ROMAN Consulting Group
FEL Project Management
Right-sizing a capital project, choosing the capacity, configuration, and execution approach, is one of the most consequential decisions made during front-end loading, and it's rarely as linear as it looks. Utilities, storage, and logistics don't scale in a straight line with process capacity, which means a moderate throughput increase can trigger disproportionate cost in the systems around it, not the process unit itself. ROMAN Consulting Group provides integrated front-end project management, bringing estimating, scope definition, and risk analysis together as one disciplined function rather than three disconnected workstreams.
What Is FEL Project Management?
FEL project management is the integration of independent estimating, scope maturity assessment, and risk facilitation into a single, cohesive front-end effort, rather than treating each as a separate specialist engagement. Where Independent Estimating, FEL Scope Definition, and Risk Management each address one discipline in depth, FEL Project Management is the coordination layer that keeps all three moving together toward a single, defensible stage-gate decision, so a finding in one discipline reaches the other two while there's still time to act on it, not after the estimate, scope, and risk view have each been finalized separately.
Our Approach
Scenario-Based Estimating — using tools like Aspen Capital Cost Estimator (ACCE) to generate and compare multiple capacity or configuration options quickly, rather than locking into a single sizing assumption too early
Scope Alignment Across Systems — evaluating how process units, utilities, offsites, and logistics interact, since supporting systems rarely scale in a straight line with process capacity
Risk-Informed Sizing — layering risk facilitation into the sizing decision itself, since larger capacities carry disproportionately higher exposure to labor constraints, supply chain volatility, and integration risk
Integrated Basis Coordination — maintaining a single shared basis of decision across estimating, scope, and risk throughout FEL, with regular integration checkpoints, so a change identified in one discipline is reflected in the others immediately, not discovered when the three views are compared for the first time at the gate
ROMAN provides this as an independent partner, not a substitute for the owner's project team, maintaining alignment and discipline through early development so the project reaches its stage-gate with one defensible, integrated basis rather than three separate reports that don't quite agree with each other.
Built for Teams Facing Real Sizing Decisions
Owners evaluating capacity, configuration, or technology alternatives during FEL. Organizations whose estimating, scope, and risk work happen in silos rather than as one integrated effort. Teams frustrated by the inaccuracy of early rule-of-thumb sizing estimates and the time required to produce more reliable ones.
Case Study
A mid-size manufacturer was evaluating three possible capacity configurations for a new production line but had only ever modeled the process equipment itself, not the utilities and packaging systems around it. ROMAN's integrated FEL support generated ROM estimates for all three configurations within a single week, incorporating scope alignment across the full system and a risk view of each option's execution exposure, coordinated through one shared basis of decision rather than three separate reports. The mid-capacity option, which looked least attractive on process cost alone, proved to be the strongest choice once utility step-changes and integration risk were included. The owner selected it with a documented, defensible basis, rather than the largest option that had originally seemed like the obvious path to scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What makes FEL project management different from hiring separate estimating, scope, and risk consultants?
A. Integration. Sizing and configuration decisions depend on estimating, scope, and risk informing each other in real time. Hiring each as a separate engagement often means a finding maturing in one area doesn't reach the other two until it's too late to adjust cheaply. FEL Project Management coordinates all three around one shared basis of decision instead.
Q. Does ROMAN manage our project, or support our team?
A. ROMAN acts as an independent partner supporting the owner's team through FEL, maintaining alignment and discipline across workstreams, not replacing the owner's internal project leadership.
Q. How involved is ROMAN in a typical engagement?
A. Engagement intensity is scaled to the decision at hand, from coordinating a single sizing study across existing estimating, scope, and risk work, to a fuller integrated effort spanning all of FEL. The right level of involvement depends on what the owner's team already has in place.
