Improving the Effectiveness and Image of the Building and Civil Engineering Process by Using an Award Point System in the Award of Contracts (original) (raw)

An investigation into contractors' evaluation of risks associated with the JBCC principal building agreement in South Africa

2011

Construction is a risky business, and risk management is an essential responsibility in managing construction projects and organisations. Hence, construction contracts have been developed to organise the relationship between project participants and manage associated risks. This paper provides an investigation into the contractors' responses and feedback obtained through the application of an innovative framework developed by the authors towards identifying, quantifying and classifying the risks associated with the Joint Building Contractors Committee Principal Building Agreement Series 2000 (JBCC PBA) in South Africa. Qualitative and quantitative techniques have been used in this study for data collection and analysis. Purposive sampling was adopted to identify the respondents, and 9 construction managers were interviewed. The interviews were structured so that they were carried out in a free and unbiased manner and responding contractors were asked to complete a questionnaire....

ANALYSIS OF CONTRACTORS’PERCEPTION OF RISKS RELATED TO THE JBCC PRINCIPAL BUILDING AGREEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

2011

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to analyse the contractors' responses and feedback obtained through the application of an innovative framework developed by the authors towards identifying, quantifying and classifying the risks associated with the Joint Building Contractors Committee Principal Building Agreement Series 2000 (JBCC PBA) in South Africa. Within this research both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used for data collection and analysis.

The International Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Research An Investigation into The Impediment in The Award of Contracts to Local Contractors in Public Institutions: A Case Study of NAPSA Lusaka

The International Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Research, 2020

The construction industry is one of the fastest infrastructure developments, it is imperative that local contractors are given a level ground in terms of awarding of contracts. The study therefore investigated the impediment into the awarding of contracts to local contractors. This was achieved through the specific objectives that included; to establish the role of technical capacity in the award of the contract to the local Contractors; to ascertain the influence of financial capacity on the award to contracts to the local contractors; to find out the effect of lack of enabling atmosphere for locals on the award of contracts to the local contractors and to establish the extent to which corruption impedes award of contracts to the local contractors Primary data was obtained from the respondents using questionnaires. Purposive sampling technique was employed to obtain information from both the NAPSA staff and local contractors. 50 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents. The obtained data was then analysed by the usage of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and presented in charts and tables. The study found out that while financial inability and enabling atmosphere greatly affected the local contractors in securing tenders, technical inability and corruption were less likely to affect the award of contracts to local contractors. The study further found that local contractors face challenges when bidding for NAPSA tenders and most cases there are only subcontracted by the foreign bidders and bid documents have issues with the activity schedule page do not portray a clear picture at times with over pricing. It was therefore concluded that impediment into securing of contracts by local contracts was financial inability and lack of enabling or favorable business environment in which the local contracts operated. Arising from the findings herein, it was recommended that various measures that can be undertaken to assist local contractors and these include priority should be given to local contractors and that ZPPA should allow bid securing declaration instead of bid security to all local bidders who meet the criteria, address corruption, kickbacks, middlemen and transparency in the bidding process.

Reflections and Observations on the Use of Broad-Based Survey Methods on the South African Construction Sector

The choice of appropriate methods of data collection is crucial for empirical research. This choice often appears to be influenced by the previous experiences and traditions of a researcher and his/her environment. Furthermore, critical and reflective reporting on the application of data collection methods in context specific literature is far and few between and often do not address particular issues interesting to a particular research field, such as construction, and its setting, such as South Africa where historically few broad based surveys of the South African construction industry have been attempted. In December 2006 a telephonic, computer assisted, survey was conducted on a sample of 528 contractors registered with South Africa's Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). The data captured was quantitative but was supplemented with qualitative data. Although a good response rate was obtained, a number of context specific issues emerged ranging from problems with language to marriage proposals made to the female research staff. Of particularly note were the differences within the sample reflecting cultural, linguistic, economic and regional variations that affected the attitudes of respondents to the CIDB, the research and the interview process itself. From this conclusions are drawn that may assist researchers in research practice in South Africa and other developing countries.

Effectiveness of contractor development programme in KwaZulu-Natal

Acta Structilia , 2019

The article investigates the level of satisfaction with the South African Department of Public Work's Contractor Development Programme (CDP) in terms of its effectiveness. A mixed method research approach (combination of quantitative and qualitative approach) is employed for the collection of both statistical and in-depth information on the perceptions of participants on the CDP. Survey data collected from 364 participants and interview data from six focus-group participants in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province of South Africa forms the data sets for the article. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Descriptive statistics is used to report the reliability of the various constructs, mean scores, standard deviations, and correlations. The findings show that participants not only deemed the programme unsatisfactory, but also reported an overall negative experience with the programme. Specific findings show that the CDP offers no training opportunities to registered members, lacks effective communication mediums, and benefited only those with political connections. The correlation results show that there is a strong

Karisutu Joas Dissertation November 2015( Draft 04 11 15) Annotated (Alan Wheatley)

The Government of Botswana is principled to allocate funds to the development of the country by allocating more resources into building and infrastructure construction projects, especially the recently announced programme (Economic Stimulus Package (ESP)) whose objective is to stimulate the economy through a number of targeted projects with the potential to create employment. Furthermore, the government of Botswana under this new initiative has intentions to put substantial amount of resources to be spent on infrastructure projects, but the challenge is that the construction sector is traditionally prone to unethical practices and notorious for its inability to deliver projects on time, to the desired quality and cost overruns quite a norm. These negative attributes of the construction industry are often as a result of a number of challenges, among which are lack of capacity to effectively handle construction projects, contractor poor planning and supervision, lack of professionalism to mention a few. Therefore, it has been realised that the Government of Botswana will continue to put taxpayer’s money in a “bottomless pit” if there are no proper project management methodologies, techniques and tools used for management of building and infrastructure construction projects to deliver positive projects. The aim of the study is to improve management of building and infrastructure construction projects and improvement of their performance. The reason being that almost all of the building and infrastructure major projects such as stadia and others were previously completed behind their original time schedule and with cost overruns effected by various challenges encountered by the Department of Building and Engineering Services. Using a comprehensive literature review and survey questionnaires, the challenges encountered by the Department of Building and Engineering Services were confirmed using the Relative Importance Index methodology to rank the most important challenges leading to schedule delays, costs escalations, inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques in managing building and infrastructure construction projects. A specific survey was distributed to the DBES technical staff to examine the most significant challenges leading to schedule delays, costs escalations, inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques in managing building and infrastructure construction projects. Opinions from the DBES technical staff were used to rank the most important challenges leading to schedule delays, costs escalations, inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques in managing building and infrastructure construction projects using the Relative Importance Index methodology. Data from the collected survey questionnaires was analysed by statistical methods (RII formula) to determine the most important challenges leading to schedule delays, costs escalations, inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques in managing building and infrastructure construction projects. A relative importance index has been used to identify the relative importance of the challenges got from the comprehensive literature review. The study established that slowness in decision making by clients, incomplete project design, poor site management and supervision by contractors, ineffective project planning and scheduling by contractors and poor communication and coordination between supervising consultants and contractors are the most important challenges leading to schedule delays and costs escalations in building and infrastructure construction projects. On the other hand, lack of relevant training in project management for DBES technical staff, lack of understanding of the role of project management in the organisation, lack of commitment from senior management, lack of defined clear mission for programmes and lack of knowledge to evaluate risks were found to be the major challenges that lead to inability to implement a project management office, failure to use project management methodologies, tools and techniques. Thus, the need to use appropriate project management practices, deliberate for personnel building capacity, commitment from the senior management and prompt decision making, thereby improving projects performance.

Managing risks associated with the JBCC (principal building agreement) from the South African contractor's perspective

Acta Structilia : Journal for the Physical and Development Sciences, 2009

Construction is a complex and risky business. It is a time-consuming process involving a multitude of organisations with different objectives and skills. In addition, increasing client expectations coupled with the technological development of materials and equipment made the construction industry subject to more risks than any other industry. Contracts are essential tools for organising the relationship between involved parties and managing associated risk. For years the South African construction industry had a very poor reputation in managing construction risks. In order to improve the image of the South African construction industry and to assist contractors to develop their proper risk management strategy, this article aims to manage the risks associated with the Joint Building Contracts Committees (JBCC) Principal Building Agreement (PBA). A research methodology, consisting of literature review, questionnaires and interviews, is designed to achieve four objectives. First, to r...

Performance of Construction Projects in South Africa: Perceptions of Consultants and Contractors

Over the years, performance of construction projects has become an issue of concern not only to contractors and professionals but other stakeholders including clients, project sponsors and end-users. This is due to complexity of construction process, innovation in the use of raw materials and machinery, new construction management techniques and more importantly, variation in requirement from clients. Thus, this research evaluates factors affecting performance of construction projects from the perspective of consultants and contractors, in order to enhance the quest of construction industry of contributing positively to the economy and overall growth of the nation. Using quantitative approach, data were collected through close-ended questionnaires administered on a group of learned and experienced consultants and contractors who are based within the study area. From the analysed data, there is a significant difference in the perceptions of consultants and contractors regarding factors affecting performance of construction projects. To consultants, general time factors and conformance to specification are the most important performance indicator for project success while from contractors' view, cost factors including delay in payment from owner to contractor is a major critical success factor. The two groups unilaterally agreed that bringing about the best planning and scheduling technique before and during construction would assist in improving performance of construction projects in the country.