Cover: Cost Growth in New Process Facilities
Read Online

Cost Growth in New Process Facilities

by Edward W. Merrow

Download Free Electronic Document

FormatFile SizeNotes
PDF file 0.6 MB

Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience.

This paper describes the causes of cost misestimation for major process plants and speculates about why the estimation problem has been so resistant to resolution. The discussion is based on a substantial body of RAND work that developed methods for evaluating the cost, schedule, and performance of process plant projects. The paper details the approach to the analysis and how the model for analyzing the problem was developed. The last part of the paper discusses why the cost estimation problem has persisted, including difficulties in the estimating process and managerial obstacles to estimation accuracy.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation Paper series. The paper was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.