OC Expert Services Brochure

Welcome to OC Expert Services. We are a professional consultancy specialising in the commercial and contractual management of construction and engineering projects. We operate throughout the UK and internationally from our London base.

OC Expert Services offer a variety of services to assist its clients achieve commercial success in the delivery of their construction and engineering projects

Tom Oakden is the founder of OC Expert Services. He is a highly regarded practitioner who, supported by a professional team of highly qualified and talented staff, actively manages all commissions received by OC Expert Services.

Services We provide high quality services to our clients in the following areas:

• Expert witness & expert advisory services • Advocacy services/party representative • Claims & dispute management • Quantum analysis • Delay analysis

• Contract & procurement advisory services • Project evaluation & recovery • Commercial advisory services • Training

Clients The team at OC Expert Services has applied its expertise to assist its clients in achieving successful outcomes on hundreds of projects over the past 20 years. The vast majority of our work is, therefore, secured as repeat business and recommendation from existing clients and their legal advisors.

Our clients are drawn from the following sectors:

• Employer/End Users • Major construction companies

• Investment companies/turnaround specialists

• Insurance companies • Government agencies

• Property developers • Law firms/Counsel

Sectors We operate in the following sectors:

• Infrastructure & Transport • Energy/Renewables

• Mixed use developments • Power generation & transmission • Mechanical & electrical services • Utilities • Environmental schemes • Mining extraction & process • Marine & off shore

• Oil & Gas • Hospitals

• Education facilities • Office developments • Residential schemes • Retail projects

Expert Witness & Expert Advisory Services We possess particular expertise in the identification, assessment and presentation of quantum and delay entitlements that arise on engineering and construction projects and are regularly appointed to act in an expert capacity (expert witness or expert advisory) on such matters. The services we provide will usually entail some or all of the following:

• Providing impartial and objective opinion and advice to our client and legal team • Preparing expert reports

• Attending ‘without prejudice’ meetings • Preparing joint statements • Presenting expert evidence to the tribunal

We can provide such services whether the tribunal is arbitration, adjudication or the courts. We are professionally qualified to act as Expert Witnesses and are fully up to date with current practice and the law relating to the provision of expert evidence.

Advocacy Services/Party Representative The team at OC Expert Services has an excellent record in assisting its clients to achieve successful outcomes on a broad range of disputes in terms of project type, size, contract and the amount in dispute. We are highly experienced in representing parties in adjudication. This service is usually carried out in conjunction with our clients’ appointed legal teams in order to minimise costs and to maximise team strength across the technical and legal aspects of each case. We are fully up to date and conversant with the ever-evolving case law concerning adjudication and payment legislation in the UK and other jurisdictions. We will also react at short notice to assist our clients if they are ‘ambushed’ by the sudden commencement of adjudication proceedings.

OC Expert Services www.ocexpertservices.com +44 (0)203 955 5171 Bridge House, 181 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EG

Claims & Dispute Management We are regularly commissioned to investigate the cause of delay and/or cost overruns and to prepare correspondence and claim documents to seek recompense against the responsible party or parties. We apply a professional and non-adversarial approach in order to protect our clients’ business relationships and the majority of our cases are successfully resolved by negotiation or at mediation.

We are also regularly commissioned to review the merits of claims that our clients receive and to draft correspondence and documentation in response. We are also experienced in preparing, reviewing and responding to insurance claims e.g. fire, floods, defective work, insolvency, contractor default and professional negligence.

We have a detailed understanding of the factors that can give rise to delays and cost overruns and how claims for compensation need to be made if they are to be successful. We are regularly commissioned to carry out the identification, assessment and presentation of quantum attributable to the following heads of claim: Quantum Analysis

• Prolongation of the works on site • Liquidated damages for delay • General damages for delay • ‘Thickening’ of resources/preliminaries • Valuation of changes/variations • Rectification of defects (incurred and future) • Valuation of work on the basis of quantum meruit • Additional overhead costs • Loss of contribution to overhead recovery • Loss of profit

• Disruption / loss of productivity / uneconomic working • Third party claims and settlements

• Diminution in value • Reduced life cycle

• Loss of facility/process time • Inflation/price fluctuations • Finance charges • Currency fluctuations • Interest

Delay Analysis The team at OC Expert Services has an excellent record of success in this area, in large part attributable to the fact that we will always apply an objective and common-sense approach which accords with the facts of what actually happened. We also recognise that in all but the simplest of cases there will usually be competing causes of delay with different parties responsible and

varying repercussions on entitlement. We recognise that cause and effect will therefore usually need to be demonstrated with logic linked critical path delay analysis with each delay event addressed individually.

We are fully up to date with the ever-evolving case law concerning the assessment of delay entitlements and are fully conversant with the various techniques that can be used to analyse delay.

Project Evaluation & Recovery

We are experienced in conducting project reviews and audits on behalf of employer organisations, auditors, investors and potential purchasers in order to provide our independent and objective opinion on:

• Expected outturn cost and return on the project • Expected time for completion of the project • Issues that may have a detrimental effect on programme and cost • Obstacles which may prevent full recovery of entitlements

• Strategy for the management of the remainder of the project to maximise return/profit • Recommendations for implementation of the selected strategy

The team are also experienced in undertaking corruption/fraud investigations.

OC Expert Services www.ocexpertservices.com +44 (0)203 955 5171 Bridge House, 181 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EG

Commercial Advisory Services The commercial management services we offer our clients include:

• Undertaking independent project reviews to accurately determine: the programme and commercial position of the project; issues that may have a detrimental effect on the project; and recommendations to address and eliminate such issues • Developing policies and/or procedures for the early warning of issues that potentially have an adverse effect on programme and cost • Developing policies and/or procedures for the early and complete capture of project change (variations, compensation events etc.) and their proper valuation and assessment • Developing policies and/or procedures to integrate programme management with the commercial and contractual management of projects

• Developing policies and/or procedures for the contractual management of projects including compliance with requirements for the notification of claims and compliance with contractual and statutory requirements for the issue of Payment and Payless Notices • Developing policies and/or procedures for dispute avoidance within the supply chain • Developing policies and/or procedures for project reporting to protect the commercial position of our clients • Reviewing compliance with policies and/or procedures and recommending appropriate actions in the event of non-compliance • Providing training to staff on contractual and commercial management subjects.

We draw on our experience gained across an extensive range of project and contract types to deliver optimal solutions for our clients

The team has a track record of achieving successful outcomes on hundreds of projects over 20 years

Commercial & Procurement Advisory Services The team at OC Expert Services has a detailed understanding of the factors that will cause budgetary and programme risk to engineering and construction projects and the options for optimising the transference of such risk. We also have a detailed understanding of the forms of contract that are in operation throughout the UK and internationally, the issues and risks that are inherent in these contracts, and the amendments that can be made to each form to suit the particular needs of the parties and the project. Our experience and knowledge can be very usefully deployed, by our clients appointing us to work alongside their project team and retained lawyers, to either prepare contract documentation or to review and suggest amendments to proposed contract documentation.

The services we typically provide include: • Examining and reporting on the adequacy of how the requirements for the project have been defined • Examining and reporting on the adequacy of the contractor’s proposals for meeting the project requirements • Identifying errors, conflicts and discrepancies within the proposed contract documentation and examining the approach that would be taken by the conditions of the proposed contract to resolve such errors, conflicts and discrepancies

• Examining and reporting on risks and opportunities that are abnormal for the type of project or contract at hand • Providing advice on how the contract should be managed and administered from a commercial perspective after it has been entered into • Providing training to our client’s project team to familiarise it with the contract documentation, the risks/opportunities that are likely to arise and how they should be managed

The team at OC Expert Services also has experience in working with major construction companies and their legal teams to develop their suite of in-house sub-contract/consultant terms and conditions, amendments to standard forms, internal commercial management policy documents and programme management policy documents.

We are a niche consultancy ideally placed to provide independent and objective services untethered by other business interests

Training We regularly deliver in-house training courses to our clients on various topics. These courses are bespoke to suit the particular requirements of our clients and range in length from breakfast to • The management of variations • Claims management • Adjudication • Programme management • The management of delay • Concurrency in delay • The assessment of loss and expense/damages • Compensation Events under NEC3 • Payment under NEC4 • GCC Conditions of Contract • FIDIC Conditions of Contract • Payment Notices and the Construction Act • Commercial aspects of recent case law

all-day seminars. The subjects that the team at OC Expert Services have addressed in its courses include:

Bridge House 181 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4EG

+44 (0)203 955 5171 www.ocexpertservices.com tom.oakden@ocexpertservices.com

OC Expert Services Bridge House 181 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4EG

+44 (0)203 955 5171 www.ocexpertservices.com tom.oakden@ocexpertservices.com