Critical BIM qualification criteria for construction pre-qualification and selection

Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu,Lamine Mahdjoubi,Colin A Booth

doi:10.1080/17452007.2017.1296812

Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu, Lamine Mahdjoubi + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/17452007.2017.1296812

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Abstract

ABSTRACTDespite emerging research on Building Information Modelling (BIM) capability, there remain no studies that specifically look at criteria for the pre-qualification and selection of construction supply chain (CSC) firms for BIM projects. As a consequence, there is insufficient theoretical insight and empirical justification for critical BIM qualification criteria for the CSC context. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, a study was conducted to ascertain the most critical BIM capability attributes, as well as relevance to the pre-qualification and selection of suitable CSC firms for BIM-enabled projects. The relative importance of these criteria was determined based on their perceived influence on overall BIM delivery success on recent BIM-enabled projects. A sequential exploratory mixed methodological research design was adopted involving semi-structured interviews (n = 8) and a Delphi survey (n = 25) of experts, as well as a survey of CSC firms (n = 64) on BIM-enabled projects. The findings reinforce the criticality of past BIM experience in delivery success. Furthermore, it revealed that while technological infrastructure-related capacities (such as software and hardware availability) are perceived as very important qualification criteria, their actual contribution to delivery success is not as high in comparison to criteria related to previous BIM experience. This study provides insights on prioritising BIM capability criteria based on evidence on their contribution to delivery success in practice rather than their perceived importance as capability metrics.

Highlights

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is recognised as a critical collaborative information technology that could assist the Construction Supply Chain (CSC) in achieving integrated practice (Vrijhoef, 2011; BIS 2013a; 2013b)
Based on the phenomenological principles, thematic analysis was adopted to establish a hierarchy of BIM qualification criteria for CSC
The categories were (i) Competence describing knowledge, skills and experience in the delivery of BIM; (ii) Capacity and Resources representing the availability of internal process maturity including physical, technical resources and a demonstration of capacity to deliver BIM for project; (iii) Culture and Attitude representing soft qualification criteria that indicate the appropriate ethos and willingness to deliver BIM; and the (iv) Cost of delivery BIM

Summary

Introduction

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is recognised as a critical collaborative information technology that could assist the Construction Supply Chain (CSC) in achieving integrated practice (Vrijhoef, 2011; BIS 2013a; 2013b). This is expected to be achieved through centralised digital exchange of data to eliminate current information flow inefficiencies that contribute to poor performance (Arayici et al, 2012). Despite the proliferation of frameworks and toolsets for evaluating the BIM performance of firms, there remains a lack of a tailored approach to predicting a firm’s propensity to succeed in the delivery of BIM during the pre-qualification and selection stage. There is a need for a deep understanding of the relative importance of such criteria in relation to their contribution to BIM delivery success (Smits et al, 2016)

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