Dear Sumar,
You personally do not need EPC. Projects need an EPC. EPC is Engineering, Procurement and Construction.
Under an EPC contract, the contractor designs the installation, procures the necessary materials and builds the project, either directly or by subcontracting part of the work. In some cases, the contractor carries the project risk for schedule as well as budget in return for a fixed price, called lump sum or LSTK depending on the agreed scope of work.
When the scope is restricted to engineering and procurement, this is referred to as an EP, E and P or E+P contract. This is often done in situations where the construction risk is too great for the contractor or when the owner does the construction.
The 'keys' to a commissioned plant are handed to the owner for an agreed amount, just as a builder hands the keys of a flat to the purchaser. (One should recognise that some EPC contracts terminate at Mechanical Completion but before Commissioning while LSTK contracts always include Commissioning.) EPC is gaining importance worldwide. It requires good understanding by the EPCC to return a profit. An owner decides for an EPC contract for reasons that include:
Reduced stress for owner
easy work and growth of the company.
Single point of contact for owner simplifies communications.
Ready availability of post-commissioning services
Ensures quality and reduces practical issues faced in other ways[clarification needed]
Owner protected against changing prices for materials, labor, etc.
Cost is known at the start of the project
Besides the plant siting, in an EPC contract the owner defines:
Scope and the specifications of the plant
Quality
Project duration
Cost
The cost (the price to be paid to the EPCC) is negotiated and finalised and paid in mutually agreed installments.
Functions
Engineering Functions include:
Initiation
Planning
Estimating -> Request for Quote
Design
Procurement Functions include:
Purchasing
Expediting
Receiving
Invoicing
Construction Functions include:
Construction Schedule
On-site Material Handling
Building Activities
On-site Client Communications
Closing
I hope that this helps you understand how an EPC Contractor works.
Best Regards,
Brent Choate
I'll take it in an elderly fashion: When somebody wants to invest in a new plant, the decision is made based on it's output and possibility to recover the investment money. Therefore, the main goal is to have something that works at proper parameters, ensuring that financial predictions are met by the plant. In such respect, and taking into consideration that, in order to build a plant, multiple specialties are to cooperate and to be properly coordinated, EPC concept was developed, that puts all responsibilities on contractor's shoulders, and avoids never ending discussions on the matter of "who's fault is", such discussions being time-consuming and in very few cases useful. Instead, you'll have a team that has a common goal - to deliver a proper plant, at required parameters - and consequently has to have a positive and proactive attitude.
For this purpose, Project management discipline will be intensively used, providing tools for a proper planning and coordination of resources of such widely variable disciplines.
There is, also, another option, to split responsibilities between contractors (e.g. basic engineering, detail engineering, civil engineering and works, equipment, erection, E&I, etc) but in such case you must have yourself a team to coordinate all these. As far as I am aware, there are Project Consultancy companies that may provide such dedicated teams, which will work for the best financial interest of the Company and deal with each contractor. It may be cheaper like this, however, the PMC team must ensure that all risks are properly identified and addressed by the contracts with the Contractors. As well, they must avoid the risks of non-communication between various contractors, e.g when the output of a contractor is used as input for other contractor's work. A basic example is, when you award contract for a piece of equipment to a supplier, make sure he is providing a foundation bolts' template for the civil works contractor, and this will happen in due time, in order to not unnecessarily stop his work.
I hope this answers your question