Managing the Development & Construction of Public Hospital Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify effective project management strategies for developing and constructing public hospitals in Singapore to ensure that good project outcomes are achieved. The specific objectives are to: (i) identify project management related factors that contribute to the good performance of public hospital projects; (ii) investigate the key factors that lead to the poor performance of public hospital projects; and (iii) recommend a suitable project management framework for managing the development and construction of public hospital projects. The research was based on the case study of the development and construction of two public hospital projects. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with participants involved in each project. The principal results are that these factors must be present to ensure success of public hospitals projects: well-defined project scope incorporating the inputs of relevant stakeholders; proper change control system; close monitoring and control of project cost and expenses; regular site inspection for quality control; clearly defined roles and responsibilities of project team members; adequate communication mechanism; and extensive use of communication technologies. The findings for factors contributing to poor performance of public hospital projects are: unclear project scope; absence of strategy to manage cost overrun; inadequate risk assessment; incomprehensive evaluation criteria for contractor selection; and high turnover of project personnel. The major conclusion is that project participants should systematically adopt the project management strategies recommended in this study to guide the development and construction of public hospitals in order to achieve a higher chance of success.