Projects At A Standstill, Losses Mounting,
Great Mountains to Climb

Some climb mountains because "it is there." In the same way, Mr. Walstad has taken on seemingly impossible tasks and helped some of his clients to succeed despite the nature of the challenge. He and WLG can make no guarantees. Sometimes the best efforts do not result in a successful, positive conclusion. Yet, without the analysis and probing, millions would have otherwise have been lost.

Chief Executive Counselor, Mr. Walstad, has faced seemingly insurmountable tasks. In the firm's clinical manner of dissecting the facts, many local counsel and their clients have been amazed that the ultimate outcome was favorable to the client. In one case, among several, a lawyer was very unhappy because of all the legal fees his firm lost when a settlement was achieved. Yet, the general counsel of the client was pleased with the result.

Depending upon the stage that WLG enters such a matter, and what information is disclosed, guarantees cannot be made to ensure such positive results as we described here and elsewhere. Yet, without the analysis and probing, millions would have otherwise been lost. While some attorneys and consultants may encourage litigation by their actions or inactions, or recommendations that don't succeed, Mr. Walstad and WLG do not accept a new project with their focus on the benefit of litigation for him or his team if their efforts fail. Rather, they look on their efforts as possibly unsuccessful if major litigation and claims result rather than the project being completed successfully for the client. Sometimes, litigation is unavoidable, but it is important for your legal team to start off with a positive attitude that whatever the difficulties, this is a mountain that can be climbed and conquered!

Here are a few examples of how WLG has successfully overcome major obstacles in favor of the WLG clients:

• Major New Hospital in Trouble
• The Opening of a Major Facility in Jeopardy
• A Nuclear Project in Difficulty
• A coal-fired electrical generator plant facing delays in completion
• The New Processing Plant for a Huge Copper and Gold Mine At Risk

Major New Hospital in Trouble. One other example, among many others that could be cited, relates to a hospital project in trouble. Changes, delays and claims had brought the project to a standstill. Contractors were unwilling to proceed without a settlement of their claims, many of which were disputed by the owner and its construction manager. The delay costs to the project were in the millions. WLG analyzed the issues, brought the contractors together, ordered new scheduling teams assembled, and assisted the project to restart and obtain good momentum. In the end, after many negotiations, all claims were resolved amicably without the necessity of litigation that seemed so inevitable at the beginning.

The Opening of a Major Facility in Jeopardy. In another case, years of planning, a year of advertising, a million dollars in opening the project were at stake. Could a billion plus dollar project open on time?Mr. Walstad was asked to investigate and offer an analysis regarding this key issue. After thorough interviews, visits to satellite locations to check with vendors, hours and hours reviewing scheduling and resource allocations and meetings with technical teams and engineers, he concluded and reported to top management that it was his opinion the whole plan was overly optimistic and would fail. There were many reasons for this which cannot be discussed here. Mr. Walstad reported that the project schedules were lacking proper resource allocations and contained faulty projections of vendor deliveries of certain critical equipment. The plan was changed, the schedules were adjusted, the opening components of the project were downsized, and the grand opening was a great success. Later all components would be on line.

A Nuclear Project in Difficulty. A third example is a nuclear power plant in serious trouble. Contractors were bogged down in working through massive changes, the project schedules were inaccurate and unreliable for any purpose, and the budgets appeared to be seriously flawed. Each day of delay would cost the power company $1 million. The question was what had to be done to renew the vigor of the contractors and give them an incentive to increase performance and to achieve their mandated completion times, despite the changes and problems facing them. Claims for compensation and time for changes had also mounted, and instead of addressing them, the owner had ignored them, further adding to the frustration of the team. As a part of the Blue Ribbon Committee established to advise the CEO what should be done, Mr. Walstad urged a complete revamping of the scheduling approach to the job and a detailed look at all pending claims and proposed changes. He also supported incentives to encourage success by the contractors. Many changes in administrative personnel were required, but with the implementation of a new approach to completion the project was completed successfully without a major loss by the power company.

A coal-fired electrical generator plant facing delays in completion. Mr. Walstad received a call for help from the owner, advising him the construction was near a standstill, contractor had submitted many claims, submittals were being delayed, engineering decisions were not being made and schedules projected a significant, very costly project delay. When Mr. Walstad arrived in site, there was talk of years of litigation being inevitable between the contractors, design team and owner. Mr. Walstad went to the site, spending weeks there, conferring with management in the office and in the field. He determined what elements on the critical path were being delayed and offered suggestions for increasing efficiency through the implementation of various majors and a change in the oversight of the project. New methods for documenting progress day to day and for resolving questions when they arose in the field were recommended, and a procedure for expediting submittal reviews by the engineering team was established at his suggestion. New approaches to documenting job progress and inspections were established. Ultimately the tempo of the project increased, claims were resolved amicably and changes were not allowed to slow the project. New properly resourced schedules were implemented and ultimately the entire project was declared an absolute success with no serious litigation.

The New Processing Plant for a Huge Copper and Gold Mine At Risk. Mr. Walstad was called and asked to come to a foreign land to advise the owners of a new open-pit mine regarding significant problems in the processing facilities and cost overruns amounting to hundreds of millions. After initial interviews, Mr. Walstad, with the assistance of one of the top forensic auditors in the world, brought an audit team and personnel to the country from the USA and surrounding countries, to determine the source of the highly suspect overruns as well as the source of the momentous problems with equipment and piping within the plant. The cost-plus, design-build contractor was arguing owner fault and no warranties. After Mr. Walstad's analysis, the contractor was forced the fulfill all warranty requirements, to redo major components of the processing systems, and required to implement new procedures for the maintenance of the facilities. In addition, the audit directed by Mr. Walstad showed the fault of a major part of the overruns lay at the door of the design-build firm and not the owners. The owners were able to obtain the operating plant they had originally contemplated, and the contractor was required to cough up millions of dollars in compensation to the owner for the overrun. To obtain this result, litigation was filed by Mr. Walstad and New York counsel against the contractor and related entities, and ultimately through mediation, this very complex and troublesome matter was successfully resolve in favor of the client.