Andrew S. Dutil on Turning Complex Plans Into Real Results

Big projects rarely go exactly as planned. Schedules shift, costs change, contracts need to be reviewed, and unexpected problems can affect months of work. For Andrew S. Dutil, those moments have shaped a career built around solving complex problems and helping teams keep moving forward.

Based in West Palm Beach, Florida, Dutil is a civil engineer, Project Management Professional, and independent consultant. His work spans project controls, scheduling, estimating, contract administration, earned value analysis, and claims support. Before becoming an independent consultant, he spent more than a decade with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in roles across Florida and Europe.

How did Andrew S. Dutil build his career?

Dutil grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, where responsibility became part of his life early. He served as an altar server in the Catholic Church, became an Eagle Scout with Troop 425, and spent summers working at Lake Compounce Theme Park.

After graduating with honors from St. Paul Catholic High School in 1998, he attended Norwich University. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies in 2002 and a Master of Architecture in 2003, graduating cum laude with both degrees.

His background also includes service in the U.S. Army. Dutil is a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom II and graduated with honors from the U.S. Army Officers Basic Course.

Those experiences helped shape the way he later approached professional challenges. When asked what helped him overcome obstacles, his answer was direct: “Hard work and perseverance.”

Why project scheduling became a core part of his work

Dutil entered commercial construction as a project scheduler with Kraft Construction. His responsibilities included developing proposal schedules, creating baseline schedules after projects were awarded, tracking progress, and building recovery plans when work fell behind.

He later joined MOCA Systems as a program scheduler and consultant supporting the Guam Program Management Office. There, he maintained schedules across 15 business areas connected to major infrastructure projects.

The work required more than maintaining dates on a calendar. Schedules had to reflect real activity across areas such as contracting, environmental work, real estate, surveying, and project delivery.

That experience became a foundation for the larger contract and project-control responsibilities that followed.

What did Andrew S. Dutil do with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers?

Dutil joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2011 and went on to hold several roles involving scheduling, claims, estimating, civil engineering, and contract administration.

In Florida, he reviewed contractor schedules, assessed delays, supported negotiations, processed contract modifications, and worked with legal and contracting teams. He later moved to Wiesbaden, Germany, where he served as Claims & Scheduling Manager.

That role placed him at the center of complicated contract issues across projects in Europe. He reviewed requests for equitable adjustment, claims, schedule impacts, and contract modifications while working with engineering, construction, contracting, project management, and legal teams.

One of the career experiences he points to involved “the negotiating of large, unanticipated change orders while providing for minimal impacts of project completions.”

The situation captures an important part of his approach. A change cannot always be avoided, but its effect can often be managed.

What makes complex project management work?

After his time in Europe, Dutil returned to Florida and continued with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a civil engineer and contract administrator. His work included large civil projects involving pump stations, canals, dikes, and cutoff wall construction.

He reviewed payment requests, helped develop contract modifications, coordinated project funding needs, supported negotiations, and reviewed Primavera schedules when needed.

For Dutil, good project management depends partly on understanding what might happen next. He identifies “technical proficiency, experience, [and the] ability to perceive future issues” as important professional qualities.

That ability to look ahead is especially important when several teams, deadlines, contracts, and budgets are connected.

Dutil also sees project work as a team effort. His definition of success is “the ability to bring people together to accomplish goals which otherwise could not be reached.”

Why Andrew S. Dutil moved into independent consulting

In late 2025, Dutil began working as an independent consultant. His current work brings together many of the areas he has worked in throughout his career, including project controls, scheduling, estimating, contracting, earned value analysis, and project closeout.

Rather than viewing each part of a project separately, his experience has taught him to look at how they affect one another. A schedule issue can become a contract issue. A contract change can affect cost. A delay can influence the path to closeout.

His approach to priorities is equally practical. He sets goals “based on the critical or non-critical status of the deliverable,” allowing attention to be directed toward the work that matters most at a given point.

After years of working around deadlines, contracts, construction projects, and competing priorities, Dutil also keeps career success in perspective. When asked about balance, he summed it up simply: “It all contributes towards a well-lived life.”