EPC General Contractor is the unit responsible for designing, providing technology equipment, constructing and completing works for handing over as signed with the investor.
What is EPC General Contractor?
EPC general contractor is an abbreviation of Engineering, Procurement and Construction, which means general contractor for designing, supplying technological equipment and constructing works. This is the unit responsible for from the stage of technical design to construction, providing technological equipment for factory, ensuring the test run and handing over the finished project to the owner.
It is easy to confuse two types of general contractor contracts: EPC general contractor and Design – Build general contractor, because both contractors require high professional and technical qualifications, both are responsible for quality design and construction. The biggest difference is that besides the design and construction stage, the EPC contract stipulates that the general contractor participates in the whole stage of supplying and installing machinery lines, ensuring production activities for the factory.
Regulations on EPC general contractor
Circular 30/2016/TT-BXD of the Ministry of Construction regulating the EPC general contractor is very specific and detailed. Accordingly, the EPC general contractor must have sufficient operational capacity for the entire scope of work of the EPC contract, including capacity for design, equipment supply, operation training and technology transfering service provision, constructing works according to the provisions of law. In addition, the contractor may not subcontract more than 60% of the work load under the scope of the EPC contract.
In addition to the requirements for qualified design and construction expertise, the EPC general contractor must be the most knowledgeable unit in the technology and production lines of the factory, after installation, it is necessary to ensure technology transfer to the investor, ensure warranty and maintenance services for the machines they provide.
What is an EPC general contractor contract? Cases to apply EPC general contractor contract
For large production and assembly factory projects with hundreds of thousands of employees with many machine lines, finding a reputable EPC company to execute will be the right choice for investors. With an EPC general contractor contract, the investor only needs to manage one focal point responsible for the main responsibility, taking advantage of the contractor’s technical qualifications and management experience to save more costs and human resoureces.
However, the value of EPC contract is often very large, many work items that the investor is difficult to control in detail. In addition, each factory uses its own system of machines and technical lines. There will be certain risks when the EPC general contractor is assigned almost full authority from construction to installation of technological equipment. Therefore, the EPC general contractor contract should only be applied when the investor has specific provisions on the scope of the contract. Circular 30/2016/TT-BXD regulating the EPC general contractor also provides detailed instructions on the contents to be agreed upon, such as requirements for construction quality management, commissioning, warranty and maintenance regulations, etc.
Investors should choose an EPC company with construction experience and understanding of the factory’s machinery system, to ensure safety and quality of production in the future.
Although DELCO is a Design – Build general contractor, DELCO constantly researches technologies, factory production lines, factory operating processes in many different production fields… to actively support the investor to maximize optimize the infrastructure construction process, calculate the mechanical and electrical (MEP) system, to ensure the most efficient installation of the line, and ensure the safe production of the factory.
DELCO is the Design – Build General Contractor for many large factory projects (both factory construction and MEP system construction), with many complex production line systems such as: Power Plus Technology Vietnam factory, NITTOKU factory Vietnam, Curious Seiki Vietnam factory, DORCO VINA Ha Nam factory.
Read more: Types of general construction contractor contracts
