Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) mega project: Analysis of the dominant cost factors and viable solutions

The Mega Construction Project (MCP) is vital to help a nation meets its economic and social needs, to raise the nation's social status, and to lead its society to follow international developments. MCP has significant contract value; hence, the contractors have a chance to get a significant profit. However, MCP has several challenges compared with ordinary projects, such as having more complex work with larger capacity, involving multiple parties, bearing high risk, and raising public concern. The purpose of this study is to determine the dominant cost factors in the Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) mega project and future viable practice for companies to deal with these factors. This study applies a qualitative approach by utilizing the Delphi method followed by in-depth interviews. The study was conducted in Company X which is one of the largest state-owned construction companies engaged in EPC projects. The results of this study are five dominant cost factors: (1) miscalculation in the tender process, (2) subsystem integration, (3) corruption in the tender process, (4) corruption in ongoing projects, and (5) project delay. The consensus degree is 0.78 showing a high agreement among experts. In-depth interviews were held with six experts from two different EPC mega projects. The interviews revealed miscalculation in the tender process and project delay was the main cost-wasting factors in the two EPC mega projects.