Front-end engineering

Front-End Engineering (FEE), or Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), is an engineering design approach used to control project expenses and thoroughly plan a project before a fix bid quote is submitted. It may also be referred to as Pre-project planning (PPP), front-end loading (FEL), feasibility analysis, or early project planning.

The FEE is basic engineering which comes after the Conceptual design or Feasibility study. The FEE design focuses the technical requirements as well as rough investment cost for the project. The FEE can be divided into separate packages covering different portions of the project. The FEE package is used as the basis for bidding the Execution Phase Contracts (EPC, EPCI, etc) and is used as the design basis.

A good FEE will reflect all of the client's project-specific requirements and avoid significant changes during the execution phase. FEE contracts usually take around 1 year to complete for larger-sized projects. During the FEE phase there is close communication between Project Owners and Operators and the Engineering Contractor to work up the project-specific requirements.

Front-End Engineering focuses on technical requirements and identifying main costs for a proposed project. It is used to establish a price for the execution phase of the project and evaluate potential risks. It is typically followed by Detailed Design (or Detailed Engineering). The amount of time invested in Front-End Engineering is higher than a traditional quote, because project specifications are thoroughly extracted and the following typically developed in detail:

Traditionally, all of these documents would be developed in detail during a design review after a quote has been agreed to. A company using FEE will develop these materials before submitting a quote.

Front-end engineering is typically used by design/build engineering firms. These firms may operate in various industries including:

FEE Methodology: FEE is a way of looking at a project before completing detailed design. There is no set way to conduct a Front-End Engineering study. Generally, FEE requires an engineer or a group of engineers to thoroughly and logically consider a proposed project. Example considerations may include:

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