Project Contract Research Articles

Understanding Construction Contractors’ Intention to Undertake Consummate Performance Behaviors in Construction Projects

Contractors’ consummate performance behavior (CPB) refers to that contractors perform within the spirit of the contract. This is important to improve project performance. However, few studies have investigated why contractors would undertake CPB. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study aims to examine which factors influence the intention of CPB. To achieve this, a questionnaire survey was undertaken in China, with 195 valid questionnaires from project managers and contract managers being received. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. The results show that the intention of CPB is mainly influenced by attitude toward benefit/cooperation/social value, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Attitude toward social value has the greatest impact on the intention of CPB, whereas the subjective norm is least effective on the intention of CPB. In addition, three equifinal combinations result in the intention of CPB. Attitude toward cooperation and subjective norm are the core of the contractors’ intention of CPB. These two factors cannot be replaced by other factors.

国际工程承包项目汇率风险浅析及应对

国际工程承包项目汇率风险浅析及应对

Performance of Framework Contract Projects in South Africa

There is increasing adoption of framework contracts (FC) for construction project delivery in South Africa, but it is not yet clear what the performance of the approach is in accomplishing client's expected outcomes of projects being delivered on time, within budget and to required quality and satisfaction. In this study, the performance of FC and the variables that influences the performance is investigated empirically. A qualitative research methodology was adopted for the study. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with key informants of eight purposively selected client organizations employing FC in South Africa. From the findings, FC is indicated to have performed spectacularly in dealing with unnecessary cost overruns, time delays, and improvement in the quality of delivery. However, it was reported that the approach work best for repetitive works and when a client has the intention of a long-term programme of work. In which case, clients also have to take care to avoid complacency from the contractors. The results provide substantial evidence that FC can perform better than the conventional approaches to short-term relationships and contracts. The result of the study provides insights that can encourage construction stakeholders to appreciate and adopt FC as a viable alternative approach for construction project delivery.

探讨EPC总承包工程施工分包管理策略

探讨EPC总承包工程施工分包管理策略

Relevant aspects of the responsibilities in the international project management

Usually, the international Projects are of greater importance and with greater founding than national projects, involve multiple partners from different countries and are subject of nationals and international controls. The paper approach the case of international projects with EU funding, including cross-border projects and underline responsibilities of the management team both to the Project Contract and to the national laws requirements, responsibilities in managing human resources, time and costs. For a successful Project implementation, the same importance should be given to communication, visibility and dissemination rules as well as reports quality. Major importance is granted to the quality of Project results.

Sustaining Peace One Day at a Time: Inclusion, Transition Crises, and the Resilience of Social Contracts

ABSTRACTThis article argues that inclusion is a key driver of resilient social contracts and a foundation for sustaining peace. Drawing on case studies conducted under the Forging Resilient Social Contracts project and building on the literature on transitions from war to peace and authoritarianism to democracy, the theoretical framework links inclusion to peace sustainability. Interrogating how and why processes of inclusion matter, we argue that resilient social contracting is driven by elite inclusion, societal inclusion and their interactions. Four case-studies illustrate the arguments. Resilient social contracting, findings suggest, allows countries to weather crises and survive to ‘transition another day’.

Does Main Contractor Influence Subcontractor Bullying?

Workplace bullying is currently a normal issue that proliferates worldwide. Essentially, research related to this topic has been conducted in many different fields and industries, but it remains scarce in construction sector. This paper explores the subcontractor bullying in Malaysian construction industry and identifies the impact of main contractor to subcontractor bullying. Data collection was implemented on 210 contractors of Grade 6 and 7 across Peninsular Malaysia. Based on Partial Least Squares—Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis, the findings reveal that main contractor leadership and project organisation affect work-based bullying. However, the relationship between project organisation and job design with physical intimidating bullying was found to be not significant. The result of this study may assist the main contractors to understand their role in providing a better environment for the sake of project success.

Analysis of Construction Contract Project Comparison with PNPM Based Projects in Construction Projects (PPIP Project Implementation Study In Tuban District)

The implementation of construction projects generally carried out in construction contracts results in community apathy because they are not actively involved in the planning, implementation and maintenance operations of construction projects. The government launched the National Community Empowerment Program (PNPM). One of the PNPM programs initiated was the Rural Infrastructure Development Program (PPIP). Election Implementation of a construction project using a construction contract or community empowerment by considering several criteria and sub criteria so that the implementation of construction projects can be carried out effectively and efficiently. The measures discussed in implementing construction projects are time, cost, quality, community participation, administration, and independence. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is used to analyze the results of the questionnaire so that the criteria and sub criteria weighted as a consideration for the selection of construction projects. Based on the results of the analysis, we obtained the weights of the construction project implementation criteria, namely: time with a load of 0.198, costs with a capacity of 0.203, quality with an amount of 0.178, community participation with an amount of 0.118, administration with a weight of 0.139 and independence with a weight of 0.139. Then it is known that the construction contract weight is 1.045 and the influence of community empowerment is 0.955.Furthermore, the calculation of alternative weights carried out so that the criteria obtained: time, quality and administration took into account in the construction contract. Considerations: costs, community participation, and independence are taken into consideration by the project in community empowerment. Based on the results of the analysis shows that the implementation of construction projects is better done using a construction contract because it explicitly incorporated in its accountability. The cost criteria are the most significant factor and sub-criteria the accuracy of the start schedule of implementation occupies the highest score in the selection of the application of the construction contract.

The mixed complementarity problem arising from non-associative plasticity with non-smooth yield surfaces

An elastic domain with multiple yield surfaces brings about huge troubles to numerical computations due to singularities, while non-associative plasticity leads further to the open issue of whether constitutive integration is well posed. This study reduces the constitutive integration of non-associative plasticity with multiple yield surfaces to a mixed complementarity problem, represented by MiCP, a special case of finite-dimensional variational inequalities. By means of the projection–contraction algorithm for finite-dimensional variational inequalities and the idea of the Gauss–Seidel method, a new projection–contraction algorithm for MiCP is designed and denoted by GSPC. Applying the monotonicity of the mapping of the MiCP, GSPC is proved convergent theoretically for associative plasticity. For non-associative plasticity, the sufficient condition for GSPC to be convergent is also established if the tension part of the Mohr–Coulomb elastic domain is cut off. Typical examples are designed to illustrate GSPC is highly efficient, accurate and stable, some of which cannot be solved by the conventional return-mapping method. In all the cases, the computational efficiency of GSPC is apparently above the mapping return method.

A win-win supply chain solution using project contracts with bargaining games

For product supply chains, contractual relationships that provide win-win outcomes between the supply chain members, have been found to offer optimum results. However, for bargaining situations where time/cost is the source of the uncertainty, i.e. projects, there is limited knowledge available on how contracts can be used to establish win-win relations. This paper investigates whether cost-sharing project contracts can establish a win-win solution in project supply chains where the project manager is risk-neutral and the contractor is risk-averse. The paper examines how the theory can be extended beyond the symmetrical normal distributions to asymmetrical beta and gamma distributions that are more appropriate, and so more often used, for project completion times. Besides using the Nash bargaining approach for analyzing the bargaining process, the paper also analyzes the bargaining problems using the Kalai-Smorodinsky and Utilitarian approaches to bargaining. It was found that the solutions from cost-plus contracts dominate any other form of cost-sharing contract, and so they provide a win-win solution for both members of the supply chain for the cases of Nash and Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining. However, this is not the case for Utilitarian bargaining. A numerical exercise was conducted to investigate the results and implications of how the models would work in practice. The research shows that from a theoretical perspective, cost-plus contracts are the optimal bargaining solution not only when using a normal distribution, but also when using more appropriate asymmetrical distributions. This optimality is robust for the Nash and Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining approaches, but not for the Utilitarian approach whose sensitivity to noise makes it an inappropriate choice here.

Performance of performance specifications in design-build highway projects

Design-build contracts with performance-based specifications are believed to raise productivity and the innovation rate. Such specifications for highway and bridge contracts may create risks, be too detailed or difficult to verify. The purpose has been to analyse how performance-based requirements are used in Swedish design-build contracts for highway projects. How contractors are encouraged to provide innovative technologies is emphasized. Generic documents from the Swedish Transport Administration for design-build contracts have been studied, and case studies of six design-build contracts with performance-based requirements have been made. Technical specifications for these contracts have been analysed and interviews held with both client and contractor project managers. Results include that it is along the time axis that major obstacles to innovation arise. Before the contractor is able to develop innovative solutions, the initial design plan restricts the highway geometry. During construction, a mix of performance and prescriptive requirement formulations is more of a challenge than clashes between performance requirements. The client may avoid performance language, more so for bridges than road surfaces, because of concerns with efficient maintenance in the future. It is recommended that performance-based specifications should be less detailed and that a life cycle view of highway projects should support innovative technologies.

How to allocate energy-saving benefit for guaranteed savings EPC projects? A case of China

From the perspective of stakeholders, this paper uses Shapley value method to get the initial allocation solution to energy-saving benefit of guaranteed savings energy performance contracting (EPC) project, and uses AHP to determine the risk evaluation indicators and the weight of stakeholders. The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to determine the risk coefficients of stakeholders and normalize them. The initial allocation of energy-saving benefit is corrected by using the normalized risk coefficients to get the final allocation solution to the energy-saving benefit. The study shows that (1) It is reasonable to use the Shapley value method for the allocation of energy-saving benefit of stakeholders in guaranteed savings EPC projects; (2) In the process of forming a cooperative alliance among stakeholders of guaranteed savings EPC projects, all parties have synergistic risks; (3) The level of energy-saving benefits of the cooperative alliance has been improved. (4) The allocation of energy-saving benefit based on risk coefficient is more in line with the actual situation. The research results can provide a more realistic allocation solution to energy-saving benefits of such projects, and contribute to the smooth implementation of guaranteed savings EPC projects that occupy the mainstream position in China’s energy-saving service industry.

The application of fuzzy logic for profit optimization to contractor project cash flow

Profit has become the main goal for a contractor without neglecting other aspects in the content of contract. According to previous empirical studies, profit has been optimized. However, it was optimized not as an output variable. Therefore, in this study we were going to try to position profit as an output variable using Fuzzy logic. The research aimed to: 1) describe cash in and cash out to prepare empirical Project Cash Flow (PCF) statement, 2) develop Fuzzy Mamdani set model on PCF 3) formulate manual method and Fuzzy Mamdani computational programming on PCF, 4) validate the results of manual simulation using computation, and 5) make profit which can be simulated. The results of the study were: 1). Fuzzy Mamdani set model with 4 input variables (%), those were: Direct Cost (7-75), Indirect Cost (2-25), Informal cost (1-15) and Progress (0-100) and single output which was profit (0 - 10); 2). The manual method consisted of 4 stages: (1) creating a fuzzy set of 4 input variables and 1 output variable, (2) making the Application Function Implications based on 2 rules, (3) Composing all output variables with the MAX operation, and (4) Defuzzification using the method of centroid of area, 3). computational way with indicators: Trapezoid membership function, two-type linguistic set (minimum - maximum) and (slow - fast), MISO (Multiple Input Single Output) implication functions, “MAX - DOT” operation system, fuzzy rules (if … and … then) = 16 rules, 4). The output of the manual method and computational method resulted the same profit of 4.46, so it was declared valid, and 5). The simulation revealed that minimum profit can be made if the cash out allocation and progress on input variables are not balanced and in contrast, we will obtain maximum profit if the allocation of cash out and progress are balanced with input variable.

Key Success Factor of t he Timeliness o f t he Regional Housing Project i n Cibubur Indonesia

A construction project is a form of activity that takes place within a limited period of time, with certain resources to achieve the results of a certain form of building or infrastructure. The success of a project is assessed by the suitability of the schedule, cost and quality planned in the contract. In the implementation of construction projects there are often delays caused by the parties involved or from influencing factors. This study discusses material analysis, labor, and project management on the timeliness of housing projects in the Cibubur Indonesia. Delay in project implementation has an influence on planned budget changes. This research aims to find the dominant factor causing delays in housing projects in the Cibubur Indonesia. This research is a survey research which is a study that takes a sample from a population using questionnaires and interviews as a data collection tool that is distributed to respondents, where the number of respondents is 31 (thirty one) in the Cibubur area housing project. This study concludes that the dominant factors causing delays are as follows: (1) Late delivery of materials, (2) Limited number of workers, (3) Poor project land conditions, (4) Weak project management and implementation by contractors. The cause of the delay can be controlled by using anticipatory and preventive measures. The action was taken to overcome the impact due to the dominant factor that could cause the delay. This research is expected to be beneficial for contractor service business providers and project owners as the housing developer, so that the project can be anticipated and the next project can run according to the planned times.

Construction project team’s competencies influencing contractor business competencies

Consistent arrangement of contractor business competencies and project team’s competencies helps improve project operation efficiency. Key participants in the project team are project managers, engineers, and technicians. However, a review of existing literature reveals a lack of research on the causal relationship between project teams’ competencies and business competencies. Therefore, this study attempted to identify the relationship through survey contractors’ opinions. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results suggest the regression weighs presented in parenthesis that business competencies are influenced by the competencies of a project manager (0.50) and engineer (0.49). The study also discovered the influence of competencies among project teams; that is, technician competencies influence engineer competencies (0.87), and engineer competencies influence project manager competencies (0.55). With the causal relationship between the project team’s competencies and business competencies, contractors can suitably allocate human resources for increasing their project operation efficiency.

Effective estimates on the top Lyapunov exponents for random matrix products

We study the top Lyapunov exponents of random products of positive matrices and obtain an efficient algorithm for its computation. As in the earlier work of Pollicott (2010 Inventiones Math. 181 209–26), the algorithm is based on the Fredholm theory of determinants of trace-class linear operators. In this article we obtain a simpler expression for the approximations which only require calculation of the eigenvalues of finite matrix products and not the eigenvectors. Moreover, we obtain effective bounds on the error term in terms of two explicit constants: a constant which describes how far the set of matrices are from all being column stochastic, and a constant which measures the minimal amount of projective contraction of the positive quadrant under the action of the matrices.

Sistem Informasi Manajemen Proyek Berbasis Website Pada PT XYZ

Manajemen proyek adalah suatu proses pengolahan proyek yang meliputi perencanaan, pengorganisasian dan pengaturan tugas-tugas sumber daya untuk mewujudkan tujuan yang ingin dicapai, dengan mempertimbangkan faktor-faktor waktu dan biaya. PT. Ahaz Karya Mandiri selaku perusahaan kontraktor proyek yang bergerak dibidang pembangunan melakukan rancang bangun. Untuk menunjang kinerja sumber daya manusia di perusahaan tersebut diperlukan sebuah sistem informasi yang dapat mengontrol progress proyek dan mengolah data dengan akurat, faktanya sistem yang ada belum memadai. Maka dari itu penelitian ini dimaksudkan untuk membuat sistem informasi manajemen proyek yang telah terkomputerisasi dan datanya telah terintegrasi. Pada penelitian sistem ini digunakan metodologi penelitian berupa metode iteratif. Pada tahap analisis digunakan analisis PIECES, Usecase Diagram, dan Rich Picture. Pada tahap perancangan digunakan Data Flow Diagram (DFD), dan Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD). Pengembangan aplikasi menggunakan MySQL untuk basis datanya dan Website untuk mendukung pengembangan sistem serta beberapa bahasa lain seperti PHP, dan lainnya. Hasil penelitian berupa sistem informasi manajemen proyek yang telah memenuhi kebutuhan PT. Ahaz Karya Mandiri, diantaranya terdapat fitur pengajuan kontrak, perkembangan proyek, pelaporan dan dokumentasi proyek.

Research on Cost Management of International Contracting Enterprises under the Background of “Belt and Road”—— Based on Value Chain Perspective

Under the “Belt and Road” strategy, there are more and more foreign contracted projects in China, so the requirements for cost management of international contracting enterprises are getting higher and higher. This paper provided new ideas for the cost management of international contracting enterprises based on the perspective of value chain. Firstly, the value chain and cost management theory of international contracting enterprise were deeply analyzed, and then the cost management model for international contracting enterprise based on the value chain perspective was constructed. The value chain optimization method was also proposed to realize the goal of international contracting enterprises to enhance the market competitiveness.

Legal issues and Implications of the Long-Term Continuous Construction Contracts – Supreme Court 2018. 10. 30., 2014Da235189 -

대법원 2018. 10. 30 선고 2014다235189 전원합의체 판결에서 다수의견은 장기계속공사의 경우 총공사기간은 각 연차별 계약의 체결에 따라 연동되는 것으로 이에 대한 법적 구속력이 없기 때문에 총공사기간의 연장을 이유로 한 계약금액의 증액을 인정할 수 없다고 판단하였다. 이에 비하여 소수의견은 총괄계약의 연장에 대하여 계약금액 조정신청이 불가능하다고볼 경우, 계약상대자는 총 공사기간의 연장에 따른 계약금액의 조정을 받을 수 있는 기회자체를 박탈당하게 되기 때문에 총괄계약의 독립성을 인정하여야 한다고 판단하였다. 장기계속공사계약은 공사계약의 실질적 목적은 총괄계약으로 실현되고, 연차별 계약은 예산사정에 따라 기술적 편의적으로 하나의 계약을 수개의 차수로 분리한 것에 불과하다. 특히, 발주자의 책임 있는 사유로 연차별 계약의 공백기 또는 연차별 계약의 공사기간 연장이 발생함에도 발주자는 다음 연차별 계약에 해당 공사비용을 포함하는 방법으로 연차별 계약을 추가, 총공사기간을 연장하는 사례가 발생할 수 있다. 이 경우 총괄계약의 효력을 부정한다면 계약상대자는 계약금액의 조정 신청이 불가능하게 되어 간접공사비를 일방적으로 부담할 수 밖에 없다. 이에 따라 장기계속공사계약의 집행기준 및 공사기간 연장에 따른 간접비 지급의 경우 총괄계약도 장기계속공사계약의 집행기준으로 적용하고, 추가 간접비가 발생하는 경우에는 계약금액 조정의 법리에 따라 발주기관이 추가 간접비를 지급하도록 하여야 한다. 이를 위하여 국가 및 지방자치단체는 “국가계약법 시행령” 및 “지방계약법 시행령”, (계약예규) 공사계약일반조건 등 하위 규칙을 개정하여 계약금액의 조정에 대한 집행기준으로 총괄계약을 규정하고, 계약상대방의 귀책이 아님에도 불구하고 공사기간의 연장이 발생하는 경우 발주기간이 추가 간접비를 지급할 수 있는 법적 근거를 마련하여야 한다. 또한, 행정조달계약은 재원(財源) 조달의 성격, 담당 공무원의 통제 문제, 사법상 계약과 다른 특수성 등이 있기 때문에 공법상 계약으로 보아야 한다. 따라서 장기계속공사계약은 공법상 계약으로 보아야 하며, 장기계속공사계약의 현실을 파악하기 위하여 행정소송법 상 당사자소송으로 해결하여야 한다. 당사자소송은 성질상 행정소송이지만 편의상 민사소송으로 다루어진 행정사건을 전문성, 특수성을 토대로 판단하여 국민의 권리구제에 기여할 수 있다. 이를 위하여 장기계속공사계약이 당사자소송의 대상으로 적용되기 위한 구체적인 논의와 함께 행정소송법 개정안이 마련될 필요가 있다.In the Supreme Court 2018. 10. 30., 2014Da235189, the majority of the opinions determined that the contract amount cannot be increased on the grounds of extension of the total construction period because there is no legal binding force for the entire project contract of long-term continuous construction contracts is linked according to the conclusion of each annual contract. In contrast, the minority opinions decided that the legal force should be recognized of the entire project contract because the contract partner would deprive itself of the opportunity to obtain adjustment of contract amount due to extension of the total construction period. A long-term continuous construction contract is realized as a general contract, and an annual contract is merely a technical and expedient separation of a single contract by several different levels depending on the budget situation. In particular, even if there is a break in the annual contract or an extension of the construction period of the annual contract due to the responsible reason of the order, the orderer may extend the total construction period by adding the annual contract to the next annual contract by including the construction cost. In this case, if the legal force of the entire project contract is denied, the contract partner can not apply for the adjustment of contract amount, and the overhead cost must be paid unilaterally. The entire project contract shall be applied as the execution standard for long-term continuous construction contracts and the payment of overhead cost for extension of construction period, and the order authority shall pay additional overhead cost in accordance with the legal principles on adjustment of contract price. To this end, the state and local governments shall revise the “Enforcement Decree of the Act on Contracts to which the State is a Party” and “Enforcement Decree of the Act on Contracts to which a Local Government is a Party”, “General conditions of construction contract” etc. to define the overall contract as the enforcement standard for adjusting of contract price, and provide a legal basis for the extension of the period of the order in which the order is not attributable to the other party. In addition, Government procurement should be regarded as a contracts in public law because it has the nature of financing, problems of control of the officials in charge, and other specificities than judicial contracts. Therefore, long-term continuous construction contracts should be regarded as contracts in public law and settled by a party suit under the “Administrative Litigation Act” to understand the reality of long-term continuous construction contracts. The party suit is an administrative suit due to its nature, but the administrative case dealt with as a civil procedure for convenience can be judged on the basis of professionalism and specificity, thus contributing to the relief of the people s rights. To this end, it is necessary to prepare a revision to the “Administrative Litigation Act”, together with a detailed discussion for the application of long-term continuous construction contracts to as the cases of Party suit.

Coordinating Project Outsourcing through Bilateral Contract Negotiations

Problem definition: Project outsourcing has been a pronounced trend in many industries but is also recognized as a major cause for project delays. We study how companies can coordinate outsourced projects with uncertain completion times through bilateral contract negotiations. Academic/practical relevance: Misaligned subcontractor incentives may result in substantial losses to both project clients and subcontractors. Coordinating subcontractors' efforts through proper contracts is imperative to the success of project outsourcing. Most previous studies on project contracting have not addressed subcontractors' bargaining powers or the dynamic bargaining process in negotiations. We fill in this gap by studying bilateral bargaining between the client and subcontractors, which better reflects real-world negotiations. Methodology: We model project contract negotiations as a multi-unit bilateral bargaining game. We derive the conditions such that bilateral negotiations can achieve system coordination and characterize the equilibrium negotiation outcomes. We then compare the conditions and equilibria under various model settings to study their impact on project contracting. Results: Our study uncovers how the coordination of project outsourcing is impacted by the contract form, bargaining power structure, precedence network topology, payment timing, external opportunities, and negotiation protocols. For single-task projects, the widely used fixed-price (cost-plus) contract can achieve system coordination only when the subcontractor (client) possesses full bargaining power. Cost-sharing and time-based incentive contracts, which perform well for single-task projects, may not be effective for projects with parallel tasks when any subcontractor's bargaining power is sufficiently high. Projects with serial tasks can be coordinated only under certain extreme bargaining power structures. Delaying payments always exacerbates the incentive misalignment. Managerial implications: Our analysis provides insights and guidelines to companies regarding how to select proper contract forms and payment timing schemes, based on the characteristics of the projects and subcontractors, to ensure the effectiveness of project outsourcing. Our results also highlight the importance of bargaining modeling in project contracting.