical for historical data capture, legal
and/or training purposes in many
organizations. Since the owner, general
contractor and trade contractors may
have different formats for collecting this
evidence, addressing what the agreedupon
format is brings efficiency to QC
documentation.
Scope of responsibility. What the
role of each entity is in the QC activities
is a consequential coordination area.
The ITP preparation serves as an alignment
opportunity to determine the extent
of QC activities completed by each
party. Examples of QC tasks designated
to project participants include to:
* Inspect: Physical checking
of an activity
* Witness: Presence of a
Activity
No.
3.0 Welding
3.2
and equipment is calibrated
Inspection / Test Points
representative for a check point
* Review: Document reviews to
verify completeness and accuracy.
In this section, the parties agree on hold
points at which the construction process
cannot proceed without the presence of
certain parties and their approval.
Translating contractual requirements
into the ITP. The contractor
who prepares the ITP should have a
good understanding of the QC requirements
in the contract. The QC requirements
in construction contracts can be
found in various places, such as:
* Design specifications
* Drawings
* Local/international standards
referenced in the contract
* Manufacturer requirements.
For complex projects, it can be a difficult
task to capture all the required
checking processes. The preparation of
an ITP in a collaborative manner gives
the project team an avenue to apprehend
QC requirements and to plan on performing
them accordingly.
This is also important, considering
the prospect of conflicting information
in the contract. Such conflicts in the QC
arena can come to light during the ITP
preparation process and can be resolved
by obtaining the owner's concurrence on
what requirements take precedence.
Now that the QC tasks are collected
into one place during the ITP review
and approval process, the owner gets a
chance to decide how the QC activities
Acceptance
Criteria
Recording Form
Scope Of Responsibilities
Constructor
Owner
are commensurate with the criticality of
the subject construction tasks. This may
lead to granting waivers for reducing QC
efforts for non-critical items or increasing
inspection for more important tasks.
ITP as a dispute avoidance tool. Unfortunately,
the construction industry is
a litigious industry and billions of dollars
are spent annually for dispute resolution.
Many construction claims are originated
from quality-related issues. With a close
examination, the ITP continues to be an
effective instrument to prevent the escalation
of such disputes.
For example, the owner's rejection of
work due to it not meeting a specification
or other requirements that the constructor
was not aware of has the potential to
be a costly and lengthy litigious matter.
Parties to the contract can avoid this by
thoroughly reviewing the acceptance
criteria noted in the ITP. Alignment on
what matters to the owner for accepting
the work is important for smooth construction
execution and for the prevention
of disputes down the road.
Welding
Procedure
Weld Map, Project
3.3
Uniformly Around The Weld Joint
Welding
Procedure
Weld Map, Project
6.4
Monitor Pipe Temperature During Post-weld
Treatment
Welding
Procedure
Weld Map, Project
6.5
6.6
100% Final Visual Inspections On All Welds
Non-destructive Examinations (If Required)
Asme Section V.
Form No. 1234
Form No. 1235
Inspect
Inspect
Hold Point
Form No. 1234
Inspect
HOUMAN PAYAMI is Quality
Manager for Fluor's Southern
California (U.S.) office and has
15 yr of experience in project
execution within the energy,
chemical and power industries.
He has held various roles in the
FIG. 2. Sample of an ITP.
74 AUGUST 2022 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
fields of project management, contract
management, engineering coordination and quality
assurance, covering a wide range of engineering
and construction projects. Mr. Payami holds an
MS degree in industrial and systems engineering
from the University of Southern California.
Form No. 1234
Inspect
Form No. 1234
Inspect
Takeaway. The effectiveness of QC efforts
in the construction phase of a capital
project requires alignment between
involved parties. The ITP is an excellent
tool to achieve such alignment. It coordinates
project participants on the detailed
steps of QC activities, the acceptance
criteria, documentation requirements,
and the roles of each party in inspections
and tests before, during and after
the construction processes. The ITP is
a medium to gather convoluted QC requirements
spread among contractual
documents into a single document that
can be reviewed and agreed upon collaboratively
among project participants.
The thorough review and agreement on
the details of the ITP can serve as an effective
tool to avoid future disputes that
could derail project outcomes.
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Hydrocarbon Processing - August 2022

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