Why is Design-Build Commonly Used in the Public Sector? An Illustration from Hong Kong

Edmond Lam,Albert Chan,Daniel Chan

doi:10.5130/ajceb.v3i1.2911

Edmond Lam, Albert Chan + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.5130/ajceb.v3i1.2911

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Abstract

The Design and Build (D&B) procurement method is one of the systems advocated to overcome inadequacies with the traditional procurement method. In recent years, this innovative procurement method has been put to practice in Hong Kong where a vast amount of infrastructure works is taking place. This paper aims to illustrate the applicability of design-build in the Hong Kong setting.As most D&B projects are undertaken by the public sector of Hong Kong, the main features of a public sector project and reasons for its wider use on D&B are fully examined in the paper. To further explore the benefits of D&B in actual practice, structured interviews have been conducted with clients, contractors and consultants running D&B projects in Hong Kong. Summary of major problems of running D&B projects from the previous study by the authors is also outlined. With the increasing use of D&B in the public sector of Hong Kong and worldwide, more research can be undertaken on the quantitative comparison of the traditional mode of procurement and how to carry out a D&B project successfully so as to develop a knowledge base for the D&B procurement method.

Highlights

The Design and Build (D&B) procurement method is one of the systems advocated to overcome inadequacies with the traditional procurement method
This paper attempts to give an overview of the D&B development in the public sector of Hong Kong
Reasons for the wider use of D&B in the public sector can be attributed to its characteristics, notably single point of communication, certainty on time & cost, use of contractor's expertise, pre-qualification exercises, use of private sector resources and government initiation

Summary

Introduction

The Design and Build (D&B) procurement method is one of the systems advocated to overcome inadequacies with the traditional procurement method. Design-build (D&B) contracts become increasingly popular as the construction industry seeks less adversarial and more integrated project procurement strategies (Palaneeswaran and Kumaraswamy, 2001) They appear to be a panacea to many of the problems faced by the practitioners. D&B has been used extensively in Hong Kong to help deal with the problems associated with the traditional system (Chan, 2000) It is mostly implemented by the public sector which has shown an increasing acceptance of design-build in recent years (Rizzo, 1998). It aims to identify the key characteristics of the D&B method and account for its wider adoption in the public sector It provides an empirical study on the benefits of the D&B method in actual practice and summarises the potential problems of running D&B projects from a previous study. The significance of this study will be highlighted at the end of the paper

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