Robert Eadie | University of Ulster (original) (raw)

Papers by Robert Eadie

As one of the newest developments in the construction industry and having been mandated for UK go... more As one of the newest developments in the construction industry and having been mandated for UK government projects, there has been a requirement to add Building Information Modelling (BIM) to the curriculum of Civil Engineering courses. To date, this has been instigated in an ad hoc manner, without major consideration of the pedagogy or timing given to each BIM element. This paper traces the constructivist and behaviourist philosophies and shows that a mixed method is best for BIM teaching. The BIM Academic Forum (BAF) (2013) provided the general subjects for implementation of BIM teaching, with other work providing Level 6 topics. The value and time allocation of each of these had not been previously determined for either the structures or highways disciplines in Civil Engineering. This paper examines, from a BAF perspective, the pedagogy, the subjects required and their value to the specialisms. Through a comparison with Computer Aided Design (CAD) it shows that a mixture of constructivist and didactic teaching is required and that BIM elements are more significant to students specialising in structures than in highways. Findings show that both strands need to focus on BIM roles, BIM data maturity principles, and Collaboration tools. Big Data can be mentioned, but minimised.Като една от новостите в строителната индустрия, задължителна за държавните проекти на Обединеното кралство, е включването в учебната програма на строително информационно моделиране при обучението на строителните инженери. То се появи ед-хок, без съответстващо педагогическо обсъждане и синхронизиране на всички елементи на BIМ. Тазистатия третира конструктивизма и поведенческата философия и показва, че смесеният метод е най-добър за BIМ обучението. Академичният форум (BАF) за BIМ (2013) предложи главния предмет при обучението да бъде заедно с другите на ниво Значението на времевото разпределение, за всеки от тях, не бе дискутиранo преди това нито по отнощение на конструктивните специалности, нито за транспортните специалности на строителното инженерство. Тази статия изследва, от гледна точка на BAF, педагогиката, необходимите предмети, както и тяхното значение за специализацията. От сравнението с CAD се вижда, че комбинацията конструктивизъм и дидактика е необходима за обучението и, че BIМ елементите са по-важни за специализацията на студентите в областта на конструктив-ните специалности, отколкото за пътностроителните такива. Оценката показа, че двете насоки изискват фокусиране върху ролята на BIM, данните за пълното развитие на принципите на BIМ и колаборационните инструменти. В това отношение могат да се приведат много данни, но минимизирани.

International Journal of Procurement Management

Fourth International Conference on Advances in Civil, Structural and Mechanical Engineering - CSM 2016, 2016

Construction industry fragmentation into nearly a million Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SME)... more Construction industry fragmentation into nearly a million Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) in the UK led to calls for the European procurement process to be more inclusive. The innovation and skills of these organisations was not being correctly utilized in Government contracts. The introduction of the new procurement directives Europe wide sought to solve this problem. However, the perspective of SME's on issues such as self-declaration provisions, breaking contracts into lots, limits to the financial capacity required, and the effect on procurement if more SMEs tendered had not been fully researched. This paper's findings show an increase in SME involvement as predicted, and that the other elements of the new regulations are appreciated but that organisations have concerns over the capacity of government departments to administer contracts in lots.

This paper examines the impact of additional clauses of contract in Government Contracts in North... more This paper examines the impact of additional clauses of contract in Government Contracts in Northern Ireland (NI). Through a Delphi Process and on-line questionnaire it found 5 Z clauses created additional risk for contractors: Z3, Z5, Z8, Z9, and Z10. It was found that these impacted in different ways: Z9 is most likely to stop contractors tendering, Z10 in relation to FOI is the most likely to stop contractors from carrying out the work and Z5 impact is unlikely to be able to be absorbed. In light of the publication of NEC4 in June, these clauses need re-examined for NI construction work.

Building Information Model (BIM) use and associated intelligent data in the construction industry... more Building Information Model (BIM) use and associated intelligent data in the construction industry has previously been investigated underlining an issue in its use for the Facilities Management (FM) stage. In this paper, the highlighted knowledge gap is investigate from the perspective of industry professionals who are using BIM models to support current Computer-aided facility management (CAFM) processes, using an on-line questionnaire. Findings from a pre-notified online (LimeSurvey TM) questionnaire showed that Northern Ireland (NI) industry considers BIM is progressing at a similar rate or slightly less than the rest of the UK. Findings indicate weaknesses in BIM models being used for FM processes due to interoperability issues (the majority are transferred in 2D format) and lack of skilled labour. Findings indicate in NI, only 33% use of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) compared to a UK wide figure of 63% (NBS, 2016). COBIE data drops were only utilized on 19% of projects compared to the NBS (2017) UK wide figure of 42%. Only 24% of clients were capable of using BIM for FM, climbing to 36% willing to implement FM data into an Asset Information Model (AIM) to evaluate their systems of working. These low figures suggest that much more can be delivered through government departments deciding on a route to deliver these savings through being more prescriptive. Savings at the earlier stages of the process were only realized when the NI public sector mandated BIM during design and construction in 2016. This client desire created implementation and capacity. It needs a similar mandate to achieve savings at the UK FM stage. Bulgaria has not yet mandated BIM for construction at either stage. The findings of this study can assist in showing that without a mandate uptake is low. However, Bulgaria can achieve savings at all project stages, through mandating BIM.

The EU Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement, which regulates buying procedures for construc... more The EU Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement, which regulates buying procedures for construction and civil engineering organisations, was altered in 2014. Two of the elements that were amended relate to allegedly contradictory principles. Firstly, a move away from capital cost to whole life costing has been suggested. Article 67, entitled ‘Contract award criteria’ establishes ‘Most Economically Advantageous Tender’ as the means of awarding a contract. Life-cycle costing or whole life costing and the best price/quality ratio are used to determine this. However, dynamic purchasing systems have also been included in the new regulations. These are electronic catalogues of goods and services. Electronic searches are carried out and awards are based on lowest price. The e-procurement section of the regulations was strengthened in advance of it being mandatory from April 2016. This paper examines the perceived impact on organisations who have tendered for Government contracts. A telep...

Building Information Modelling (BIM) teaching has been added to the curriculum of Civil Engineeri... more Building Information Modelling (BIM) teaching has been added to the curriculum of Civil Engineering courses in the United Kingdom relatively recently. The BIM Academic Forum reported in 2013 on a general way to implement BIM teaching. Further work specified Level 6 topics. However, the importance of each of these topics in relation to the structures and highways disciplines was not fully researched. This paper examines, from a BAF perspective, the topics and their importance to the specialisms. It shows that all BIM topics are more important to students specialising in structures than those in highways. It further indicates that both streams need to concentrate on BIM roles, BIM data maturity principles, and Collaboration tools. Big Data can be mentioned but can be minimised.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has often been associated only with Building construction. H... more Building Information Modelling (BIM) has often been associated only with Building construction. However, government guidance in Northern Ireland makes no such distinction and includes all Infrastructure and Highways projects over the EU financial threshold. While the drivers and barriers have been ranked for BIM generally in the UK, no such ranking has been undertaken for Highways projects. This paper fills that knowledge gap through a questionnaire survey of organisations that have been forced to use BIM for infrastructure across the UK. It proved the importance of a mandate to implement BIM to achieve the benefits, and highlighted the importance of improving Education and Training in a wholistic approach in overcoming the barriers. It further suggested rebranding BIM as HIM (Highways Information Modelling) to clarify the misconception around its contents.

Procurement in use surveys have confirmed a steady increase in the use of design and build procur... more Procurement in use surveys have confirmed a steady increase in the use of design and build procurement method. However, there was also a criticism that the out turn cost of design and build procurement method makes it more expensive than the traditional procurement method. The conjecture in this study is that risk factors inherent in design and build projects are responsible for the observed variance between the contract sum and the out turn cost. Using a set of 37 risk factors, the study utilized an online survey of UK-based construction professionals to evaluate risk impacts on the variance between contract sum and final account in contractor-led design and build projects. Survey responses were analyzed using mean ranking analysis and oneway analysis of variance (ANOVA). Result showed that ‘scope changes’, ‘ambiguous client brief’, ‘scope creep’, ‘insufficient design completion during tender’, and ‘change in employer’s requirement’ are top risk factors impacting the variance betwe...

Virtual and Reality modelling applications to the construction industry has not been examined to ... more Virtual and Reality modelling applications to the construction industry has not been examined to the necessary degree, with researchers disagreeing as to how to best apply these applications to construction. As most Building Information Models (BIM) are created for design purposes (Eadie et al, 2013), this research concentrates on the design office environment. This study concentrates on firstly seeking to clarify the best means of importing a (BIM) into virtual reality (VR) for viewing and secondly, analysing how 360-degree camera work can be linked to Autodesk Revit. Both these elements utilise plugins to import the elements to and from Autodesk Revit. Sixteen plugins in total were examined: 13 Virtual Reality Plugins (on 2 different Head Mounted Displays) and 3 360-degree camera work plugins. The usability of the 360-degree camera work plugins were examined determining that Holobuilder was the preferred option. The VR plugins were measured against the 8 dimensions of service qual...

The Irish Border is one of the most contentious issues relating to BREXIT. The complex nature of ... more The Irish Border is one of the most contentious issues relating to BREXIT. The complex nature of negotiations relate to key aspects of European Union (EU) law brought in by the Treaty of Maastricht, such as free movement of people and work. With 208 official Irish border crossings [1], and a substantial number of unofficial ones resulting in an estimated 270, there are nearly double the amount compared with the EU Eastern border (137). Construction organisations tender for work on both sides of the border with current EU laws allowing unrestricted movement of labour plant and materials to carry out the work. What is missing from the current discussions is the perceptions of construction organisations north of the border. This paper seeks to examine this knowledge gap via an on-line survey of consultants and contractors. The findings indicate a mixed response to BREXIT with labour likely to be the element most highly impacted after BREXIT and mortar the construction material most imp...

The European Union has set a target of 2016 for all government procurement to be fully electronic... more The European Union has set a target of 2016 for all government procurement to be fully electronic. A target of 1st April 2016 has been set for the United Kingdom Government departments for theimplementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM). However, Grilo and Jardim-Goncalves(2010) show that interoperability issues exist due to the heterogeneous nature of applications andsoftware systems used across the construction industry. As the deadline approaches the paperresults show that there has been an increase in different BIM enabled softwares being adopted. Itfurther indicates that the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC’s) adopted in BIM use are still causingproblems such as 50% of respondents loosing information and therefore need further work. Thereis a lack of use of both BIM and e-procurement together in many organisations indicates that there is much efficiency still to be achieved as software develops. In this regard the level of development is very important. Over half of t...

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Management, Procurement and Law, 2016

In consultations prior to the UK government’s response to changes to the EU procurement directive... more In consultations prior to the UK government’s response to changes to the EU procurement directives, the impact and innovation of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were examined to try to ensure a positive impact across the industry. To produce innovation, a new innovation partnership procedure was introduced. Subsequent to publication of the procedure, this paper examines perceptions from tenderers and the government. Seventy-one completed questionnaire responses were received from tenderers, with a further 19 from government procurers. The findings indicate that 69% of tenderers intend involvement in the future, but the government is evenly split on the ability to use the procedure and is unsure as to its benefits. While the majority considered that little change would result in relation to value for money, speed of innovation to market and increase in innovative solutions, more were positive than negative towards the procedure. Even though economic operators are keen to use...

Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 2013

PurposePublic private partnerships (PPP) and the private finance initiative (PFI) are defined as ... more PurposePublic private partnerships (PPP) and the private finance initiative (PFI) are defined as a range of practical long‐standing relationships between the public and private sectors. This paper aims to investigate managers’ perceptions of PPP/PFI in two of the three largest sectors for private sector capital‐spend in PPP/PFI schemes, namely transport (highway infrastructure) and healthcare.Design/methodology/approachA web‐based Limesurvey™ questionnaire was used to collect data. A sample of 75 organisations was identified from the Partnerships UK (PUK) online Project Database (Partnerships UK, 2010). Total of 49 responses were received, of which 39 were complete.FindingsResults from each sector relating to PPP/PFI “best value”, advantages and disadvantages, and government preferred procurement routes, are investigated. The majority of organisations did not consider that PPP/PFI provided “best value” but thought it provided more value than the other two UK Government preferred pro...

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2014

The 'triple bottom line' of sustainable development, (Dyllick and Hockerts, 2002), amalgamates ec... more The 'triple bottom line' of sustainable development, (Dyllick and Hockerts, 2002), amalgamates economic, environmental and social considerations relating to construction. However, literature suggests that the corporate social responsibility (CSR) element has much potential to be improved upon (Eadie et al., 2011). This paper indicates that construction contractors perceive CSR clauses to have only a slightly positive effect to society. Specific clauses may be better suited to achieving the needs of the contract area and the current wording of UK clauses can be interpreted as restricting employment from target areas. There is belief that the contract prequalification process via a questionnaire (PQQ) concentrates it social criteria mainly on health and safety requirements. The perceived extent of internal and external benefits of CSR practices are investigated, with workforce and community issues, respectively, ranking the best. However, the perceived value for money (VFM) from a contractor perspective of such practices is poor and, therefore, is a major obstacle to motivation for improving performance beyond requirements. This paper extends current thinking by providing suggestions as to how to measure the impact of CSR through key performance indicators.

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2013

The UK entered recession in Q2 (2008) and exited in Q4 (2009) as a consequence of world recession... more The UK entered recession in Q2 (2008) and exited in Q4 (2009) as a consequence of world recession, creating major repercussions for the construction sector. In response, the government introduced a £81 billion efficiency drive. Procurement is a substantial percentage of government budgets, therefore efficient public procurement can offer substantial savings. The private sector indicates efficiencies are introduced through effective procurement and strong competition. It was hypothesised that recession would result in procurement routes being chosen that ensured closer control of costs. Results indicate expected use of traditional procurement will rise 5% and design and build 6% but that procurement personnel do not expect a major shift in procurement route choice due to recession or post-recession. The paper suggests that government policy should ensure that potential efficiencies through choice of route should not be ignored. Further use of robust and innovative procurement techniques should be adopted to ensure value for money.

As one of the newest developments in the construction industry and having been mandated for UK go... more As one of the newest developments in the construction industry and having been mandated for UK government projects, there has been a requirement to add Building Information Modelling (BIM) to the curriculum of Civil Engineering courses. To date, this has been instigated in an ad hoc manner, without major consideration of the pedagogy or timing given to each BIM element. This paper traces the constructivist and behaviourist philosophies and shows that a mixed method is best for BIM teaching. The BIM Academic Forum (BAF) (2013) provided the general subjects for implementation of BIM teaching, with other work providing Level 6 topics. The value and time allocation of each of these had not been previously determined for either the structures or highways disciplines in Civil Engineering. This paper examines, from a BAF perspective, the pedagogy, the subjects required and their value to the specialisms. Through a comparison with Computer Aided Design (CAD) it shows that a mixture of constructivist and didactic teaching is required and that BIM elements are more significant to students specialising in structures than in highways. Findings show that both strands need to focus on BIM roles, BIM data maturity principles, and Collaboration tools. Big Data can be mentioned, but minimised.Като една от новостите в строителната индустрия, задължителна за държавните проекти на Обединеното кралство, е включването в учебната програма на строително информационно моделиране при обучението на строителните инженери. То се появи ед-хок, без съответстващо педагогическо обсъждане и синхронизиране на всички елементи на BIМ. Тазистатия третира конструктивизма и поведенческата философия и показва, че смесеният метод е най-добър за BIМ обучението. Академичният форум (BАF) за BIМ (2013) предложи главния предмет при обучението да бъде заедно с другите на ниво Значението на времевото разпределение, за всеки от тях, не бе дискутиранo преди това нито по отнощение на конструктивните специалности, нито за транспортните специалности на строителното инженерство. Тази статия изследва, от гледна точка на BAF, педагогиката, необходимите предмети, както и тяхното значение за специализацията. От сравнението с CAD се вижда, че комбинацията конструктивизъм и дидактика е необходима за обучението и, че BIМ елементите са по-важни за специализацията на студентите в областта на конструктив-ните специалности, отколкото за пътностроителните такива. Оценката показа, че двете насоки изискват фокусиране върху ролята на BIM, данните за пълното развитие на принципите на BIМ и колаборационните инструменти. В това отношение могат да се приведат много данни, но минимизирани.

International Journal of Procurement Management

Fourth International Conference on Advances in Civil, Structural and Mechanical Engineering - CSM 2016, 2016

Construction industry fragmentation into nearly a million Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SME)... more Construction industry fragmentation into nearly a million Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) in the UK led to calls for the European procurement process to be more inclusive. The innovation and skills of these organisations was not being correctly utilized in Government contracts. The introduction of the new procurement directives Europe wide sought to solve this problem. However, the perspective of SME's on issues such as self-declaration provisions, breaking contracts into lots, limits to the financial capacity required, and the effect on procurement if more SMEs tendered had not been fully researched. This paper's findings show an increase in SME involvement as predicted, and that the other elements of the new regulations are appreciated but that organisations have concerns over the capacity of government departments to administer contracts in lots.

This paper examines the impact of additional clauses of contract in Government Contracts in North... more This paper examines the impact of additional clauses of contract in Government Contracts in Northern Ireland (NI). Through a Delphi Process and on-line questionnaire it found 5 Z clauses created additional risk for contractors: Z3, Z5, Z8, Z9, and Z10. It was found that these impacted in different ways: Z9 is most likely to stop contractors tendering, Z10 in relation to FOI is the most likely to stop contractors from carrying out the work and Z5 impact is unlikely to be able to be absorbed. In light of the publication of NEC4 in June, these clauses need re-examined for NI construction work.

Building Information Model (BIM) use and associated intelligent data in the construction industry... more Building Information Model (BIM) use and associated intelligent data in the construction industry has previously been investigated underlining an issue in its use for the Facilities Management (FM) stage. In this paper, the highlighted knowledge gap is investigate from the perspective of industry professionals who are using BIM models to support current Computer-aided facility management (CAFM) processes, using an on-line questionnaire. Findings from a pre-notified online (LimeSurvey TM) questionnaire showed that Northern Ireland (NI) industry considers BIM is progressing at a similar rate or slightly less than the rest of the UK. Findings indicate weaknesses in BIM models being used for FM processes due to interoperability issues (the majority are transferred in 2D format) and lack of skilled labour. Findings indicate in NI, only 33% use of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) compared to a UK wide figure of 63% (NBS, 2016). COBIE data drops were only utilized on 19% of projects compared to the NBS (2017) UK wide figure of 42%. Only 24% of clients were capable of using BIM for FM, climbing to 36% willing to implement FM data into an Asset Information Model (AIM) to evaluate their systems of working. These low figures suggest that much more can be delivered through government departments deciding on a route to deliver these savings through being more prescriptive. Savings at the earlier stages of the process were only realized when the NI public sector mandated BIM during design and construction in 2016. This client desire created implementation and capacity. It needs a similar mandate to achieve savings at the UK FM stage. Bulgaria has not yet mandated BIM for construction at either stage. The findings of this study can assist in showing that without a mandate uptake is low. However, Bulgaria can achieve savings at all project stages, through mandating BIM.

The EU Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement, which regulates buying procedures for construc... more The EU Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement, which regulates buying procedures for construction and civil engineering organisations, was altered in 2014. Two of the elements that were amended relate to allegedly contradictory principles. Firstly, a move away from capital cost to whole life costing has been suggested. Article 67, entitled ‘Contract award criteria’ establishes ‘Most Economically Advantageous Tender’ as the means of awarding a contract. Life-cycle costing or whole life costing and the best price/quality ratio are used to determine this. However, dynamic purchasing systems have also been included in the new regulations. These are electronic catalogues of goods and services. Electronic searches are carried out and awards are based on lowest price. The e-procurement section of the regulations was strengthened in advance of it being mandatory from April 2016. This paper examines the perceived impact on organisations who have tendered for Government contracts. A telep...

Building Information Modelling (BIM) teaching has been added to the curriculum of Civil Engineeri... more Building Information Modelling (BIM) teaching has been added to the curriculum of Civil Engineering courses in the United Kingdom relatively recently. The BIM Academic Forum reported in 2013 on a general way to implement BIM teaching. Further work specified Level 6 topics. However, the importance of each of these topics in relation to the structures and highways disciplines was not fully researched. This paper examines, from a BAF perspective, the topics and their importance to the specialisms. It shows that all BIM topics are more important to students specialising in structures than those in highways. It further indicates that both streams need to concentrate on BIM roles, BIM data maturity principles, and Collaboration tools. Big Data can be mentioned but can be minimised.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has often been associated only with Building construction. H... more Building Information Modelling (BIM) has often been associated only with Building construction. However, government guidance in Northern Ireland makes no such distinction and includes all Infrastructure and Highways projects over the EU financial threshold. While the drivers and barriers have been ranked for BIM generally in the UK, no such ranking has been undertaken for Highways projects. This paper fills that knowledge gap through a questionnaire survey of organisations that have been forced to use BIM for infrastructure across the UK. It proved the importance of a mandate to implement BIM to achieve the benefits, and highlighted the importance of improving Education and Training in a wholistic approach in overcoming the barriers. It further suggested rebranding BIM as HIM (Highways Information Modelling) to clarify the misconception around its contents.

Procurement in use surveys have confirmed a steady increase in the use of design and build procur... more Procurement in use surveys have confirmed a steady increase in the use of design and build procurement method. However, there was also a criticism that the out turn cost of design and build procurement method makes it more expensive than the traditional procurement method. The conjecture in this study is that risk factors inherent in design and build projects are responsible for the observed variance between the contract sum and the out turn cost. Using a set of 37 risk factors, the study utilized an online survey of UK-based construction professionals to evaluate risk impacts on the variance between contract sum and final account in contractor-led design and build projects. Survey responses were analyzed using mean ranking analysis and oneway analysis of variance (ANOVA). Result showed that ‘scope changes’, ‘ambiguous client brief’, ‘scope creep’, ‘insufficient design completion during tender’, and ‘change in employer’s requirement’ are top risk factors impacting the variance betwe...

Virtual and Reality modelling applications to the construction industry has not been examined to ... more Virtual and Reality modelling applications to the construction industry has not been examined to the necessary degree, with researchers disagreeing as to how to best apply these applications to construction. As most Building Information Models (BIM) are created for design purposes (Eadie et al, 2013), this research concentrates on the design office environment. This study concentrates on firstly seeking to clarify the best means of importing a (BIM) into virtual reality (VR) for viewing and secondly, analysing how 360-degree camera work can be linked to Autodesk Revit. Both these elements utilise plugins to import the elements to and from Autodesk Revit. Sixteen plugins in total were examined: 13 Virtual Reality Plugins (on 2 different Head Mounted Displays) and 3 360-degree camera work plugins. The usability of the 360-degree camera work plugins were examined determining that Holobuilder was the preferred option. The VR plugins were measured against the 8 dimensions of service qual...

The Irish Border is one of the most contentious issues relating to BREXIT. The complex nature of ... more The Irish Border is one of the most contentious issues relating to BREXIT. The complex nature of negotiations relate to key aspects of European Union (EU) law brought in by the Treaty of Maastricht, such as free movement of people and work. With 208 official Irish border crossings [1], and a substantial number of unofficial ones resulting in an estimated 270, there are nearly double the amount compared with the EU Eastern border (137). Construction organisations tender for work on both sides of the border with current EU laws allowing unrestricted movement of labour plant and materials to carry out the work. What is missing from the current discussions is the perceptions of construction organisations north of the border. This paper seeks to examine this knowledge gap via an on-line survey of consultants and contractors. The findings indicate a mixed response to BREXIT with labour likely to be the element most highly impacted after BREXIT and mortar the construction material most imp...

The European Union has set a target of 2016 for all government procurement to be fully electronic... more The European Union has set a target of 2016 for all government procurement to be fully electronic. A target of 1st April 2016 has been set for the United Kingdom Government departments for theimplementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM). However, Grilo and Jardim-Goncalves(2010) show that interoperability issues exist due to the heterogeneous nature of applications andsoftware systems used across the construction industry. As the deadline approaches the paperresults show that there has been an increase in different BIM enabled softwares being adopted. Itfurther indicates that the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC’s) adopted in BIM use are still causingproblems such as 50% of respondents loosing information and therefore need further work. Thereis a lack of use of both BIM and e-procurement together in many organisations indicates that there is much efficiency still to be achieved as software develops. In this regard the level of development is very important. Over half of t...

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Management, Procurement and Law, 2016

In consultations prior to the UK government’s response to changes to the EU procurement directive... more In consultations prior to the UK government’s response to changes to the EU procurement directives, the impact and innovation of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were examined to try to ensure a positive impact across the industry. To produce innovation, a new innovation partnership procedure was introduced. Subsequent to publication of the procedure, this paper examines perceptions from tenderers and the government. Seventy-one completed questionnaire responses were received from tenderers, with a further 19 from government procurers. The findings indicate that 69% of tenderers intend involvement in the future, but the government is evenly split on the ability to use the procedure and is unsure as to its benefits. While the majority considered that little change would result in relation to value for money, speed of innovation to market and increase in innovative solutions, more were positive than negative towards the procedure. Even though economic operators are keen to use...

Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 2013

PurposePublic private partnerships (PPP) and the private finance initiative (PFI) are defined as ... more PurposePublic private partnerships (PPP) and the private finance initiative (PFI) are defined as a range of practical long‐standing relationships between the public and private sectors. This paper aims to investigate managers’ perceptions of PPP/PFI in two of the three largest sectors for private sector capital‐spend in PPP/PFI schemes, namely transport (highway infrastructure) and healthcare.Design/methodology/approachA web‐based Limesurvey™ questionnaire was used to collect data. A sample of 75 organisations was identified from the Partnerships UK (PUK) online Project Database (Partnerships UK, 2010). Total of 49 responses were received, of which 39 were complete.FindingsResults from each sector relating to PPP/PFI “best value”, advantages and disadvantages, and government preferred procurement routes, are investigated. The majority of organisations did not consider that PPP/PFI provided “best value” but thought it provided more value than the other two UK Government preferred pro...

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2014

The 'triple bottom line' of sustainable development, (Dyllick and Hockerts, 2002), amalgamates ec... more The 'triple bottom line' of sustainable development, (Dyllick and Hockerts, 2002), amalgamates economic, environmental and social considerations relating to construction. However, literature suggests that the corporate social responsibility (CSR) element has much potential to be improved upon (Eadie et al., 2011). This paper indicates that construction contractors perceive CSR clauses to have only a slightly positive effect to society. Specific clauses may be better suited to achieving the needs of the contract area and the current wording of UK clauses can be interpreted as restricting employment from target areas. There is belief that the contract prequalification process via a questionnaire (PQQ) concentrates it social criteria mainly on health and safety requirements. The perceived extent of internal and external benefits of CSR practices are investigated, with workforce and community issues, respectively, ranking the best. However, the perceived value for money (VFM) from a contractor perspective of such practices is poor and, therefore, is a major obstacle to motivation for improving performance beyond requirements. This paper extends current thinking by providing suggestions as to how to measure the impact of CSR through key performance indicators.

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2013

The UK entered recession in Q2 (2008) and exited in Q4 (2009) as a consequence of world recession... more The UK entered recession in Q2 (2008) and exited in Q4 (2009) as a consequence of world recession, creating major repercussions for the construction sector. In response, the government introduced a £81 billion efficiency drive. Procurement is a substantial percentage of government budgets, therefore efficient public procurement can offer substantial savings. The private sector indicates efficiencies are introduced through effective procurement and strong competition. It was hypothesised that recession would result in procurement routes being chosen that ensured closer control of costs. Results indicate expected use of traditional procurement will rise 5% and design and build 6% but that procurement personnel do not expect a major shift in procurement route choice due to recession or post-recession. The paper suggests that government policy should ensure that potential efficiencies through choice of route should not be ignored. Further use of robust and innovative procurement techniques should be adopted to ensure value for money.

This a report published for the the International Council for Building (CIB) Task Group TG83: e-b... more This a report published for the the International Council for Building (CIB) Task Group TG83: e-business in Construction. This report analyses the state of adoption of e-business in the construction industry of Bulgaria. It used an industry wide survey conducted through the Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria to gather data.

Dr Robert Eadie1 Nikolay Stankov2 Professor Acad. Yatchko Ivanov2 and Professor Srinath Perera3