CEC 2024 Provides First Look at IPA’s New CEC Validator App

More than 40 Cost Engineering Committee (CEC) member companies will gather in McLean, VA, on September 17 – 18, 2024, for the group’s annual meeting. A highlight of this year’s meeting is the rollout of IPA’s all-new CEC Validator application, which aids owner cost engineers in conceptual scheduling and estimate validation. The CEC Validator app generates a detailed project-specific validation report in minutes, including a detailed comparison against industry norms and actionable insights.

Established in 1998, the CEC’s goal is to advance the owner cost engineering and project controls capabilities of the world’s leading industrial companies in capital-intensive sectors. As part of the CEC 2024 meeting agenda, we will share new research that supports this objective:

Engineering/Construction Overlap

Industry projects routinely overlap the detailed engineering and construction phases, often in an attempt to shorten a project’s execution schedule. This study looks at the trends in overlap of these phases, what effect overlap has on project outcomes, and what amount of overlap is optimal. This information will help companies understand the industry norms of overlap and provide a basis for setting appropriate schedule targets.

FEL 2 Contingency

The uncertainty in the capital project market and supply chain problems have led many owners to focus on predictability and increased accuracy of their early estimates. IPA has long studied contingency norms for FID estimates (and they are provided as part of CEC package); this study provides historical information on contingency norms at the end of FEL 2 (typically class 4 estimates) to support contingency setting in early project stages.

Capital Project Market Trends

Since 2021, global economies have seen significant inflation and significant supply chain problems. In the world of capital projects, we see the rate of increase in material prices slowly coming down while vendor delays and long-lead times are still worrying project teams. Capital spending is staying robust in 2024, and there are signs of a heated market in many parts of the world. Due to the robust capital spending, we have been anecdotally hearing from clients that many of these supply chain problems are still around. Given this background, we provide an update to the CEC market survey done over the last 3 years.

CEC Metrics & Tools

Additionally, IPA will review the latest cost and schedule metrics packages and tools, including focused sessions on each of the following:

• Schedule Duration Metrics & Tool
• Schedule Practice Metrics
• Cost Predictability Metrics
• CEC Cost Tools & Framework
• CEC Web Applications

The annual meeting is an opportunity for members to gather and discover the latest IPA research and industry trends; receive cost engineering tools, models, and metrics; and network and exchange practices with fellow cost engineering professionals.

How to Join the CEC

The CEC is open to owner companies interested in improving the cost engineering function within their organizations to ultimately improve business results. Complete the form below to request information on how to join CEC.