Project Contract Research Articles

Simplified Earned Value Analysis Method for Highway Construction Projects

Earned value (EV) methodology has been widely studied and implemented in academia and industry. Nonetheless, state departments of transportation (DOTs) are lagging in their acceptance and utilization of EV techniques to measure progress and assess performance for highway construction projects. Difficulty securing cost progress data and other information, such as a cost and resource-loaded schedule, necessary to generate EV metrics, is one of several reasons. This paper suggests DOTs adopt the simplified earned value analysis (SEVA) method, which uses project contract information and project progress payment data to calculate EV metrics. The SEVA method is proposed as an intermediate approach for DOTs to apply the EV concept without the burden of additional data collection. The study also addressed front-loading and auxiliary item costs and their impact on measuring project progress. By removing the costs of front-loading and auxiliary items, for example, mobilization and preparing right-of-way, from metrics calculations, the SEVA method provided a more accurate picture of project progress and performance. The SEVA method is also expected to help DOTs move toward wider earned value management implementation in highway construction. This study contributes to the academic body of knowledge by exploring little-studied challenges to EV application and their practical solutions in highway construction, and by introducing potential future research avenues in EV implementation in highway construction.

Do regional characteristics influence PPP contract governance skills requirements?

PurposeThis study aims to seek, on the basis of Hofstede's culture consequences, to explore the notion that regional characteristics may influence the prioritisation of certain types of public-private partnerships (PPP) contract governance skills over others. It further sets out to determine which skills are considered the most critical between the groups of respondents surveyed.Design/methodology/approachTo bring this important and neglected perspective into the mainstream of PPP discussions, the study, being of an exploratory nature, relied on a survey of 340 respondents from around the globe. The respondents are a rich mix of public policy experts, economists, construction professionals, project finance experts, lawyers and academic researchers in PPP.s.FindingsAnalysis revealed that, regional characteristics was an important factor influencing skills prioritisation. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis with Monte Carlo principal component analysis (PCA) confirmation revealed that project management, contract design, negotiations, performance management and stakeholder management skills were very critical for successful contract management of PPP projects.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate that the design and implementation of regulatory governance for infrastructure PPPs should be context-specific rather than the current one-size-fits all model. Training should be tailored to reflect regional specific characteristics.Originality/valueStudies are increasingly pointing to the absence of critical PPP skills among institutions responsible for managing PPP contracts. This lack of capacity has resulted in poor oversight of private companies providing public services resulting in poor services, and financial recklessness, which threaten the sustainability of service provision.

Effects of asymmetric investment cost information on revenue-compensated build-operate-transfer highway contracts

In the planning stage of build-operate-transfer (BOT) highway projects, private firms usually possess more information about the investment cost than governments. This study considers the problem of how to design project contracts and regulate private firms whose investment costs are unobservable to governments. A principal-agent model is proposed to investigate this type of BOT contracts, in which governments aim to maximize social welfare, while the firms are guaranteed a reserved level of profit and have no incentive to misreport their costs. Besides, the extent to which the information asymmetries influence these contracts is examined, through an analysis of the effects of the distribution of marginal cost parameters and the shadow cost of public funds. Furthermore, properties of these contracts are discussed and compared with the revenue-compensated BOT contracts under symmetric cost information.

Equilibrium pricing mechanism of low-carbon supply chain considering carbon cap-and-trade policy

In the low-carbon supply chain (LSC) network, because of the different carbon emission reduction investment costs and product exhibition costs, members of the same level will show certain competitive behavior. This paper aims to realize the low-carbon development of the supply chain network based on the carbon quota trading system and the risk aversion characteristics of retailers and uses variational inequality theory to construct the network equilibrium model under the constraint of inventory capacity, and designs an improved projection contraction algorithm to solve the model. The results mean that when the retailer is risk averse, the improvement of the risk aversion coefficient (RAC) reduces the manufacturer's carbon emission rate and profit and increases the product sales price and retailer's profit. When the retailer has an inventory capacity constraint, the enhancement of the inventory capacity constraint increases the profit of the manufacturer and the retailer but reduces the emission reduction rate of the manufacturer. If the retailer has risk aversion characteristics and inventory capacity constraints, the manufacturers' profits will increase as RAC increases, while retailers' profits will decrease as RAC increases. In addition, the carbon trading mechanism can promote enterprises to invest in carbon emission reduction and raise the low-carbon level of products.

Psychological contract between contractors and owners in construction projects: the mediating role of inter-organisational teamwork

PurposeThe objectives of this paper are to examine the impact of psychological contract on project performance in private construction projects and to investigate if the positive effect of psychological contract on project performance can be mediated by inter-organisational teamwork.Design/methodology/approachMultiple regression analysis and mediation analysis were applied in this study to conduct the proposed hypotheses. Data were collected via questionnaire surveys from the construction professionals working for contractor firms on private construction projects.FindingsThe result of the multiple regression analysis indicated that psychological contract between contractors and owners is significantly related with project performance in construction projects. This study examined five psychological contract components, but the most important element was found as trust which can influence every aspect of project performance. Fairness is another key factor that can improve project performance in terms of budget and quality. Further, the findings of the mediation analysis revealed that inter-organisational teamwork has a mediating effect on the relationship between psychological contract and project performance.Originality/valueThis paper presents the important role of psychological contract between contractor and owner organizations in construction projects that can affect project performance. The study also highlights the significance of inter-organisational teamwork as a mediator to the relationship between psychological contract and project performance.

Impact of technology innovation strategy on the completion of strategic projects in the electric power subsector in Kenya

This paper examined the impact of technology innovation strategy on the completion of strategic projects in the electric power subsector in Kenya. Motivated by high cost of large projects planned and implemented but got abandoned or delayed, the study sought to model the relationship between technology innovation strategy and the completion of projects. Employing a mixed method approach, this study collected quantitative data, using structured questionnaire, from targeted managers of corporations in the subsector; and used an interview schedule to collect qualitative data from key informants-representatives of the Ministry of Energy, donors and project contractors. A total of 166 respondents out of the targeted 223 filled the questionnaire. Key informants were interviewed until saturation was reached. Factor analysis was used to test reliability and validity of the variable constructs and to confirm that they were suitable for use to generate useful statistics to inform the study. Utilizing SPSS application, a regression model was used to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. To test the null hypothesis that technology innovation strategy had no influence on the completion of projects, regression analysis turned out a p-value of –which was less than 0.05 and therefore significant. This meant that the null hypothesis was rejected and the alternative hypothesis that technology innovation strategy influenced project completion was not rejected. Culture was found not to moderate the relationship between technology innovation strategy and project completion. Consequently, the study recommended that project implementation agencies increase investments in and prioritize the implementation of technology innovation strategy.

The effects of political interference on procurement performance in the parastatal organizations in Dar es Salaam Region

The study aimed to examine the effect of political interference on procurement performance in Tanzania's parastatal organization. It was specifically intended to investigate the impact of political interference on the contract award, project allocation, and legal framework implementation on procurement performance and make some recommendations for improvement. The data were collected from heads of departments at 93 parastatal organizations in Dar es Salaam using structured questionnaires. The study's population consisted of 712 respondents, with a sample size of 256 randomly selected, but only 241 questionnaires were returned, completed, and used for analysis. The data were descriptively and inferentially analyzed using a multiple regression analysis with the help of SPSS version 26. The finding shows that political interference in contract award and legal framework implementation negatively influences procurement performance. In contrast, political interference in project allocation positively impacts procurement performance. The study implied that the procuring entity should ensure that politicians were not involved in the procurement process and that only authorized officers were allowed to participate.

Analysis of Accounting System Requirements for Construction Companies

This study aims to determine the business processes of construction companies and analyze their accounting system requirements. This research uses a descriptive qualitative approach. It was conducted on 2 MSMEs in construction services (namely SUJM and SA) in North Sulawesi with business scales of K and M. To collect data, researchers used in-depth interview techniques. Intensive interviews were conducted with 4 informants such as the owners and the project manager from SUJM and SA companies to explore their perspectives on the overview of the entity, business activities, and business transactions. Data collection is also done through literature studies about accounting systems, internal control, and systems analysis. After collecting and reducing the data, we present the data focused on the construction company's business flow and the accounting system's needs. The researcher conducted a system requirements analysis with the stages of preliminary analysis, preparation of proposals for the implementation of system analysis, implementation of system analysis, and preparation of reports on the results of system analysis. From the results of the analysis, the researcher concludes an accounting system is needed by construction companies. The results show that the construction business process consists of project information, prequalification, tender, contract, execution, and product submission. Based on business processes and system analysis, the accounting system in construction companies includes the main accounting system, namely the reporting system, and the supporting accounting system, namely the cash receipts and disbursements system. The existence of the accounting system will assist the company in coordinating and monitoring its operational activities and make it easier for companies to prepare financial reports and tax reporting. This research has a practical contribution to construction companies in developing countries in building their accounting systems.

Procurement Contract Management and Procurement Performance in Parastatal Organisations in Tanzania

Despite a lot of initiatives being undertaken by the United Republic of Tanzania to improve public procurement, the performance of many of the contracted projects is not satisfactory since a significant amount of public money is lost through procurement contract management. The aim of this study was to determine the role of procurement contract management in Tanzania's parastatal entities. The study examined the impact of contract preparation, the competence of the contract management team, and the contract allocated budget on procurement performance and made recommendations for improving it. The study used a quantitative approach with an explanatory research design whereby data were collected by using a close-ended questionnaire. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 241 respondents who were heads of departments from the 93 parastatal organizations. The data were analysed descriptively by computing descriptive statistics and inferentially using a multiple regression model. The findings indicated that contract preparation, competence of contract management teams, and contract allocated budget had significant positive relationships with procurement performance at p<0.05. The study recommends that parastatal organizations' management should ensure that there is proper contact preparation, each contract being managed by a competent contract management team, and there is enough budget allocation for every project before it is started.

Contractive projections in Paley-Wiener spaces

Let S 1 S_1 and S 2 S_2 be disjoint finite unions of parallelepipeds. We describe necessary and sufficient conditions on the sets S 1 , S 2 S_1,S_2 and exponents p p such that the canonical projection P P from P W S 1 ∪ S 2 p PW_{S_1\cup S_2}^p to P W S 1 p PW_{S_1}^p is a contraction.

Severing the Belt and Road: Overseas Chinese Networks and COVID-19 Travel Restrictions

Abstract In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have imposed a wide variety of entry restrictions on international travel. Historical cases illustrate that public health concerns based on entrenched prejudices toward immigrant communities have led to restrictive measures against migration from foreign countries. Using our new dataset, COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Categories, we examine whether Chinese migrant networks around the world have driven government decisions to bar the entry of Chinese nationals and travelers from China in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our survival analysis of China-specific travel restrictions from January to March 2020 shows that not all Chinese migrant networks were important determinants. We find that entry bans on travel from China emerged more quickly in countries where a large number of temporary Chinese migrants work in clustered sites of Chinese contracted projects.

America’s First Interstate: The National Road, 1806–1853

America’s First Interstate: The National Road, 1806–1853

Contractor Selection Criteria Factors PT. The Influence Of Wasis Nugraha's Works Performance of The Tlogomas Family Bridge Construction Project, Malang City

The success of project performance is the main target for companies engaged in construction services. Considering how complicated and complex a construction project is, a good management function is needed so that it is necessary to choose the right contractor services. Therefore, a study was conducted to determine the criteria for selecting contractors that affect project performance. The method used in this research is a quantitative descriptive approach through a case study model. The sample of this research are employees of PT. Wasis Karya Nugraha who knows the conditions and is directly involved in the work of the Tlogomas Bridge construction projects Kel. Tlogomas Malang City as many as 107 people. Data collection techniques with the method of distributing questionnaires. Data management in this study uses the Partial Least Squeare (PLS) analysis tool. The results of the research show that the criteria for selecting contractors which include contextual performance, task performance, and network have an effect on project performance. The influence of the relationship between contractor selection criteria and project performance is high. The strategy that can be used in selecting a contractor according to the criteria that influence it is to consistently pay attention to the factors in selecting a contractor. For other researchers who want to research the same research, it is better to use other factors that can affect project performance

Genome Sequence Resource of Ustilago crameri, a Fungal Pathogen Causing Millet Smut Disease of Foxtail Millet.

Genome Sequence Resource of Ustilago crameri, a Fungal Pathogen Causing Millet Smut Disease of Foxtail Millet.

Using the ordinal priority approach for selecting the contractor in construction projects

Abstract Effective decision-making process is the basis for successfully solving any engineering problem. Many decisions taken in the construction projects differ in their nature due to the complex nature of the construction projects. One of the most crucial decisions that might result in numerous issues over the course of a construction project is the selection of the contractor. This study aims to use the ordinal priority approach (OPA) for the contractor selection process in the construction industry. The proposed model involves two computer programs; the first of these will be used to evaluate the decision-makers/experts in the construction projects, while the second will be used to formulate the OPA mathematical model. The experts’ interview was used to identify the criteria of evaluation process of the decision-makers/experts, while Delphi survey with principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to identify the required selection criteria of the construction projects contractors. The results illustrate that there are 20 criteria for selecting the construction contractor, and 7 criteria for evaluating the decision-makers/experts in the construction projects. Finally, the proposed model has been applied in a real construction project, and showed good results.

Building Societies with Better Contracts: The Role of Lawyers in Designing Effective Contracts for the Development of Infrastructure

Lawyers are engineers and architects of contractual frameworks -arguably equally important as those actually building the physical infrastructure and those financing it. Contracts are part of the adequate legal governance that is considered one of the preconditions to be in place for effectively managing and finishing projects. In increasingly complex infrastructure development parties rely more and more on the contracts when dealing with setbacks and claims. However, building complex infrastructure is not without challenges and the same is true for designing adequate contracts. Research shows that contracts often fail to provide the cooperation that is required to realize projects successfully, instead they tend to fuel disputes and lead to costly litigation, delay, cost overruns, and sometimes to cancellation of projects. This article discusses how contracts perform as governance structures and how lawyers’ can by their choice of contract design impede or foster cooperative contracting behavior. An analysis of the literature on contract design and lawyers’ roles in contract design shows a lack of attention paid to cooperation. It then explains the dynamic between formal and informal governance and makes an argument for the potential benefits of taking into account non-legal drivers when designing the contractual environment. The latter part of the article suggests a new framework that lawyers might use to identify tensions between formal and informal governance structures. In addition, it maps the way certain designs techniques can enhance cooperation by foreshadowing and eliminating these tensions when drafting contracts for infrastructure projects. The proposed steps can be utilized by lawyers as points of departure for tailoring contracts to the contract parties’ ‘cooperation preferences’. This article hopes to have a significant, beneficial impact on the role lawyers can have to help pave the way for the creation of physical structures for a modern, healthy, and prosperous society.

Identification and stakeholder responsibility mapping of contractual risk factors in oil and gas sector infrastructure projects using Delphi technique

The continuing demand for energy has led to the need for developing and improving the oil and gas infrastructure through the execution of various infrastructure capital projects in many parts of the world, including Pakistan. Oil and gas companies have vast experience implementing these infrastructure projects, yet many such projects face delays and cost overruns. This failure to meet project targets may be attributable to the lack of identifying and addressing the risks at the pre-execution stage in the contract documents. This study aims to identify the risks to address in the contract documentation developed for the infrastructure projects and allocate each factor to a particular stakeholder (Client, design consultant, legal consultant, and bidders) in Pakistan. Risks were identified through literature review and were validated using the Delphi technique applied through surveys. Twenty-four survey respondents were selected based on their qualifications and experience in Pakistan’s Oil and Gas sector. In the first round of the Delphi survey, the level of agreement authenticates the risks applicable to Pakistan's Oil and Gas sector. The level of agreement was reaffirmed in round two of the Delphi survey. It also included a check for stability of responses between rounds using the McNemar test. Results confirmed that sixty-one risk factors are the contractual risk for evaluation when developing contracts for Oil and Gas infrastructure projects in Pakistan.

Exploration of Ideological and Political Education in the Course of Project Bidding and Contract Management

Exploration of Ideological and Political Education in the Course of Project Bidding and Contract Management

Inertial subgradient extragradient with projection method for solving variational inequality and fixed point problems

<abstract><p>In this paper, we introduce a new modified inertial Mann-type method that combines the subgradient extragradient method with the projection contraction method for solving quasimonotone variational inequality problems and fixed point problems in real Hilbert spaces. We establish strong convergence of the proposed method under some mild conditions without knowledge of the operator norm. Finally, we give numerical experiments to illustrate the efficiency of the method over the existing one in the literature.</p></abstract>

Defining the Relational Charter for Commercial Project Contracts

Contracting is an integral part of project management. The contract stipulates the legal and commercial relationship between the two engaging parties. The dynamics of this mutual, contractual agreement is contextualized in the principle-agent theory. In practice, the effectiveness of executing the contractual agreement is dependent on relationship management between the principal and agent, which does not necessarily form part of the formal agreement. This paper aims to identify variables that define the principle-agent relationship and formulization of that in a relational charter. A conceptual model is developed to assess the validity of the agency and relational variables and their interrelationship towards the formation of a relational charter. This paper provides insight into the literature review and conceptual model to be used in field research.