Solutions
A scope delivered, not a timesheet supplied.
Whole packages of work delivered by a NE Project Solutions-managed team, against a statement of work, with supervision, reporting and a single point of accountability.
Managed Project Services
Managed Project Services is for work you would rather buy as an outcome than as headcount. We agree a scope, price it, put a supervised team against it, and report progress against milestones you can check. You get one accountable partner instead of a group of individuals you have to manage.
It is a genuinely different product from contract staffing, and it should be. The team is ours to lead, resource and replace. The programme, the quality records and the handover pack are ours to produce. That transfer of delivery responsibility is the point — and it is what you are paying for.
Who it’s for
Is this the right fit?
Managed delivery suits scopes that can be defined and bounded, where you want the output rather than the direction of the people producing it.
Asset owners with capex work and no headcount
Work that must happen while recruitment is frozen or the internal team is committed elsewhere.
Principal contractors de-risking a package
A discrete package — installation, cabling, testing, completions documentation — handed to a partner who owns it end to end.
Programmes short of supervision, not labour
Where the constraint is SQEP leadership and planning capacity rather than pairs of hands.
Teams facing a documentation or completions backlog
Handover packs, ITP close-out, redlines and as-builts that have fallen behind the construction front.
When it’s not the right fit
If the scope genuinely cannot be defined yet, a managed model will either be priced defensively or become a change-control argument. In that case we would recommend contract resource now and a managed package once the scope firms up.
What’s included
What you actually get.
Scope definition and statement of work
A written SoW with deliverables, boundaries, interfaces, assumptions and exclusions stated plainly — including the things we are relying on you to provide, such as access, permits, materials and free issue.
A resourced, supervised delivery team
The right trade and staff mix for the scope, led by a named supervisor or package lead, with the resourcing curve planned rather than reactive.
SQEP assurance and competency records
Documented evidence that every person on the package is suitably qualified and experienced for their role, held and auditable throughout.
HSEQ and CDM interface management
Risk assessments and method statements, toolbox talks, permit-to-work interface with your systems, and clarity on duty holder roles under CDM 2015 agreed before mobilisation.
Planning and progress reporting
A package programme aligned to your master schedule — P6 or your chosen tool — with agreed progress measurement, look-ahead and a written report at a cadence you set.
Quality, ITPs and documentation
Inspection and test plans, hold and witness point management, non-conformance handling, and quality records produced as the work proceeds rather than reconstructed at the end.
Change control that is actually used
A written mechanism for scope change with cost and time impact stated before work proceeds. No verbal variations, no surprise final account.
Handover, demobilisation and close-out
Completed handover documentation, as-builts and redlines, punch list close-out, demobilisation, and an honest lessons-learned session at the end.
How it works
From first call to close-out.
- 1
Scope and assumptions workshop
We work through what is in, what is out, what you provide and what is still unknown. Unknowns get written down as assumptions with an owner rather than buried in a price.
- 2
Delivery plan and commercial proposal
Resource histogram, programme, HSEQ approach and a priced proposal with the build-up visible. If the scope is not yet firm enough for a fixed price, we say so and propose a model that fits.
- 3
Mobilisation
Team selection and vetting, site inductions, permits and access, RAMS approval, tooling and logistics, and the reporting cadence agreed with your project team before day one.
- 4
Delivery and reporting
The package runs under our supervision with an agreed single point of contact. You get progress against the programme, HSEQ statistics, quality status, open change and a clear list of anything blocked awaiting you.
- 5
Handover and close-out
Documentation completed, punch items cleared, demobilisation done tidily, final account settled against the agreed change record, and lessons captured while people still remember them.
How we charge
The commercial model, plainly.
Managed work is bought against a statement of work rather than against hours. Which pricing model fits depends almost entirely on how well the scope is defined — and we will tell you which category you are in.
Fixed price or lump sum
Appropriate where the scope, quantities and interfaces are genuinely defined. Priced against a stated set of assumptions, with change control for anything outside them.
Target cost or reimbursable with a management fee
Appropriate where scope is developing. You see the cost build-up and pay a transparent management fee for supervision, planning, HSEQ and reporting rather than a hidden uplift.
Milestone or deliverable based
Payment against defined, verifiable milestones — useful for documentation-led and completions packages where progress is measurable as output.
Worth saying out loud
One thing worth stating plainly: a statement of work does not by itself put anyone outside IR35. HMRC looks at how the engagement actually operates — who directs the work, who carries the risk, who can substitute. A managed service that is really a body shop with a different cover sheet will be treated as what it is. We structure managed work so the substance matches the paperwork, and we will not dress up staffing as a managed service to solve a status problem.
Typical engagements
What this looks like in practice.
- A mechanical and electrical installation package on a water treatment upgrade within an AMP cycle
- Completions and handover documentation for a hook-up and commissioning campaign
- A cable pulling, termination and testing package on a substation or HVDC converter scope
- Fit-out and commissioning support for a data centre hall, delivered to milestone dates
- A shutdown work package with its own supervision, permits and quality records
Illustrative engagement
Illustrative — not a named clientA UK water utility
The scenario below is illustrative — written to show how a managed package is structured. It is not a description of an identified customer or a claimed result.
A utility has a mechanical and electrical installation package on a treatment works upgrade sitting inside a regulatory delivery window. The client team is stretched across several sites and does not have the supervision capacity to direct another crew.
Structured as a managed package, the scope, interfaces and free-issue items are written down first — including the unglamorous ones, like who is providing craneage and when the process stream can actually be taken out of service. A package lead owns the front, produces the programme and the weekly report, and holds the ITPs. When the outage window moves, as outage windows do, the impact is priced through change control in writing rather than absorbed and argued about at final account.
What the client buys is not cheaper labour. It is one person to ask, a programme that is maintained, and a handover pack that exists when the package finishes.
Questions
The things clients ask first.
- How is this different from just hiring contractors through you?
- Direction and accountability. With contract staffing you direct the people and carry the delivery risk. With a managed package we direct our team, we own the programme and the quality records, and we are accountable for the deliverable. The commercial model, the reporting and the price all follow from that difference — if none of those things change, it is not really a managed service.
- Who carries HSEQ responsibility on site?
- We are responsible for the safe delivery of our scope, our people, our RAMS and our supervision. Duty holder roles under CDM 2015 — principal designer, principal contractor — depend on the wider project and are agreed in writing before mobilisation rather than assumed. We interface with your permit-to-work system; we do not operate a parallel one.
- How do you price when the scope is not fully defined?
- We do not pretend it is. Either we price the part that is defined and handle the rest through a reimbursable or target-cost arrangement with a transparent management fee, or we recommend you resource it as contract labour until the scope firms up. A fixed price against a vague scope is either padded or a dispute in waiting.
- How is change handled?
- In writing, before the work proceeds, with cost and time impact stated. Every change is logged against the SoW so the final account is a document you have already seen rather than a negotiation at the end. Verbal instructions get confirmed in writing the same day.
- What reporting do we get, and how often?
- You set the cadence — weekly is typical. A standard report covers progress against the package programme, look-ahead, HSEQ statistics and any incidents, quality and NCR status, open change, resource on site, and a clear list of anything we are blocked on awaiting a client action. Named contacts on both sides.
- Can a managed package be converted from an existing contract crew?
- Sometimes, and it can be the right move when a group of contractors has effectively become a team. It only works if the scope can be written down, supervision genuinely transfers to us, and the commercial model changes to match. If those things do not change, converting it is paperwork rather than substance.
Where it applies
Managed Project Services by sector.
The model is the same across all eleven sectors we work in. What changes is the discipline mix and the certification that gates site access — each sector page sets out both, and how this pillar applies there.
- Oil & GasUpstream, midstream and downstream projects and turnarounds.
- NuclearNew build, operations and decommissioning programmes.
- RenewablesOffshore & onshore wind, solar and storage.
- UtilitiesTransmission, distribution and network upgrades.
- InfrastructureMajor civils, transport and public works.
- PowerGeneration, grid and interconnector projects.
- WaterTreatment, networks and AMP-cycle delivery.
- Data CentresHyperscale and colocation build & fit-out.
- ManufacturingProcess, plant and heavy industry.
- ChemicalPetrochemical and process safety-critical work.
- PharmaGMP facilities and capital projects.
Also from NE Project Solutions
The other two ways we deliver.
Workforce Solutions
Contract, permanent and project-based talent across every discipline — sourced, technically screened and compliance-checked before anyone reaches your gate.
Explore Workforce SolutionsConsultancy Services
Advisory work on resourcing strategy, workforce planning, mobilisation and labour market reality — delivered as documents you can act on.
Explore Consultancy ServicesReady when you are
Have a scope you would rather hand over?
Send us the package — even in outline. We will tell you honestly whether it is ready to be bought as a managed service, and what would need to be nailed down first.