Quality Management System for a Highway Megaproject

Abstract

Although the concepts of quality management have been successfully applied in many industries, primarily manufacturing, and are equally applicable to the construction industry, highway megaprojects, especially those delivered through private–public partnership (P3) arrangements, present new challenges. The current movement from the use of traditional method specifications to the use of end-result specifications and the transfer of responsibilities for quality to the developer and builder give rise to the need to verify quality performance. A quality information management system becomes a necessity given the volume of information generated. The challenges of developing and implementing a quality information management system for a highway megaproject in New Brunswick, Canada, are discussed. The system developed addresses key needs including support for various levels of management (technical and executive), an open data structure and interoperability, hierarchical information levels, integration with facilitywide management information, and future scalability. The system developed addresses the needs of quality information management for a private project developer but can also be adapted to other project delivery mechanisms. The tool was implemented to support the entire project team, including construction field supervisors and the project’s senior management. A documented analysis is offered of a generic implementation process that can be adopted in other projects to improve efficiency in quality information management in the highway construction industry in general and in megaprojects delivered through P3 arrangements in particular.