Forensic Delay & Disruption Analysis
I provide independent forensic analysis of delay and disruption on complex construction and engineering projects, drawing on more than 30 years of project, planning and dispute experience.
Forensic delay analysis involves the structured examination of programmes, progress information, contemporaneous records and project events to establish how and why delay occurred, the activities and milestones affected, and the relationship between particular events and project completion.
The appropriate analytical approach depends upon the issues in dispute, the quality and availability of the project records and the circumstances of the particular assignment.
1. Forensic Delay Analysis
Delay analysis requires more than comparison of planned and actual completion dates. It involves consideration of programme logic, critical and near-critical paths, progress updates, sequencing, constraints and the timing and effect of individual project events.
Depending upon the circumstances and available records, methodologies may include:
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Time Impact Analysis
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Windows Analysis
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As-Planned versus As-Built analysis
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Collapsed As-Built analysis
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As-Built Critical Path analysis
The methodology selected should be appropriate to the issues being examined and capable of being supported by the available contemporaneous evidence.
Where necessary, I also consider matters such as concurrency, mitigation, changes in critical path and the effect of multiple interacting delay events.
2. Disruption and Productivity
Delay and disruption are related but distinct issues.
A project may experience significant disruption and loss of productivity without an equivalent movement in the completion date. Analysis may therefore require consideration of how change, access restrictions, resequencing, resource interference, congestion or other events affected the efficiency with which the work was carried out.
My work in this area focuses on establishing the relevant factual and programme context, identifying the mechanism of disruption and assessing the relationship between the events relied upon and the resulting effect on project performance.
Where detailed productivity or financial quantification falls within another specialist discipline, I work alongside the appropriate quantum or technical specialists.
3. Project Records and Forensic Reconstruction
Forensic analysis often requires reconstruction of a reliable project history from large volumes of programme updates, progress reports, correspondence, meeting records and other contemporaneous information.
I use structured digital review and analytical tools to organise these records, examine programme movement and identify relationships between project events and changes to the critical path.
This can be particularly important where records are fragmented, programme updates contain inconsistencies or the project history has become obscured by the volume of available information.
The objective is to establish a coherent factual and analytical basis from which the delay or disruption issues can be properly considered.
4. Sector and International Experience
My experience includes major construction and engineering projects across a range of sectors and international jurisdictions, including:
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infrastructure and transport
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energy and power generation
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oil and gas
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commercial and residential development
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industrial and healthcare projects
Different sectors present different programme structures, technical interfaces and contractual circumstances. The analytical approach must therefore reflect the characteristics of the particular project rather than applying a methodology mechanically.
Further examples of project and dispute experience are set out in the Projects section of this site.
5. Forensic Analysis in Claims and Disputes
Forensic delay and disruption analysis may be undertaken in a number of different contexts.
It may form part of the preparation or assessment of an extension-of-time or disruption claim, assist parties in understanding their respective positions during negotiations or dispute-resolution procedures, or form the basis of independent Expert Witness evidence in formal proceedings.
The purpose and status of the analysis will therefore depend upon the nature of the appointment.
Where I am appointed as an Expert Witness, my role and duties are different from those undertaken in an advisory capacity. Further information is available on my Expert Witness Services page.