Contract relationships with Saudi Aramco are challenging and rewarding, but these opportunities are reserved for those who demonstrate that they have the resources and expertise to meet the highest technical standards for operating safely and responsibly. Saudi Aramco provides prospective contractors with detailed performance requirements and selects them based on their capabilities and willingness to comply with our standards.

Therefore, Saudi Aramco encourages all new contractors interested in doing business with Saudi Aramco to familiarize themselves with Saudi Aramco's standard systems and requirements. Such familiarization is a key factor in increasing the contractor's chances for prequalifying and winning Saudi Aramco contracts then successfully executing these contracts.

In this section, contractors can find narrative summaries as provided below of some of these standard Saudi Aramco requirements. This section will be periodically updated and expanded. Therefore, contractors are encouraged to revisit.

• Safety
• Quality
• Scheduling

New Contractors - Safety

Saudi Aramco has an ongoing commitment to safety, health and environmental excellence in all of its operations.

Saudi Aramco relentlessly seeks better ways to ensure that employees and contractors use safe equipment and work practices. In Saudi Aramco facilities, just as in many other business settings, certain operations present operational hazards that, if not addressed correctly, could result in injury to people or property loss or damage. There are many common examples including: work in confined spaces, work at heights, lifting operations, work on energized systems, work with hazardous chemicals, work with pressurized systems, welding, cutting and brazing operations. Therefore, Saudi Aramco insists that all contractors adhere to established safe work standards and practices and in some cases demonstrate safety proficiency before being invited to bid.

Just as Saudi Aramco employees receive extensive training in order to be knowledgeable of our facilities and their safe operations, we require contractors to make sure their employees are competent, technically skilled, and well trained. The Company has a Work Permit system that requires work to be specifically authorized before it can commence. Part of this system requires that Work Permit Receivers be tested and certified before they are qualified to obtain work permits to proceed with work in Company facilities. Saudi Aramco's Loss Prevention Department is responsible for administering the Work Permit Issuers and Receivers' certification examination.

What sort of safe work standards and practices will a contractor be required to adhere to while on a Saudi Aramco job? There are numerous Company established standards and practices that must be adhered to, with many applications specifically developed for the nature of the work being conducted.

Many of these standards and practices are incorporated by reference in Schedule D of most of the Company's contracts. They include Saudi Aramco publications pertaining to Safety such as the Construction Safety Manual, Corporate Loss Prevention Manual, General Instructions, Engineering Procedures, Engineering Standards, and Engineering Drawings.

Saudi Aramco is a participating member of the Construction Industry Institute (CII). CII is an industry group of owners and contractors whose goals are focused on improving safety, quality, schedule, and cost effectiveness for the capital investment process. CII best practices in the areas of pre-project planning, safety, quality assurance and quality control are widely recognized throughout industry. For those not familiar with CII concepts or approach, a CII publication entitled “Guidelines for the Implementation of CII Concepts — Best Practices for the Construction Industry,” may be a helpful resource reference. CII also offers educational programs based on CII research to its members and the public. >>Go Up

New Contractors - Quality

Contractor Quality System

Saudi Aramco contractors are required to implement quality systems following the guidelines of ISO 9001. This quality system standard shall be the basis for submittals of project Quality Plans by contractors. The objective is to provide confidence to Saudi Aramco and other clients that the contractor will meet contract requirements by assuring the implementation of a recognized quality system.

While Saudi Aramco does not require third party certification of the quality system of its contractors, we will require you to develop and implement a relevant quality system consisting of a quality manual, procedures and records as prescribed in the ISO 9001 standard.

How is the quality system documented?

The ISO 9001 standard requires the development of a quality systems manual. As a minimum, the contractors documented system must address all those elements and actions that are required to assure quality in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001.

The documentation of a quality system should be specific to your organization with a unique approach to your clients' work. An effective, documented quality management system must first satisfy the business needs of your organization and secondly the requirements of ISO 9001. It must provide the organization with evidence and confidence that the outcomes of the system are consistent, reliable, and predictable.

Why does the quality system need to be documented?

Some of the reasons for documenting the quality management system are to:

• Describe a management system that is universally understood by management, employees, customers, external stakeholders, and when appropriate third party registrars.

• Define the process controls to ensure that everyone performing the same job is performing it in the single most efficient and effective manner.

• Provide evidence of implementation by identifying the process and inspection records needed.

• Provide a basis for evaluation and improvement by establishing a consistent and systematic means to identify problems, improve quality, measure improvements, and provide solutions.

What are Saudi Aramco's expectations?

As applicable, contractors are required to prepare a detailed Quality Plan once a contract is awarded. This Quality Plan must be reviewed and approved by Saudi Aramco before work can begin. In general, the Quality Plan must describe essential components of the contractor's standard quality system manual and how it will be applied on the Company's project to meet the contractual requirements. For most organizations, this means selecting the necessary management procedures and work instructions from its existing quality system plus developing any additional procedures required to meet contractual requirements. >>Go Up

New Contractors - Scheduling

To manage a project effectively, engineering, procurement, construction, and startup activities must be broken into well-defined components at successive levels of detail adequately covering all items in the scope of work.

Overview

For Saudi Aramco projects, there will be at least four levels of schedules developed and maintained at various stages of the project life cycle. The Saudi Aramco facility owner, planning organizations and the Saudi Aramco Project Management Team (SAPMT) will provide the basic guidance of the project's scope and establish the Project Master Schedule (Level I). As project definition becomes more advanced, the level of detail expands. Project milestone dates are firmed up during the development of the design basis and reflected in the Project Milestone Schedule (Level II). A Project Summary Schedule (Level Ill) is prepared during preliminary engineering. This schedule becomes the basis for developing Control Schedules (Level IV) for detail engineering, procurement, and construction with input from contractors, subcontractors, and vendors. The SAPMT may determine if greater level of detail above level IV is needed. Special Purpose and look-ahead schedules may be required by the SAPMT to focus control on near term work or to highlight work of special concern.

PROJECT CONTROL SCHEDULE (LEVEL IV)

Definition:

The Project Control Schedule is the detailed Level IV schedule based on a CPM network prepared by the contractor indicating the sequence in which the contractor plans to execute the work, satisfy manpower and equipment requirements, deal with access and work space limitations, and reflect activities of subcontractors, equipment vendors and suppliers. The detailed Level IV schedule adds further detail to the Project Proposal and Project Summary Schedule. A Level IV schedule identifies the total scope of work, all potential impacts to other contractors, operations and maintenance shutdowns, delays and/or disruptions, and can be used for progress and performance measurement. This schedule includes activities for key design documents to/from design contractor and major vendors, design calculations, construction and pre-commissioning related drawings, materials, and commissioning interface activities. For process plants, the pre-commissioning activities will be organized by plant system to ensure a correct system start-up sequence. The Project Control Schedule will identify Job Order, Area/Facility, Discipline, Phases, and System Components.

Timing:

The Project Control Schedule is developed after funding approval and Contract award. The contractor prepares this schedule for Saudi Aramco's review, as specified in Schedule “A”. This Schedule becomes the Contractor's Work Schedule and will be used to plan, organize and execute the work, as well as to record and report actual performance and progress. The Work Schedule will be updated on a monthly basis. Regular monitoring and updating is normally done at this level.

Responsibility:

Contractor will be responsible for preparing the Project Control Schedule and integrating and maintaining schedules for engineering, procurement, construction, and start-up phases. In case of multiple contractors, the SAPMT will be responsible for schedule integration and maintenance unless specified otherwise in the contract documents.

Contents:

The Project Control Schedule is a detailed level CPM normally using the Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) and typically consisting of 200-1000 activities, per area, based on the complexity of the work. No individual activity duration will exceed 25 working days unless accepted by a Saudi Aramco representative. Contractor will use Primavera (P3) or compatible software. All subcontracted activities will be identified on this schedule. When phased completions of units or systems are identified, the Critical Path and Sub-Critical paths for each unit or system will be clearly indicated. Identification of Contractor supplied long-lead critical material, major equipment and bulk materials will be interfaced through schedule logic. Saudi Aramco supplied materials scheduled to arrive during the course of the work will be included. All activities will be resource loaded in order to provide resource forecasts in the form of a series of graphic displays depicting manpower requirements. >>Go Up