Managing an environmental disaster is complex and time consuming. Although most companies train for such events, rarely have they planned for the financial implications of trying to manage a disaster while simultaneously focusing on normal day-to-day operations. Our services allow you to focus on normal operations and public relations, and provide you with expertise that can only be achieved by a company who has provided these services daily for over 15 years.
Operators, insurance companies and responders can rest assured the correct financial decisions are being made and documented, saving money, effort and minimizing risk to everyone.
Contract Negotiation and Administration
With our knowledge of industry standards we are able to negotiate extremely favorable contract terms for clients.
During the course of the incident we enforce the contracts, allowing clients to focus on other important details. We monitor all agreed upon budgets, schedules, rates and terms, ensuring losses are minimized.
Daily Resource Tracking
We track all personnel, equipment and expendables deployed and utilized on a daily basis. This process establishes cost control, effective management of the incident, and provides information for strategic planning.
With our proprietary system we are able to provide real time data, daily cost estimates, and hundreds of reports. The system also enables us to negotiate discounts as expenditures occur, allowing us to be more successful in saving money for the client.
Real Time Reporting
Our DamageControl™ system provides hundreds of reports using numerous variables. We track every detail of the incident allowing clients to understand where their money is spent on a daily basis. The extensive reporting capability provides information to assist with strategic decision making and planning. Reports are available online through a secure web based interface.
Invoice Tracking
Another phase of cost control is implemented as SOS tracks and records all invoices and payments associated with an incident. Thousands of invoices may be submitted for payment on an incident and it is critical to keep this information organized. If not correctly managed, recordkeeping impedes the payment process, resulting in additional costs to all parties involved. Interest charges begin to accrue and timely payment discounts could be negated. All parties benefit if the invoices and payments are tracked in a detailed manner from start to finish. On some incidents, multiple insurers are involved in paying certain segments of insurance policies and the control and separation of these charges is extremely important. SOS’s Damage Control software allows for this issue to be completely handled with all parties aware of their liabilities.
Invoice Review and Auditing
A comprehensive review and audit is completed on every invoice associated with the incident. Invoices are compared to vendor contracts and rate sheets, which allows SOS to verify all charges on the invoice are correct. Detailed reporting provides us with countless ways to audit the invoices and this documentation saves millions of dollars. It also ensures the relationships between vendors, responsible parties and insurance companies are kept intact.
Payment Recommendations and Tracking
Multiple payment recommendations can be made for each invoice. Audit reports allow for exact measures to be taken to withhold any amounts that are in question and also allow for quick payments to be made on properly submitted invoices. The tracking and recording of all payments is crucial for possible legal issues or submissions to the National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC).
Logistics Coordination
Tracking and controlling the logistics on a large event is critical. Finance and Resource management can quickly overwhelm even your better trained employees. Vendors, resources and rates are processed in our DamageControl software, allowing quicker and cheaper resources. This, coupled with our invoice and payment tracking system, can keep a smaller incident from turning into a disaster.
Cost/Expense Estimation and Analysis
With our DamageControl software’s extensive tracking of costs and resources on an event, SOS can prepare cost estimates and analysis to the client. Financial data is analyzed daily to determine where the largest percentages of the funds are consumed and provides measures to curtail these expenditures and effectively manage the event.
Document Management
Proper document management on a large event is a daunting task but without this, a real disaster can occur. Future audits, potential litigation, insurance claims and submissions to the National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC) cannot be properly handled without precise document management. With our extensive experience and DamageControl software, all financial documentation is maintained in an extremely organized manner for all. Through our IncidentData.com file sharing system, we can provide live, web based access to many of the documents without the hassle of copy machines, shipping, faxes or emails.
Litigation Support, Claim Facilitation, Negotiation and Settlement
During any event, there is a great potential for litigation. With our extensive tracking, auditing and reporting capabilities, we can put our client in a better legal position and ensure the success of claim submissions or damage settlement. We can also provide Expert Witness services to assist in legal cases in which sharing liability costs may arise.
National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC) Submission
If policy limits were met or the cause of the spill is unknown (mystery spill), it may be possible to submit a claim to the National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC) for reimbursement. Our submission methods and documentation have been positively accepted by the directors of the National Pollution Funds Center and have resulted in some of the largest and most successful reimbursements on record. SOS’s submissions have also been submitted and approved in just a few months compared to previous submissions in the industry which took years.
Depending on the size of the incident, how many responsible parties are identified and how the legal process distributes liability, it may be possible to submit a claim to the National Pollution Funds Center which oversees the government’s Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. On a large incident, millions of dollars are at stake. Submitting a claim to the National Pollution Funds Center can be a daunting task known to take 5-7 years. SOS has submitted hundreds of millions of dollars in the last few years and our methods are unmatched in the industry. Our 99.9% success rate solidifies the acceptance of our submissions and we can often reduce reimbursement times to months instead of years. That reduction in time alone results in massive cost savings.