Fostering Innovation Through Collaboration on Alliance Contracts with Jane Ogilvie

In this Master Builders episode of Navigating Major Programmes, hosts Riccardo Cosentino and Shormila Chatterjee challenge the mindset around alliance contracts with Jane Ogilvie, the Alliance Director of Toronto’s East Harbour Transit Hub Alliance and a 20-year veteran of major projects management in her home country of Australia. 

Jane shares the details of this collaborative approach—one that has long been popular in certain industries Down Under but is still quite new in Canada. From method variations to adopting an alliance contract model mid-project to the future of this framework in Canada and beyond, Jane’s insights highlight the benefits of abandoning an us-versus-them mentality in favour of more collaboration between project participants.

“I've ​worked ​on ​P3s ​and ​alliances ​and ​a ​lot ​in ​between, ​as ​I ​mentioned. ​And ​I ​think ​P3s ​still ​have ​their ​place. ​You ​know, ​I ​think ​you ​need ​a ​mix ​of ​the ​different ​styles ​of ​contracts, ​and ​you ​need ​to ​look ​at ​the ​risk ​profile ​of ​a ​project ​to ​see ​which ​one ​makes ​sense. ​You ​know, there are ​some ​types ​of ​contract ​where ​I ​would ​always ​say, ​you ​know, ​a ​P3 ​is ​probably ​a ​better ​model. ​And ​then ​there's ​ones ​that ​I'd ​say, ​obviously ​an ​alliance ​is ​a ​better ​way ​to ​go ​as ​an ​outcome. ​So ​as ​an ​owner, ​I ​think ​you ​need ​to ​look ​at ​that ​spectrum ​of ​where ​is ​the ​risk ​profile? ​How ​much ​of ​the ​risk ​can ​you ​share ​versus ​what's ​still ​a ​retained ​risk ​that ​you ​need ​to ​retain? ​As ​an ​owner, ​you ​can't ​push ​everything ​onto ​a ​contract.” - Jane Ogilvie

Key Takeaways:

• The importance of having a legal framework to support collaboration in projects.
• The demographic differences in the soft skills that best serve collaborative contract participants.
• The benefits of combining and coordinating multiple alliances in a multi-discipline, large-scale project.
• How alliance contracts can take project value beyond capital cost.
• How to determine the ideal methodology for different types of projects.

The conversation doesn’t stop here—connect and converse with our community via LinkedIn:

• Follow Navigating Major Programmes
• Follow Riccardo Cosentino
• Follow Jane Ogilvie
• Read Riccardo’s latest a www.riccardocosentino.com

Music: "A New Tomorrow" by Chordial Music. Licensed through PremiumBeat.