Cracking the VfM Code™ in Mining: The Pros & Cons of Collaborative Contracting in the Resources Sector was written in response to requests from readers of the existing Cracking the VfM Code in Collaborative Contracting duo.
With
Australia’s mining industry experiencing an indisputably bumpy road as
it heads out of its unprecedented half-decade boom and into a distinct
cool-down period, leaders across its various sectors are framing the
question:
Is there a role
for collaborative contracting and alliancing-type delivery methodologies
to help curb the spiralling costs and other contractual challenges
plaguing project owners?
This new addition to what has now become the Cracking the VfM Code™book
collection investigates this potential through a series of interviews
with well-recognised opinion leaders from the Australian mining
industry. Readers will be shocked, surprised, encouraged and informed by
the unedited opinions of some of the mining industry’s “wisest heads”
on the subject of alliancing and other forms of collaborative
contracting.
Read:
How,
as at 2012, the cost of developing a mineral resources project in
Australia is an average 1.5 times that of getting a project up in other
mining nations – and how disillusionment by project owners is prompting
an active and more open-minded search for alternative delivery
methodologies.
Why Minerals Council CEO Mitchell Hooke has said a
“wake-up call” lies in wait for anyone hanging on to the belief that
the country’s mining sector is sufficiently resilient that it will
continue to thrive, irrespective of events and trends in the industry,
the economy, and markets globally.
How international law firm
Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson) reported in its most recent
infrastructure survey that 67% of respondents who had delivered a
project using an alliance had seen them come in on schedule, on budget,
and to the required standard. Only 48% of respondents had experienced
these desired outcomes using other contractual methodologies.
The
(often substantial) financial penalty paid unwittingly in the
marketplace by project owners employing inefficient project delivery
methodologies.
Why the transparency feature of alliancing and
other reasonably “pure” forms of collaborative contracting offer
substantial scope for mining interests and contractors to solve the
industry’s current woes.
How one mining management consultant
considers alliancing “a giant leap on from joint venturing” and “an
evolutionary step onward from EPCM”.
Why proponents of
collaborative contracting still need to solve the issues surrounding the
convincing demonstration of VfM and the challenge of appropriate
risk-sharing, if they want to talk seriously with mining industry
leaders.
Why some mining industry leaders still view alliances
as simply another form of cost-plus contracting, with the owner footing
the bill for everything, including poor contractor performance – and
what the construction sector can do to change that opinion.
How
setting accurate TCEs and meaningful KRAs is vastly different to
achieving the same in the public infrastructure environment.
When and how to interest a mining major in an alliance or other collaborative contracting arrangement.
Why alliances need to be kept “fresh” if they are to deliver value in the highly-specific context of a mining project.
How
the contracting sector could play a more valuable role in reducing the
failure rate of mining projects by sustaining collaborative effort past
the hand-over stage.
How alliancing stalwarts would benefit from “sparing the mystique and the buzz words, and ‘embracing boring’”.
What’s
behind the mining industry’s growing interest in the application of
Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) formats, the specific benefits owners
and contractors should be capitalising on, and the communications
priorities that must be recognised for a successful ECI.
Why the
collaborative contracting movement’s leading facilitator believes many
mining executives have a “command and control paradigm block” that
inhibits their beneficial application of alliancing principles.
Why
understanding the distinction between “co-operation” and
“collaboration” in the context of a mining industry project could be the
difference between the acceptability or non-acceptability of alliancing
for many mining houses.
How to Identify & Deliver Genuine Value for Money in Collaborative Contracting
Book, 330 pages (234 x 154mm), paperback
Book 1 in the Cracking the VfM Code™ duo, How to Identify & Deliver Genuine Value for Money in Collaborative Contracting, offers an unprecedented degree of insight into what it takes to produce a consistent record of value-for-money results in major public infrastructure projects.
Value for Money ... Understanding It & Articulating Your Ability to Deliver It
Book,165 pages (234 x 154mm), paperback
Written specifically for those bidding collaboratively-delivered public infrastructure, Cracking the VfM Code™ in Collaborative Contract Bidding: Value for Money ... Understanding It & Articulating Your Ability to Deliver It unveils the direct linkage between your ability to identify the client's "VfM" priorities and winning big-ticket projects.