🏗️ When Projects Are Too Big for Any One Company to Handle
Having negotiated $100M+ energy infrastructure deals at General Electric, I’ve witnessed the intricate ballet of billion-dollar projects firsthand:
In the high-stakes arena of billion-dollar infrastructure, energy, and industrial developments, a single misstep can lead to catastrophic delays and financial collapse. No single company—not even industry giants like GE—can handle these massive undertakings alone.
To manage this staggering complexity, elite sellers band together—forming powerful alliances known as joint ventures, consortia, or EPC teams—temporary, high-stakes partnerships forged to deliver entire turnkey projects from end to end.
Bound by shared responsibility, these alliances take on the full risk of engineering, procurement, and construction—each member trusting the others to perform, each one vulnerable to the failure of another.
The Fortune 500 Reality of Multi-Billion Dollar Projects
When projects soar into the billions, the contractual complexity increases exponentially
After 25+ years structuring these partnerships across energy, construction, and technology sectors, I’ve seen how the most successful companies navigate this labyrinth of interconnected obligations and shared risks.
“Large projects cost several million to billions of dollars, are very complex, and are susceptible to schedule delays and cost overruns. As a mitigation to these risks, multiple sellers with complementary, interconnecting skills and experience, join together, pool resources, and form a temporary multi-member group to deliver an entire project’s SOW to the buyer. This group of sellers, also called a “consortium” or “joint venture”, is made of two, three, four or more sellers with a history of successfully delivering completed projects in their respective industry. In other words, they have come together to participate in the same goal. (i.e., meet the needs of the buyer) beyond what a single seller can do. Joining together also sustains and grows business opportunities for the participants. Frequently, this group of sellers is responsible for the entire project’s engineering, procurement, and construction (also called “EPC”). This structure where multiple sellers deliver a fully completed project to the buyer is also called a “turnkey” project.”
Attorney • GE Energy Infrastructure Veteran • $100M+ Multi-Party Deal Expert
📋 Case Study: When No Single Company Can Handle the Scale
This is exactly the type of mega-project I’ve seen structured at GE Energy—where the complexity demands world-class partnership expertise:
🇶🇦 QatarEnergy’s Massive LNG Expansion
QatarEnergy launched one of the world’s largest LNG expansion projects at the Ras Laffan Industrial City. Due to the size, complexity, and scale—multi-billion-dollar investment, cutting-edge LNG processing technology, offshore and onshore works—no single company could deliver the entire project.
The solution? A sophisticated consortium of global engineering giants, each bringing specialized expertise to the table.
Fortune 500 Insight: In my $100M+ infrastructure negotiations at GE, I’ve seen how these mega-consortiums succeed or fail based on one critical factor: the sophistication of their internal governance contracts. The companies that master the contractual architecture of shared risk, collective decision-making, and cross-party guarantees are the ones that deliver on time and on budget. Those that don’t face catastrophic disputes that can sink entire projects.
⚡ The High-Stakes Reality of Multi-Party Projects
🎯 Shared Liability Risk
Each consortium member is potentially liable for the failures of all other members—creating unlimited exposure.
⚖️ Complex Governance
Decision-making mechanisms, voting rights, and dispute resolution must be precisely defined or conflicts paralyze progress.
💰 Financial Interdependence
Cash flow, payment guarantees, and performance bonds create cascading financial risks across all parties.
Industry Reality: When projects reach the billion-dollar scale, success isn’t about individual expertise—it’s about mastering the complex dance of multi-party collaboration. Fortune 500 companies invest heavily in getting these partnerships right. Shouldn’t you?