As an engineering leader on a nuclear project, you are likely grappling with complex challenges, many of which are beyond your control.
The industry is notorious for its complex regulatory procedures and constantly evolving demands. It’s not surprising that most projects in this sector exceed their budgets by an average of 117%.
Leaders find themselves walking a tightrope, juggling technical complexities, time constraints, budget limitations, and expertise. As project complexities increase and stakeholder demands escalate, the stress levels rise, often blurring the boundaries of work-life balance.
This is why I’m going to show you three ways you can go from fearing design reviews and Functional Safety Assessments (FSA) to actually leveraging it as your competitive edge, winning more bids, and skyrocketing profit.
Think Functional Safety is Just Another Line Item? Think Again.
You’ve seen it before— a kick-off meeting that starts with handshakes and ends with headaches.
You might be wondering, what went wrong? The answer often lies in a misunderstood and underestimated aspect of your project. Functional Safety.
Functional Safety is the blind spot that’s costing companies like yours thousands, if not millions, eroding profit margins, and pushing engineers to their limits.
Too often, project teams find themselves caught in a whirlwind of functional safety requirements and deliverables that they didn’t see coming.
The result?
Vanishing profit margins and a project timeline that’s anything but achievable.
This strain doesn’t just affect work quality; it tests your engineers’ resilience. Deadlines begin to slip away, morale dips, and workplace tension mounts. But the heaviest burden is the ethical duty to uphold safety standards, a non-negotiable that is critical to your project’s success and your professional integrity, especially as resources dwindle.
The solution – get the entire scope pinned down. Sure, it’s a little more costly and a little more work, but it could save you millions and…. If my research is any indication… your willingness to go this extra mile will likely win you the bid.
Ian is an excellent example of this. He reached out to me on a project he was about to tender for. A significant part of the project involved delivering numerous safety systems – an area in which Ian and his team didn’t specialise.
Ian had been down this road before, and it was not a journey he wished to repeat. Previously, his eagerness to secure a contract led to underestimating the scope of functional safety management needed.
This oversight led to unexpected deliverables, a costly dispute, and a boardroom showdown that nearly cost him his job.
The stress followed him everywhere, darkening his weekends and making Monday mornings a source of dread.
He knew he couldn’t go through that again!
I advised Ian that it didn’t need to be this way!
I helped him see the importance of examining his project thoroughly and speaking with all stakeholders to understand the exact requirements. Ian went to work trimming down some of the deliverables and fully understanding the requirements of others.
The result? Ian submitted a watertight, technically compliant, and transparent proposal.
He had nailed down the extra work; most critical was figuring out the Safety Integrity Levels (SIL), which hadn’t been set yet. In the nuclear industry, not knowing whether you’re doing a SIL 1 or SIL 3 can be hundreds of thousands. Yet many enter projects without this crucial detail being pinned down, and that cost comes right from the bottom line profit.
Ian was pretty worried that his price was too high, and he knew that other bids would be cheaper. But I helped him see that if he really added all the detail and explained the importance of not hitting the 117% cost blowout that has ridiculously become expected – the customer will likely trust his price – and see everyone else’s as guesses…. And we were right… he won.
Even though he thought he might be asking for too much money, it just resulted in him being able to actually deliver the project within budget.
The client really saw the value in what Ian offered, way more than just the price tag.
In short…. They won because their quote was real, in a sea of guesses.
When it comes to nuclear Safety, there’s no room for second-guessing. It’s not just about the money— the consequences of mistakes can weigh heavily on the minds and morale of even the most seasoned engineering teams.
Imagine you’ve just landed a major nuclear safety contract. It’s a moment of triumph, but quickly, reality sets in. Does your team have the specific skills required for this job? The nuclear industry demands are way above any other sector. Generic functional safety training simply won’t cut it.
When the design review day arrives, any lack of skills will become painfully clear, leading to delays, costly redesigns, and a barrage of critical comments.
In the aftermath of negative feedback, it’s tempting to appease clients by agreeing to extras that weren’t part of the original scope. This Scope Seep is a sneaky problem. It can eat away at your project’s profits and lead to unrealistic expectations for future work. When client’s design review comments request ‘nice-to-haves’, engineers often struggle to say no, resulting in unpaid work and further delays.
To avoid this, your engineers need to be the guardians of the project scope and the significance of maintaining project boundaries but to do this, they need the confidence that comes with competency.
Before you dive into a project, you must ensure your team’s capabilities match the project’s needs.
So how do you do this?
I still remember the day John picked up the phone to me.
He’d just got out of a meeting with an enraged client wanting to pull the plug… where John felt like he had to resort to begging – just to get them to give him another chance – to avoid losing the project, a loss that would have cost them hundreds of thousands and likely resulted in LAYOFFS!
John thought he had done everything correctly. He had figured out what he needed to deliver, won the contract with a good price, and even brought in Peter to take care of the safety systems.
But even with the project manager trusting Peter, problems and delays started to show up.
Unfortunately, Peter was in over his head, and there was no way out other than through a redesign, leading to a huge financial loss well into the hundreds of thousands.
John felt the pressure more than anyone else. The fear of failing weighed on him heavily, a constant reminder that his leadership was on the line. Sleepless nights, strained relationships at work, and a nagging doubt that crept into every decision—this was John’s world as the project teetered on the edge of collapse.
After John shared his stress, we quickly went to work mapping out the skills needed for all the tasks in the project… And the answer presented itself.
To get back on track, all we needed to do was find an engineer with those skills, and we did, but she was working on a different project. Because we had a clear list of what skills were required, it was easy to show senior management why it made sense for her to switch to our project.
Sadly, while the project was saved and we almost made the timeline needed, John was done – the stress was too much for him and his family.
It’s an all too common story, and that’s exactly why, at the same time, I’m always honoured to come in and save the day. I’d much prefer that project leads map out competencies and requirements way in advance, keeping the project straightforward and boring.
As ridiculous as this sounds, bidding on nuclear projects feels way too similar to that guessing game… guess how many jelly beans are in the jar….. You have to trust your gut and in the nuclear case… the feel of the people you’re speaking to…. Any wonder why most people choose the group they get along best with or the lowest shot in the dark price.
You know I’m right!
You need to give the purchaser something that says… the world is giving you guesses, and even if they are cheaper… guesses they are. You need to stand out as the only trusted provider, even at a higher cost. If you do this, you will win, and in so doing, you’ll watch all the stress of unexpected surprises and requests become a thing of the past.
It’s easier than you think… let me explain.
See, Dave had just reached out after a horrible previous experience that left his company at a loss and him in the doghouse with his wife… from burning the midnight oil after a terrible design review.
This time, he decided that he would NEVER be stuck in that situation again.
Luckily, it was about that time he met me, and on our first call, I helped him see – with a bit of pre-planning – he didn’t have to.
I helped him see that going into a tender and then later a project, the way he’d been doing it, was like a company going into a deal with only a boilerplate contract.
I suggested that – to avoid the stress and risk, we need to look more deeply at the project and what could go wrong.
I call this my pre-tender FSA process, proven to not only reduce unforeseen costs and unforeseen client expectations but also help secure projects and at higher profit margins.
When I suggested this to Dave, I have to admit he initially thought I was mad… I mean, no one does this…
But desperate to never have the stress he recently experienced again, he agreed to trust me…. And he was so glad he did.
We quickly discovered they had half of the safety system budget needed and also hadn’t really considered the amount of background design work required – he was basically throwing that in for free.
He said if I had gone into this project without this – the situation this time would have been even worse.
We were both shocked by what we discovered!
We uncovered hours of work and saved tens of thousands that would have been wasted. Plus, we identified major risks that Dave could plan for without blowing out his own budget.
Tender done – I also gave him a 3rd party certification – which in tender terms… its gold… the result?
A higher price….still….the client said YES!
The client said that they picked Dave’s proposal, even though it was more expensive – but more specific…
All this ended up in a successful project where the design review felt like a formality. In fact, Dave today still brags about the project that he made 30% profit … in an industry that averages a 117% budget blow-out.
And the certification? It was key. Without it, Dave’s company might not have won the bid…but more importantly – if they did would have lost thousands of pounds.
This is why I don’t suggest ever going for a tender without the security and deal-winning force of a pre-tender FSA and certification.
So, while everyone else is making wild guesses with their bids, you want to be the one who stands out with trust and precision. Just like Dave, by conducting a pre-tender FSA and getting certified, you show the buyer that you’re serious and you’ve thought about everything that could happen.
Imagine a tendering process where you’re not just throwing numbers in the dark but presenting a bid that exudes confidence and reliability.
That’s the power of the pre-tender FSA and certification approach. It’s about more than just winning – it’s about winning right, with profit and peace of mind intact.
You, too, can turn the tendering process into a success story, not a stress test.
Now, reflect on your own experiences. What was your biggest revelation as you read through this post? What part of the story resonated with your own tendering challenges?
If you’re looking for a nudge in the right direction, a conversation can be the first step to reshaping your tendering strategy. For some free guidance, book a call with me.
Let’s explore how you can achieve confident wins without the chaos of cost blowouts.
