Owners, investors or financing entities that stand behind the initiation of a project, do not necessarily have the manpower or knowledge to monitor in real-time its execution. For that matter they often hire a professional consultant that manages a team of experts to follow up with different aspects of the project.
The Owner Project Manager basically manages all the aspects of the EPC or Turnkey agreement between the Owner and the Main Contractor. The main topics are:
- Time Schedule (Key Project’s Indicators) monitoring.
- Quality Assurance Plan monitoring.
- Safety monitoring.
- Budget monitoring.
- Contract Management (Legal, Administration)
- Reporting to management.
- Risks assessment and management.
- Permits and Licensing (Technical level).
- Point-of contact with main contractor’s project manager.
- Looking after commissioning and hand-over from construction to operation.
The Owner Project Manager reports to his CEO and his board of directors. In many cases the Owner establishes a Special Purpose Company for the project phase and a different company for the operation phase. The CEO has other duties which stems from his relationships with the ultimate client (The state, the municipality, the ministry etc.), and the commercial aspects of the contract with it. The CEO has also “political” responsibilities towards owner’s partners, local authorities, public relations etc. So, his Owner Project Manager covers for him the monitoring and management of the physical execution of the project.
The Owner Project Manager cannot cover all the project disciplines by himself. He needs a small crew of professional advisors (or employees) and staff. These are some categories:
- Owner Engineer.
- Contract manager (legal).
- Time-schedule control.
- Permits and Licensing.
- Administration and document control.
- Quality Assurance manager.
There are combinations where the CEO acts also as Owner Project Manager, or that the Owner Engineer acts also as Owner Project Manager. It all depends on the size of the project or the capabilities of the available personnel.
