Partnering in Infrastructure Projects in Germany

Abstract

The situation between client and contractor in infrastructure projects seems to be quite similar in Germany and all over the world. Cost and time overruns seem to be normal occurrences in these projects. Both, client and contractor complain about the bad conditions. Getting out of this situation different partnering approaches have been developed all over the world in the last years. A “partnering guideline for public financed infrastructure projects” has been developed at the University of Kassel in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Transport, construction associations, client organizations and various construction companies for the special conditions in Germany. During the last four years this guideline has been tested in pilot projects accompanied by the Chair of Project Management to evaluate its usability, find elements which may need improvement and to proof the advantages of this form of project handling. The results of this testing phase show a clear change towards more collaboration. Conflicts could be avoided or at least solved faster and cost savings for the client respectively bonuses for the contractors could be achieved by using value engineering.