Procurement and Long-Lead Items
Last reviewed 9 September 20263,335 words15 min read
The schedule most people forget to build
🟩 In one line: Every long-lead item is a chain — submittal, approval, purchase order, vendor drawings, fabrication, FAT, shipping, customs, delivery — ending at a need date driven by installation; build it per item under a Procurement WBS node, and expect 10–20 of those chains to be on the critical path for the first six months.
👤 Who this is for: Junior to mid-level planners building a baseline; senior planners reviewing one. Prerequisites: Engineering-and-design-schedule, Wbs-structure-design, Tender-programme.
First, let's be honest about why this page exists
Most construction baselines have 2,500 activities for the building and eleven for procurement, and eight of those are 180-day bars called "Procure lifts". Then the switchgear arrives in month 14 instead of month 9, the energisation milestone goes, and the planner discovers there was no submittal date, no PO date and no need date in the schedule to have warned anyone.
Procurement is the part of the schedule the contractor controls least and models worst. The chain is knowable, the durations are quotable, and the first six months of any Gulf building job are driven by it far more than by concrete.
🟨 The standard — what "good" looks like
| Source | What it says (paraphrased) | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| FIDIC 1999 Cl 8.3 (c) / 2017 Cl 8.3 | Programme shows the sequence and timing of inspections and tests; 2017 adds delivery of Plant and Materials and review periods to the required content (check the edition and sub-paragraph in your contract) | Procurement chain is a contractual programme requirement |
| FIDIC 1999 Cl 7.3, 7.4 / 2017 Cl 7.3, 7.4 | Inspection and testing of Plant and Materials at manufacture; notice before tests (check against your copy) | FAT activities and their notice lead |
| FIDIC 1999 Cl 14.5 / 2017 Cl 14.5 | Payment for Plant and Materials intended for the Works, off-site conditions (check against your copy) | Why the QS wants the same milestones you do |
| FIDIC 1999 Cl 1.9 / 2017 Cl 1.9; NEC Cl 60.1(3) | Employer-provided information or things late = delay event | Employer-furnished equipment as INTERFACE-IN milestones |
| NEC3 / NEC4 Cl 31.2 | Programme shows order and timing of the work including work by Others, and dates the Contractor needs things from the Client | Need dates are a required programme content |
| NEC Cl 71 | Marking of Equipment, Plant and Materials outside the Working Areas for payment/title (check against your copy) | Same milestones drive payment |
| AACE RP 37R-06; RP 38R-06 | EPC schedule levels include procurement at L3; lead-time basis documented in the SBM | Lead-time basis table |
| DCMA 14-Point, item 8 | > 44-day activities flagged | Stage the chain |
| GAO Best Practice 2 (sequencing) | All work, including procurement, logically linked to what it supports | No procurement chain dangling |
| Hub convention | Activities ≤ 44 days; Start On or After only for real delivery dates; design chain per package; Procurement standing WBS node | Your defaults |
🟢 Rule: every long-lead item has a need-on-site date derived from its installation activity, a chain that ends at that date, and a float value you can read in layout 04.
How it actually works
1. Identify the long-lead list. Anything whose total chain — from IFC drawing to on-site — exceeds about 20 weeks, or which gates a contractual milestone. For a Gulf mid-rise or tower expect 15–30 items; for a hospital 40–60. The estimator's supplier enquiries give the first list; the MEP subcontractor's shop-drawing register completes it.
2. Build the chain per item.
| Stage | Typical Gulf duration (working days unless stated) | Calendar | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare technical submittal | 5–15 | Office 5-day | Contractor / subcontractor | Needs IFC drawings and spec — link from the design chain |
| Engineer review | Contract figure, commonly 14 or 21 calendar days | 7-day review | Engineer | Paraphrase the spec; one resubmission cycle in the baseline |
| Revise and resubmit | 5–10 | Office | Contractor | Steps 10/30/60/90/100 for % |
| Review 2 → approved / approved-as-noted | Contract figure | 7-day | Engineer | Link to PO placement |
| Commercial: negotiate, LOI, PO | 10–20 | Office | Contractor procurement | Often the hidden delay; put it in |
| Vendor drawings & approval | 15–30 | Office | Vendor / Engineer | Separate review cycle for major plant |
| Fabrication / manufacture | See lead-time table | Vendor 5- or 6-day | Vendor | Stage ≤ 44 days each |
| FAT | 5–10 + notice period (Cl 7.4) | Vendor | Engineer / contractor | Witness travel booked = an interface |
| Packing, inland transport, sea freight | Europe 25–35 days; Far East 20–30; USA 35–45 (calendar); air 5–7 | 7-day | Forwarder | Sea unless the options table says otherwise |
| Customs, conformity, port clearance | 5–15 | 6-day | Contractor / forwarder | KSA and UAE conformity schemes add time on electrical items — verify current scheme |
| Site delivery & inspection | 2–5 | Site 6-day | Contractor | Material Inspection Request |
| Storage / need buffer | 10 working days convention | — | — | The gap between delivery and the installation activity's early start |
3. Typical lead times — ranges with conditions, unattributed; confirm every one against a quotation before it goes in the baseline.
| Item | Fabrication only (weeks) | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Passenger lifts (mid-rise, standard) | 14–20 | Longer for high-speed, destination control, bespoke cars |
| Escalators | 16–22 | |
| Chillers (water-cooled, >500 TR) | 18–26 | Add vendor drawing cycle |
| MV switchgear | 20–30 | Utility approval of drawings often gates PO |
| Transformers | 22–36 | Utility-specified units at the long end |
| Diesel generators (>1 MVA) | 18–26 | |
| Unitised curtain wall | 16–28 incl. mock-up & PMU testing | Mock-up approval is on the critical path, not just fabrication |
| Fire pumps & controllers (listed) | 14–20 | |
| BMS / ELV head-end | 10–16 | Often software, not hardware, that drives it |
| Commercial kitchen / medical equipment | 16–30 | Owner-selected items: INTERFACE-IN milestones |
| Structural steel (fabricated) | 10–16 | After connection design approval |
| Sanitary ware, ironmongery (specified brands) | 8–14 | Frequently forgotten; gates finishes handover |
4. Derive the need date. Need-on-site date = early start of the first installation activity minus the storage buffer. Link the chain's last activity (delivery) FS to the installation activity. The chain then shows real total float, and a late PO shows negative float months before the item is late. Do not constrain delivery to the need date — that hides the float.
5. Stage the long durations. A 24-week transformer is 144 working days on a vendor calendar. Break it at the vendor's own milestones: core and windings → tank and assembly → testing → despatch, each ≤ 44 days, each with a vendor progress report as the evidence for %. If the vendor won't give stages, the exception goes in the SBM exceptions table with the reason.
6. WBS, codes and fields.
| Element | Setting |
|---|---|
| WBS | Procurement → discipline (Civil / Architectural / MEP / Vertical Transport) → one leaf node per item |
| Activity IDs | PROC-MEP-CHL-010 … increment 10 |
| Codes | Discipline; Subcontractor; Responsibility (Contractor / Engineer / Employer / Vendor); Milestone Type = INTERFACE-IN for Employer-furnished items |
| Duration / % type | Submittal and review steps: Duration % with 10/30/60/90/100 steps; fabrication stages: Physical % against vendor report; delivery: milestone |
| Constraints | Start On or After only on an Employer-furnished delivery date with a document reference; nothing else |
| UDFs | Lead Time Basis (quotation ref), Need Date, Delivery Forecast, PO Ref |
| Notebook | Forecast Basis on each fabrication stage: last vendor report date and % |
| Layout | 05 Constraints includes procurement; a dedicated Procurement filter (WBS = Procurement) sorted by Need Date in the monthly report |
7. The long-lead register (in SBM and every narrative): item, spec section, submittal ref, submittal planned/actual, approval planned/actual, PO planned/actual, vendor, lead time and basis, FAT date, ETA, need-on-site date, float, status, driver.
8. Tie-ins. IFC drawing → submittal (from Engineering-and-design-schedule); lead times as numbered assumptions in the tender programme restated in the Cl 8.3 / Cl 31 baseline; delivery → installation → T&C → sectional milestone (see Commissioning-and-handover-planning).
📜 Contract points that affect the chain
- Review time is entitlement. The contract's review period goes in the baseline on a 7-day calendar if the contract counts calendar days. If the Engineer takes longer, the chain's forecast moves, the notice clock starts (FIDIC 28 days; NEC 8 weeks), and the achieved review time is recorded in the register.
- Employer-furnished equipment is an INTERFACE-IN milestone with SOoA at the contractual or notified date. Late delivery is a FIDIC Cl 1.9 / 2017 Cl 1.9 style event or NEC Cl 60.1(3) — the notice depends on the milestone existing.
- FAT witness. The Engineer's inspection notice (Cl 7.4) is a real lead; if the Engineer declines to attend, record it — it is the Engineer's choice, not the vendor's delay.
- Off-site payment (FIDIC Cl 14.5; NEC Cl 71) uses the same milestones. Agree the milestone names with the QS once so the schedule and the valuation say the same thing.
🟥 Where people go wrong
- One bar per item. "Procure chillers — 180 days" has no submittal date, no PO date and no FAT. When it slips nobody knows which of eight parties caused it. Build the chain; it is 8–12 activities per item and takes twenty minutes.
- No need date, so no float. Delivery constrained to the installation date, or not linked at all, shows zero or nonsense float and the first warning is a phone call from the port. Link delivery FS to installation and read the float.
- Approval assumed first time. Baseline shows one review; reality is two or three. One resubmission cycle is the convention; state it in the SBM.
- The commercial gap left out. Between "approved" and "PO placed" sit three weeks of negotiation and an LOI that nobody scheduled. Put it in with Responsibility = Contractor so it can be seen and squeezed.
- Lead times from the estimator's memory. Quotations move; utility-specified switchgear can be double last year's figure. Every lead time carries a quotation reference in the UDF, or it is an assumption with a number.
- Owner-selected items with no milestone. Medical equipment, kitchen, art, signage — chosen late by the Employer, arriving late, and invisible in the schedule until the handover meeting. INTERFACE-IN milestone with a needed-by date and a letter.
- Fabrication % taken from the vendor's invoice. 40 % paid is not 40 % built. Physical % comes from a dated vendor progress report or a third-party inspection, and the Notebook says which.
⚖️ When you're challenged
"Why is procurement on the critical path? We haven't even started the structure." Because the MV switchgear chain from submittal to energisation is 52 weeks and energisation gates the tower T&C. Until the PO is placed, that chain is the longest path — the structure has 30 days of float behind it. That's normal for the first six months.
"The vendor says 20 weeks — why does your schedule say 34?" Twenty is fabrication. The chain also carries three weeks of vendor drawings, two weeks of FAT and notice, five weeks on the water and two in customs. Each is an activity you can see, with the basis in the register.
"Just put a constraint on the delivery date; that's what the vendor committed to." A constraint would hide whether we can actually meet it. Linked to the submittal and PO, the delivery shows its own float — right now minus six days — and that's the number that gets the PO signed this week.
"Can't we approve the submittal later and still make the date?" The review period is the contract's own figure and it's already on the path. Every day the approval is late moves delivery day for day; the notice is drafted and the achieved review time is in the register.
📄 Related pages
- Engineering and Design Schedule — the IFC and submittal chain that starts every procurement chain
- Tender Programme — lead times as numbered assumptions
- Milestones and Key Dates — INTERFACE-IN milestones for Employer-furnished equipment
- Commissioning and Handover Planning — delivery → install → T&C → sectional completion
- Activity Duration Limits — the 44-day flag and staged fabrication
- P6 Constraint Types — why delivery is linked, not constrained
- Notice Requirements and Records — the clock that starts when a review overruns
- Site Logistics in the Schedule — crane and hoist capacity for the delivery dates
✏️ Worked example — Abu Dhabi residential tower AUH-RT14, long-lead register at baseline
FIDIC 1999 Red; Engineer review 21 calendar days; one resubmission in baseline; storage buffer 10 working days.
| Item | Submittal | Approval (2 cycles) | PO | Fab (wk) | FAT | ETA site | Need date | TF (d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MV switchgear | 10-Mar | 30-Apr | 21-May | 26 | 25-Nov | 12-Jan | 20-Jan | +6 |
| Transformers (utility spec) | 10-Mar | 30-Apr | 21-May | 30 | 23-Dec | 04-Feb | 20-Jan | −11 |
| Chillers 3 × 600 TR | 24-Mar | 14-May | 04-Jun | 22 | 11-Nov | 16-Dec | 02-Feb | +34 |
| Passenger lifts 6 no. | 07-Apr | 28-May | 18-Jun | 18 | — | 05-Nov | 15-Dec | +28 |
| Unitised curtain wall (mock-up first) | 21-Apr | 11-Jun | 02-Jul | 24 incl. PMU | 10-Sep (PMU) | 18-Dec (first lot) | 05-Jan | +12 |
| Diesel generator 1.5 MVA | 05-May | 25-Jun | 16-Jul | 22 | 17-Dec | 21-Jan | 10-Feb | +14 |
| Fire pumps (listed) | 19-May | 09-Jul | 30-Jul | 16 | 19-Nov | 24-Dec | 27-Jan | +23 |
| Sanitary ware (specified) | 02-Jun | 23-Jul | 13-Aug | 12 | — | 15-Dec | 09-Mar | +59 |
Transformer chain, staged (extract):
| ID | Activity | Dur (d) | Calendar | % type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PROC-MEP-TRF-010 | Technical submittal — transformers | 10 | Office 5-day | Duration %, steps 10/30/60/90/100 |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-020 | Engineer review 1 | 21 cal d | 7-day review | Duration % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-030 | Revise & resubmit | 7 | Office | Duration % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-040 | Engineer review 2 → approval | 21 cal d | 7-day review | Duration % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-050 | Utility drawing approval (parallel to 040, FF) | 30 | Office | Duration % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-060 | Negotiate & place PO | 15 | Office | Duration % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-070 | Vendor drawings & approval | 20 | Office | Duration % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-080 | Fabrication stage 1 — core & windings | 44 | Vendor 5-day | Physical %, vendor report |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-090 | Fabrication stage 2 — tank, assembly, fill | 44 | Vendor 5-day | Physical % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-100 | Fabrication stage 3 — routine tests & FAT | 22 | Vendor 5-day | Physical % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-110 | Ship (sea, Europe) | 30 cal d | 7-day | Duration % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-120 | Customs & conformity clearance | 10 | Site 6-day | Duration % |
| PROC-MEP-TRF-130 | Deliver to site, MIR | 3 | Site 6-day | Milestone-like task |
| MEP-B1-ELE-210 | Install transformers, substation B1 | 12 | Site 6-day | Physical % |
Read at baseline review: The transformer chain is 11 days negative to the need date before the job has started. The options table (in Building-a-recovery-plan format) lists: place PO on approved-as-noted rather than waiting for review 2 (saves 15 days, Contractor risk, approver Commercial Manager); air-freight the first unit (saves 20 days, cost AED X); resequence B1 substation fit-out to install the utility side first (saves 8 days, SOFT-PREF). The chosen lever, its comparison report and the resulting float go in the SBM and the register. The remaining seven items show why 10–20 chains, not concrete, are the longest path until roughly month six.
📖 References
- FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Construction 1999, Cl 1.9, 7.3, 7.4, 8.3, 14.5 (check the edition in your contract)
- FIDIC Conditions of Contract for Construction 2017, Cl 1.9, 7.3, 7.4, 8.3, 14.5 (check the edition and sub-paragraph in your contract)
- NEC3 / NEC4 ECC, Cl 31.2, 60.1(3), 71 (check the edition in your contract)
- AACE International RP 37R-06, Schedule Levels of Detail; RP 38R-06, Documenting the Schedule Basis
- DCMA 14-Point Schedule Assessment, item 8; GAO Schedule Assessment Guide GAO-16-89G, Best Practice 2
- Oracle Primavera P6 Professional User Guide — Activity steps; User-defined fields; Notebook topics (check against your P6 version)
From the field
Experience from working planners. Unreviewed — read it as experience, not guidance.
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