Value Engineering

A lower initial price does not necessarily create better value. In a value-engineering dispute, the central question may be whether a proposed alternative preserved the required function, performance, quality, and safety while changing cost or other resource requirements. A Value Engineering Expert Witness with experience relevant to the project, product, process, and Value Methodology issues in dispute can examine value studies, function analyses, design alternatives, cost estimates, technical requirements, workshop records, and recommendation packages to reconstruct how those tradeoffs were evaluated.

The expert can assess whether alternatives were compared on a consistent basis, whether required functions and performance criteria were maintained, and whether claimed savings appropriately considered implementation, operation, maintenance, replacement, or other relevant life-cycle effects. This analysis can help counsel evaluate disputed value-engineering decisions without treating a reduction in initial cost alone as evidence of improved value.