Procurement of Developmental Projects in Ghana: A Literature Review of the Designer-Led System Verses the Producer-Led Systems (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 2017
Since the inception of construction consultancy practice in Ghana, the Design-Bid-Build (DBB), otherwise known as the Traditional System of Procurement has been the main method of procurement of construction projects. Despite several criticisms for its slowness, litigious, cost and time escalations, the procurement system dominates all other forms of procurement in the Ghanaian construction industry. Over ninety per cent of all building projects especially in the public sector are procured through this arrangement. In the wake of changes in clients" characteristics and demands, coupled with the existence of a wide range of procurement alternatives that seek to satisfy these concerns, the Ghanaian construction industry continue to use DBB system as the main system of procurement. This study investigated the factors accountable for its continuous use and the readiness of clients, contractors and consultants in Ghana to adopt and use Design and Build (D&B) as an alternative procurement system to the traditional one. In carrying out the research, extensive literature on DBB in Ghana and Design and Build (D&B) in UK and Europe was reviewed. Issues arising out of the literature were developed into questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered on consultants, contractors and employers (clients) in the three Northern Regions of Ghana in particular where the study was carried out. The findings pointed out that, stakeholders do not only recognise the problems inherent in DBB, but demanded certain objectives that can best be achieved by adopting D& procurement method. Specifically, industry players wants contractors" involvement in the design process as early as possible, single point responsibility, risk avoidance, reduced claims, reduction or elimination of cost and time overruns etc. However, construction firms/organisations in Ghana, especially in the Northern parts lack the necessary competence and expertise to undertake D&B. The industry is also dominated by one major client i.e. the Government/Public Sector who mostly uses DBB system for its projects. The aggregation of these findings suggests that, D&B is desired, but can only be adopted in the near future since contractors and clients (suppliers) are ill prepared at present to adopt the method of procurement.
Journal of Sustainable Development, 2011
The construction product is an outcome of many procurement possibilities, among which the most dominant has been the design-bid-build (otherwise called the traditional) method. The procurement method's real or perceived drawbacks have warranted or even been rationalized for the emergence of alternative methods. Yet there is a continued use of the method in both private and public sector projects in Nigeria. This study thus sought to investigate stakeholders' perception on the use of the traditional method. 241 questionnaires were administered purposively on construction industry client, consulting and contracting organizations. 100 were received and analyzed through the use of descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Respondents were requested to express their agreement or otherwise with twenty issues raised from literature and practice on the traditional project procurement. The aggregated rankings for the stakeholder organizations show that 'where sought at all, inputs of contractors are at best advisory' ranked first among issues being assessed on traditional project procurement practice. 'Relationships among participants breed mistrust' ranked least among the twenty issues. The results of the analysis further indicate that there are no significant differences between the three stakeholder groups on some selected issues in traditional project procurement practice and documentation. It is recommended that the homogeneity of perceptions about the traditional method can be a springboard and form a baseline for further intervention efforts at improving construction project procurement in Nigeria.
International Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 2015
Research has revealed that projects surveyed in Nigeria suffered delays in project performance as a result of defects in the contract documents. The emphasis on procurement methods is on optimizing all parameters involved in project delivery namely, time, cost and quality but sadly in Nigeria, procurement of projects within these constraints has continued to be a challenge to the design team, the contractors, and managers of investments. Data were collected from selected building contractors in Abuja on 50 public building projects with the use of questionnaires and secondary/archival data were collected and tabulated for easy analysis. The factors affecting the performance of procurement methods were also assessed under which the complexity of design, capital cost of project and adequacy of contractor resources were identified as the most important factors affecting the performance of traditional procurement method. For the design & build procurement method the most important factors identified were financial risk, alterations to design and involvement of non contractual parties. It was also discovered that project completion at estimated cost, project completion at estimated time are the most important criteria for selection of traditional procurement method while in the design & build method, project completion at estimated time, project completion at estimated cost, nature of project and quality assurance were the major selection criteria. In terms of project performance, design & build procurement method was discovered to perform better in terms of cost and time than the traditional method implying that projects under the design & build procurement method are usually completed within the estimated contract sum and duration and lower level of cost and time overruns are conceded. In view of these findings, major recommendations of the study are that qualified professionals should be employed in the various construction processes to reduce the risk of time and cost overruns in the execution of projects and that clients adopting Design & Build procurement method should ensure that a well detailed and exhaustive brief is given to the contractor before the commencement of the project.
Client and Consultant Organisations’ Assessment of Design-Bid-Build Procurement Practice in Nigeria
2013
Despite criticisms, the design-bid-build (otherwise called the traditional) procurement method has been the commonest method for project delivery in both the private and public sectors of Nigeria. This study sought to investigate the assessment of client and consultant organizations on the use of the traditional method for project delivery in Nigeria. A set of 155 questionnaires were administered purposively on consulting and client organizations in Nigeria. 65 organizations responded to the questionnaire. The responses were analyzed through the use of descriptive and inferential statistical tools. Using an ordinal scale, respondents were requested to express their agreement or otherwise with twenty issues raised on traditional project procurement. The aggregation for the two groups indicates that ‘Individual participants are exploitative of loopholes in contract documents ranked first among the issues being assessed. ‘Relationships among participants breed mistrust’ ranked least am...
Quality of construction is a key component of perceived value to both clients and contractors. The International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) noted that “lack of quality in construction is manifested in poor or non-sustainable workmanship, and unsafe structures; and in delays, cost overruns and disputes in construction contracts”. Value and quality of construction are of concern to both public and private sector clients. The procurement process in the construction industry is plagued with a number of problems and challenges. Some of the challenges and problems faced by the construction industry in Cameroon and Africa that leads to the delivery of projects of poor quality standards are discussed in this write up. The study investigates the factors that are posing a negative impact on construction quality through the value chain in creating new capital works such as design, procurement and construction. Concerns had been based on the principal issues like; Construction, design and procurement related factors. Furthermore, issues like weak capacity, corruption and embezzlement, finance related issues like budget and funding, procuring design quality, material quality, planning challenges, cultural, human resources and contractor performance issues have been reviewed. These problems have been identified through a critical literature review and field experience drawn from the Cameroon and Africa context and attempts have been made to analyse each of the problems or challenges that lead to the delivery of poor quality projects. Value and quality of construction are of concern to both clients and contractor in both the public and private sector. Against this background, this study has been undertaken on the quality of construction in Africa in general and Cameroon in particular. The construction projects referred to in this paper deals with all types of building and civil engineering projects
2015
Procurement systems provide the general framework and organisation of line of responsibilities for stakeholders within the construction process. It is a major contributor to client satisfaction in achieving successful completion of projects. This paper focused on examining the impact of different procurement methods and project types on performance of construction projects. The research employed a quantitative approach using structured questionnaires to elicit information from 420 stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry. The relationship between project types and procurement systems was established as well as their influence on project delivery. The data were analysed and discussed. The results showed that there is correlation between procurement methods and factors used in assessing project success, while no relationship exists between procurement methods and project type. The implication is that cost, time and quality are factors affecting the selection of procurement methods.
An appraisal of project procurement methods in the Nigerian construction industry
The aim of every client at the beginning of any project is to have at the end of the day a quality structure delivered on time and within budget. However, researches have shown that in most cases this aim is not met. The aim of the study that formed the basis for this paper was to identify and assess procurement methods in use in the Nigerian construction industry and identify the factors that affect the choice of the variants under the traditional and the nonconventional procurement methods. Data were collected using well-structured questionnaires administered to professionals in Lagos metropolis. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study reveals that the variants of traditional method of contract procurement are the most adopted in project execution in Nigeria. In making choice of procurement method, the study reveals that project completion at estimated time ranks as the highest factor considered for traditional method, while quality assurance ranks highest with non-conventional method.
Effect of Construction Business Relationship Situation on Design Service Delivery in Ghana
Literature describes the construction business relationship (CBR) situation in developing countries like Ghana as harsh, adversarial and non-collaborative, resulting in several business relationship challenges among Design Service Delivery (DSD) actors. This non-collaborative business relationship situation causes discords, disputes and conflicts (DDC), affecting improvement of DSD activities. This paper seeks to describe the current CBR situation among DSD actors in the Ghanaian construction industry (GCI) and its effect on development and constitution of supply chains of information flow (SCIfs). Drawing on action-oriented system theory, system thinking and rethinking approaches the current CBR situation among DSD actors are isolated for their conceptual and empirical understanding. A case study approach was used to achieve the study objectives and the data was analysed using content analysis and pareto analysis. A stringent eligibility criteria enabled nine different professional groups of five DSD actors each to be purposively selected for the study. Fourteen percent (14%) of DSD actors described the current CBR situation as " lacking harmonization of professional work and good business relationships " and " hostile, frustrating, with tension and conflicts " , 13% described the situation as " lacking interdependencies and sustainability " and 9% described it as " having mixed relationships of affiliates and training mates relationships " among others. The resultant effects of the current CBR situation among DSD actors include " difficulties in sharing and exchanging information " , " disturbance of time schedule/control " , " reduction in quality of work " , and " cost ineffectiveness ". The paper makes an important theoretical contribution to knowledge by providing empirical description of the current CBR situation and its effect on design service delivery in the construction industry, especially in the context of developing countries. It brings to the fore the need for proactive management action to help address the situation in developing countries such as Ghana.
Journal of Civil Engineering and Management - J CIV ENG MANAG, 2011
Client objectives in a building project are to build within the budget and estimated construction period and being satisfied with the quality of the project. The ability of the procurement methods in achieving these objectives does influence the client to choose any to implement the project. The performance of two of such procurement methods: the traditional contracting and design-build against client objectives were determined using data set of 53 traditional contracts and 15 design-build projects gathered through a questionnaire survey administered unto respondents in three locations in Nigeria. Time overrun, cost overrun and clients’ satisfaction with quality standard were used as basis for comparison. Analysis showed that, the mean cost overrun, and time overrun for design-build were 21.4% and 36.8% respectively as compared with 42.6% and 135.6% for traditional contracting projects. As for quality standard, 78% of design-build clients were satisfied with their projects as compar...