IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) Expert Witnesses: 4

Dr. John N. O’Brien has over 45 years of experience in Energy Markets, Technology, and Regulation as a thought leader and as an expert in the analysis of energy economics, promulgation of energy laws and regulation. 

Before he began providing litigation support services, Dr. O'Brien spent 10 years as a Full Scientist at the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in its Department of Nuclear Energy (1976-1985),13 years as founder and CEO of several significant energy companies (1985-1998), 25 years as a high-level energy consultant and advisor with several nationally recognized consulting firms advising substantial corporate entities (1998-Present), and 20 years providing energy-related expert litigation support.

Litigation Support - Dr. O'Brien is a highly experienced litigation support expert having been engaged as a primary expert witness and subject matter expert in over 25 different judicial actions as well as numerous administrative regulatory proceedings involving energy-related matters. His extensive prior history as a high-level advisor in the energy sector has contributed to the success of numerous judicial matters in which he has been engaged resulting in well over $3.5 in judicial recoveries for his clients.

Dr. O'Brien possesses a very broad and deep level of expertise and extensive experience in the energy industry. He fully understands the details of energy regulatory economics as well as adherence to the applicable procedural and evidentiary requirements of judicial and regulatory litigation.

Areas of Expertise:

Florida Office:
Andrew Avalon, PE, PSP
Chairman & CEO
8633 Willow Kane Court
Orlando, FL 32835
aavalon@long-intl.com
T: (407) 445-0825     F: (407) 650-3399

Long International provides expert engineering and construction claims analysis, expert testimony, project management consulting, and insurance claims analysis services. We focus on projects in the following industries: building and construction; gas, gasification, GTL, LNG, and NGL; industrial and manufacturing; mineral and mineral processing; offshore oil and gas; oil sands; pipelines and utilities; power; refineries, petrochemical, and chemical; transportation; and water, wastewater, dams, and marine. We analyze claims, not limited to, disputed change orders, schedule delay, acceleration, time extensions, liquidated damages, loss of productivity, defective specifications, and deficient project management performance.

Richard J. Long, P.E., P.Eng., Founder of Long International, has over 50 years of U.S. and international consulting experience involving construction contract disputes analysis and resolution, arbitration/litigation support and expert testimony, project management, engineering/construction management, cost and schedule control, and process engineering. As an internationally recognized expert in the analysis and resolution of complex construction disputes for over 35 years, Mr. Long has served as the lead expert on over 300 projects having claims ranging in size from US$100,000 to over US$2 billion. He has presented and published numerous articles on claims analysis, entitlement issues, CPM schedule and damages analyses, cumulative impact claims, and claims prevention.

Rod C. Carter, CCP, PSP is President of Long International and has over 20 years of experience in construction project controls, contract disputes and resolution, negotiations, mediation, arbitration support, and expert testimony on scheduling, loss of productivity, and quantum issues.  He has experience in entitlement, schedule, and damages analyses on over 30 construction disputes ranging in value from US$100,000 to US$7 billion, related to oil and gas, oil refinery, LNG, heavy civil, nuclear, environmental, chemical, power, industrial, commercial, and residential construction projects. Mr. Carter specializes in loss of productivity, cumulative impact, and quantum calculations, and had a lead role in assessing damages on more than a dozen major disputes.  In addition, Mr. Carter has developed cost and schedule risk analysis models using Monte Carlo simulations to address the uncertainty of estimates and claims.

Scott M. Francis, P.E., PSP is a Vice President of Long International and has over 20 years of experience in project management, contract disputes analysis and resolution, CPM schedule preparation, execution, and analysis, productivity analysis, contract administration, design engineering, construction management, and government contracting.  He provides schedule development and assurance services, cost estimating, and claims analysis services on projects for both owners and contractors.  Specific responsibilities include CPM development and reviews, CPM schedule delay and acceleration analyses, change order impact analysis, issue identification, correlation of impacts to schedule activities, and productivity evaluations.

Due Diligence Professional Services, Inc. (DDPSI) is a Construction Consulting and Expert Witness Firm that Specializes in Supporting Litigation and Representing Clients for Renewable Energy, Power, Heavy Civil, Underground Utilities, Building and other related Construction Specialty Projects. They are a diverse team with construction claims and project management expertise who value the importance of relationships and continue to distinguish themselves by showing clients that Experience + Talent + Strategy = Results.

Litigation Support - DDPS understands the complexities of dispute resolution and work extensively with attorneys to identify documents, prepare computerized document databases, establish document shared files, support witness statements, and prepare expert reports. Their construction and engineering litigation expert witnesses participate hands-on in all projects. They develop the methodology of analyses, analyze the relevant documentation, and develop support for opinions.

• Renewable Energy - Utility Scale Wind, Utility Scale PV Solar, Utility Scale Concentrated Solar Power, Biomass and Battery Storage
• Heavy Civil - Earthwork, Roads, Bridges Highways and Airports
• Power - Transmission, Distribution and Substation / Switching Yards
• Underground Utilities - Water, Reclaimed Water, Storm Drainage, Sanitary Sewer/Lift Stations, and Force Main
• Buildings - Commercial, Institutional, Industrial, and Heavy Civil
• Construction Specialties - Dewatering, Directional Drilling/Jack and Bore, Low Pressure Sewer, Fiber Optic Systems, Reinforced Earth Wall, Sound Barrier Wall, Telecommunication Infrastructure, Transformer – RCA of failures and Transmission Line Pole Remediation

Nicholas Fiduccia is President and Co-Founder of Due Diligence Professional Services, Inc. a Florida based expert witness service, construction claims specialist and project management consulting firm that focuses its practice on law firms, owners, engineering, construction firms, and contractors performing renewable energy, power, heavy civil, underground utilities, building and other related construction specialties.

Mr. Fiduccia has over 30 years of U.S. and Canadian construction experience involving construction contract disputes analysis and resolution, arbitration/litigation support and expert testimony, project management, engineering/construction management, cost and schedule control, and value-engineering.

Before co-forming Due Diligence Professional Services, Inc, Mr. Fiduccia had corporate-wide responsibility for technical management and oversight for the preparation and resolution of construction claims for 11 years for a utility-scale renewable energy and heavy civil infrastructure contractor, plus over 19 years of hands-on experience to ensure that profit, cost, schedule, scope, quality, and safety objectives were achieved for renewable energy, power, heavy civil, underground utilities, building and other related construction specialty projects.

Ron Ritter, Vice President and Co-Founder of Due Diligence Professional Services, Inc. has been responsible for on-site project management for Wind, Solar, Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Projects, Heavy Civil Projects, and Underground Utility Projects over the last 25 years. 

Mr. Ritter’s expertise in a full array of self-perform and key subcontractor oversight has allowed him to execute multiple EPC contracts successfully and safely. 

Before co-forming Due Diligence Professional Services, Inc, Mr. Ritter successfully built a career in the construction industry that consisted of 45 years of hands-on, field experience.  Twenty (20) years of that field experience has been spent building and supervising the construction of renewable energy facilities.  Seventeen (17) years of his construction career have been spent as the senior field representative, directly responsible for the safe, timely, profitable and quality construction of 15 wind farms in the USA totaling 2,465 megawatts.  Mr. Ritter has also worked on and supported the construction of wind farms and solar farms in Canada.  

View Due Diligence Professional Services, Inc.'s Consulting Profile.

Chet  Sandberg, P.E. received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and a MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. He is a professional engineer in the state of California and an IEEE Fellow.

Background Experience - Litigation Support - Mr. Sandberg is an Expert Lithium Ion Battery  and Heat Transfer Expert with successful litigation in Lithium Ion Battery Failure.  He has court room experience, including testifying before the ITC in Washington DC. Mr. Sandberg is available to attorneys for both plaintiff and defendant. Mr. Sandberg joined the Chemelex Division of Raychem Corporation where he managed technology projects for 30 years. He held various positions at Raychem culminating as Chief Engineer.

For the next 6 years, Mr. Sandberg managed the development of a downhole, self-regulating electrical heater technology for Shell Oil. In 2009, he founded C L Sandberg & Associates, a consultancy specializing in Energy Projects, including managing customer engineering for Altairnano, a lithium ion battery manufacturer.

Mr. Sandberg has been associated with Electrical Energy Storage at EPRI, ESA, Sandia, and PNNL, as well as providing due diligence expertise for venture capital and private equity companies on their technical prospective investments. He has been granted 30 United States Patents and has authored over 70 technical papers on energy usage, electric heat tracing, ground fault technology, fiber optics, sensor technology, and personal computers as design tools. 

 Areas of Expertise: