Offshore Client Representative Service

During an offshore site investigation, a Client Representative’s (CR) role is to ensure that the Contractor fulfils their contractual obligations; producing the highest possible quality data in a timely and efficient manner, and without harm or damage to personnel, the environment, or the development project.

Onboard the vessel, and usually on their own, the CR acts as the Client’s eyes and ears, providing an independent and immediate evaluation of the Contractor’s methodology, together with an analysis of the recovered data & samples against the project's engineering requirements and budget. The CR also becomes a useful single point of contact, handling various queries from both the Client’s and the Contractor’s project teams for clarifications or technical advice as the work advances, together with the compilation and dissemination of information.

In advance of the vessel mobilisation, the CR should be fully briefed by the Client's project team to ensure they have a thorough understanding of the technical requirements, how the data is to be used, and all necessary information to ensure that they can make decisions beneficial to the project. The CR should be supplied with copies of the critical documents such as the; Contract, Scope of Work, Technical Specifications, together with any desk studies, previous survey data, hazard lists, etc.

It is very important that the appointed CR be technically proficient and have a working familiarity with the Contractor’s methodology. Indeed, the best CRs will themselves likely have had previous experience with a site investigation contractor and so be able to understand the potential problems and limitations of the equipment in use. However, it is also important that the CR is broadly experienced enough to supervise the many other aspects of the vessel operation such as; HSEQ, logistics, time management, marine regulations, and contractual requirements to name a few. Site investigation budgets and critical path timelines can, and have been, significantly affected by technically proficient but offshore naive project engineers being used to fill the CR role, and their not recognising that fundamental errors or unsafe practices are occurring.