By looking beyond initial construction bids to the total cost of ownership—including operations, maintenance, and other factors—infrastructure owners can save billions of dollars over the life of their assets.
10%-15%
Overall project capex savings
25%
Project schedule reduction
30%
Reduction in use of overall contingency
15%
Value loss mitigation during execution
Our Approach to Capital Projects Excellence
BCG’s capital projects excellence consultants combine strategic foresight, advanced analytics, and AI-driven insights to help organizations master every stage of the capital project lifecycle. In an industry where promised benefits often fail to materialize, our capital projects management services integrate technology and human expertise to improve decision making, transparency, and performance. We embed value creation and execution discipline from strategy through delivery to reverse a trend of underperformance.
Each BCG capital projects excellence consultant partners closely with client teams to ensure delivery excellence, embedding data-driven insights and operational rigor into every phase of the project lifecycle. Our capital projects excellence consulting approach focuses on three interconnected pillars that ensure alignment, visibility, and measurable value creation.
Each BCG capital projects excellence consultant partners closely with client teams to ensure delivery excellence, embedding data-driven insights and operational rigor into every phase of the project lifecycle. Our capital projects excellence consulting approach focuses on three interconnected pillars that ensure alignment, visibility, and measurable value creation.
Capital Portfolio Strategy
We help clients unlock the full potential of their capital portfolios by aligning capital strategy with execution. Our approach leverages AI and human expertise to strengthen governance, capital planning, and performance discipline, driving agility and accountability across complex program ecosystems.
Project Design and Development
We support clients in enhancing diligence and planning during early project stages, using data and generative AI to assess feasibility and evaluate risk. This ensures that only the most viable, value-accretive projects advance, laying a solid foundation for execution success.
Capital Projects Execution
We enable organizations to deliver projects efficiently, safely, and on schedule by combining AI and predictive analytics, with proven operational excellence methodologies. This integration allows for real-time visibility, risk mitigation, and cost optimization throughout delivery.
Together, these pillars and technologies deliver the clarity, control, and confidence required to achieve enduring capital excellence and transform capital projects into high-performing assets that deliver sustained portfolio value.
Our Clients’ Impact in Capital Projects Excellence
Our capital projects excellence work spans industries with visionary organizations that are redefining how capital projects are planned, financed, and delivered. Together, they deliver the complex, high-impact programs that power economies, enable sustainable growth, and advance sectors such as infrastructure, energy, industrial goods, and beyond.
For a European EPC contractor focused on contracts in power and utilities as well as oil and gas, our work resulted in a 30% reduction in use of overall contingencies. We partnered with our client to deploy a new capital program management toolkit that allowed for early detection and management of risks.
At the time we were engaged, there were fewer than 100 days left until the announced delivery date of this over €1 billion public transit project. We immediately set up a war room to get a clear view of the overall schedule and the remaining work. To accelerate project completion, we quickly formed individual command centers for each subproject where we assessed risks and optimization opportunities. Our work led to an eight-month reduction in time to project completion and more than €15 million in cost savings.
Our Insights on Capital Projects Excellence
Article
March 26, 2025
Recent nuclear projects in Europe and the US have taken far longer to complete than new builds elsewhere. Here’s how to speed up the process.
Article
September 8, 2025
Headlines may suggest climate investing is dead, but a confluence of tailwinds is creating opportunities in low-carbon technologies as well as in circularity, adaptation, and resilience solutions.
Article
November 20, 2023
In the face of a large and persistent shortfall in investment, companies and their stakeholders must take several key steps to drive the energy transition forward.
Report
July 21, 2022
Rather than continue with slow development cycles and radical innovation, the industry must flip the script and focus on getting incremental improvements into the market quickly.
Our Capital Projects Excellence Team
By combining strategy, data, and execution, our capital projects excellence consultants enable organizations to overcome long-standing barriers to performance in capital excellence. We co-create, guide, and enable capital project delivery that transforms a historically value-eroding industry into one that consistently generates measurable returns and lasting societal benefit.
