Public Clients Research Articles

Methods of Valuing Construction Variation in Lump Sum Contract from the Public Client’s Perspective

A valuation of variation orders has become a daily task on large construction contracts. It is a norm where one of the contracting parties disagrees about the valuation of work done. Therefore, the valuation of variation orders has become one of the main causes of conflicts and disputes in construction management. The aims of study to determine the best practicing method in valuing a variation order for lump sum contract and identify the main related causes of variation project. The mixed method (interview and case study) of research was adopted in the collection of necessary data. Interview was conducted from 6 construction expert (clients) were analyzed. 6 case study building projects were selected by targeting sampling technique and used as the source of data for this study. The data were analysed with frequencies, sums and percentages. The study found that the client needs, lack of coordination during design and omission in design are the main causes of variation. An analysis of data indicated that used schedule of rate, fair market rate, daywork rate and negotiation are the four most famous method practicing in valuing a variation order in lump sum contract but its rely on the circumstances and the character of works.

Model for predicting the success of public–private partnership infrastructure projects in developing countries: a case of Ghana

ABSTRACTThis paper develops a practical tool for predicting public–private partnership (PPP) project success in developing countries using Ghana as example. The predictive model examines the causal relationship between CSFs and success criteria for PPP projects. First, a conceptual model for PPP projects success was proposed. Second, the theoretical model was tested by means of a questionnaire survey with experienced PPP experts. Using the regression analysis technique, a predictive model for PPP project success was developed. The regression model shows three best predictors of PPP project success in Ghana, these include; appropriate risk allocation and sharing, sound economic policy and right project identification. Various statistical tests including ANOVA, tolerance and variance inflation factor (VIF), homoscedasticity and Durbin–Watson tests confirmed the validity and goodness of fit for the model. The substantive model will enable PPP practitioners including designers, public clients and engineers in Ghana and other neighbouring developing countries particularly sub-Saharan Africa to predict the likely success of their PPP projects prior to their implementations.

Disparity between the procurement process best practices for PPP projects in the UK and Malaysia

Even though a typical public–private partnership (PPP) procurement process framework has been implemented in various countries, the specific procurement processes have not been able to be implemented due to the differences in the structure of governance and culture as well as the existing construction industry environment of each country. This paper aims to identify the differences and gaps in the PPP procurement process in Malaysia with the process implemented in the UK, including Private Finance 2, through an extensive comparative study. The method that has been used in this study is the analysis of the literature review about the PPP procurement flow process for both countries by determining their similarity and disparity. For the practice that has been implemented in Malaysia, there are several series of interviews that have been conducted to get the data. The UK procurement process focuses mainly on achieving detailed procurement processes. The procurement process in Malaysia, meanwhile, provides limited decision authority to public sector clients as most of the procurement decisions are solely being made by the cabinet ministers, which conclusively has led to biased outcomes as a result of minimal competitive tendering and the disregard of some key significant procurement activities.

Missed opportunities: two case studies of digitalization of FM in hospitals

PurposeDigital practices of facility management (FM) are undergoing transformation. Several Nordic countries have ambitious hospital-building projects, driven by large public clients with long-term experience of operating complex building campuses. There is thus an opportunity for creating state-of-the-art digital FM. This paper aims to investigate the role of digital FM in new hospital projects in Scandinavia.Design/methodology/approachBased on a literature review, a framework of understanding of digital FM in hospital operation is established. Two longitudinal cases are presented and analysed, one for a greenfield hospital and the other for an extension of an existing hospital.FindingsThe literature highlights the importance of integration between technical digitalization, competences, organization and management of digital FM. The projects are in different phases and represent quite advanced preparations for digital FM. State-of-the-art computer-aided FM systems are prepared before operation. External consultants are involved, posing a dilemma of in-house/outsourced human resources in the future digital FM operation.Research limitations/implicationsTwo case studies provide insights, but they have limited generalizability.Practical implicationsThe study underscores the importance of preparation of management, organization and competences for digitalization.Originality/valueDocumented research on building information modelling (BIM) integrations in FM is still scarce. This article adds to the few empirical studies in the area. The findings illustrate that real estate administrators investing in FM software for new hospital buildings face challenges of aligning BIM models from design and construction to the FM system.

A systematic approach for public-private partnership projects CSFs evaluation

PurposePublic–private partnership (PPP) projects are increasingly significant in many countries. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of critical success factors (CSFs) on PPP projects and comprehensively consider the interrelations and interaction among dimensions and factors to achieve a better understanding of PPP project management.Design/methodology/approachAn evaluation index system for PPP projects such as the presented case study is proposed based on a literature review and a survey. Then, interpretative structural modeling is used to transform the CSFs dimension into a multi-level hierarchical model to reflect the driven-dependency relation of each dimension; the fuzzy analytic network process model optimized by moment estimation theory is used to investigate the impact of CSFs by considering their internal impact.FindingsRegarding the project used as the case study, the driving force and dependence for driving layer and dependent layer are determined. Moreover, in driving layer, efficient and well-structured payment mechanism is the most important CSF if considering the internship and interaction among CSFs, and efficient and well-structured payment mechanism and good governance provide most positive interaction; in dependent layer, population of beneficiaries is the most important CSF if considering the internship and interaction among CSFs, and public client’s satisfaction provides most positive interaction.Originality/valueThis paper developed an evaluation model to explore the interrelationships of dimensions and factors and then determine the impact of CSFs. The model propose in this paper relaxes the independence assumptions of traditional methods and is more in line with reality; besides, weighting method is optimized to obtain more objective and reasonable evaluation results. Through an empirical study, the validity of the model has been verified; therefore, the study can help project stakeholders better understand the CSFs and further improve project performance.

Impact of Social Work Practice in Public Defense

Public defenders are increasingly welcoming social workers into their practice, but there is little understanding of the impact of social work services in this context. This study used propensity score matching to determine the effect of social work services on public defense clients in terms of the number and severity of criminal charges when statistically controlling for pre-existing criminal history and demographic characteristics. Findings indicate that social work and non-social work clients were similar in terms of demographics and that clients in both groups were more likely to have incurred misdemeanor charges, but clients in the social work group experienced more, suggesting greater life disruption. When comparing clients who did and did not receive social work services, results indicate that the number of misdemeanor charges incurred during a two-year time period was lower for clients who received social work services. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

An investigation into public and private clients’ attitudes, commitment and impact on construction health and safety in Nigeria

PurposeThis purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study that assessed the attitudes, commitment and impact of public and private sector clients’ involvement in construction health and safety (H&S) in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachStructured questionnaires were designed based on literature review and a pilot study, and administered to public and private clients in Nigeria’s construction industry. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyse the data.FindingsThe result shows that while clients’ attitudes towards H&S are not encouraging, public clients commitment and attitudes are better than that of private clients. This is emphasised by the significant difference between the categories of clients and: accident investigation; clients auditing contractors H&S records at the preconstruction stage. The common client H&S practice includes conducting site visits and inspections and attending H&S meetings, while engaging in H&S awareness and H&S audit during construction are not common. However, when clients are involved in H&S, it has resulted in a reduction in accidents, compensation claims, rework and improved the relationship between clients and contractors.Practical implicationsThe findings form a basis for improving client involvement in H&S (factoring in the differences in clients) which policymakers, the construction industry and academics will find beneficial.Originality/valueThe study contributes to understanding the attitudes and commitment of public and private clients in H&S, evidencing the implications of the differences in their needs, characteristics and behaviours. While the study is the first to investigate the area in Nigeria, it also extends the knowledge of the discourse comparatively in broader terms.

Black boxing BIM: the public client’s strategy in BIM implementation

Building information modelling (BIM) is widely discussed in both industry and academia and studies have argued that public clients play an important role in industry’s implementation of BIM. While public client initiatives have gained much interest in previous research, there is still a lack of knowledge exploring the public clients’ role and choice of strategies when implementing BIM with the aim to change industry. Based on a case study of BIM implementation at the largest infrastructure client in Sweden, this paper applies the theory sociology of translation to explore the role of the public client as a driver for industry change and the strategy used during this process. The case study shows how the public client tries to influence its own organization and the construction industry as a whole. Findings show that the main strategy for enrolling actors to implement BIM is to demand its use in the procurement of all construction projects, thereby attempting to establish the BIM issue as a Black Box. A Black Box, a locked network element, which includes associated inscriptions aimed at prescribing BIM use in projects conducted by this client. The acceptance of this Black Box has however been problematic, resulting in a diverse influence on the demand for BIM in procured construction projects.

Procurement of construction services: a case study on bidding competition in Singapore public sector contracts

There are many variables that public clients need to consider in their bidding procedure to enhance efficiency in their procurement for construction services. This paper focusses on the competitive bidding process for public sector procurement of construction services in Singapore. A distinctive feature of the Singapore government competitive bidding process is that full bidding feedback information is released to all competing bidders (and public). The specific objectives are: (i) to examine the degree of competition in the construction markets; and (ii) to examine the bidding performance of competing bidders. Based on a collection of bidding data for a 15-month period, the results show the market environment of the Singapore public sector construction contracting is highly competitive with long bidder lists. In selection of contractors, only 50% of the contracts were awarded to lowest bidders. The results also show that the competing contractors can be broadly classified into three groups based on their bidding performance in terms of number of bidding attempts, bidding success rate and bidding competitiveness. These results provide a useful insight into the bidding competition in the Singapore public sector construction contracting, especially to new market entrants and foreign contractors who want to bid for jobs in Singapore.

The Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program (MHSIP) Adult Consumer Satisfaction Survey Factor Structure and Relation to External Criteria

The construct validity and generalizability of the Mental Health Statistics Improvement Program (MHSIP) adult consumer satisfaction survey was examined using a representative sample (N = 4242) of public mental health client surveys and assessment data. Factor analysis found five factors generally supporting the hypothesized scales of Satisfaction, Outcomes-Functioning, Access, Quality, and Social Connectedness that had acceptable reliability (average coefficient alpha = 0.91). The relation of the satisfaction survey scales to clinician-rated symptom scales, hospitalization, and functioning for 3years prior to and after the survey was examined. Correlations were modest in magnitude but were in the predicted directions, with greater patient satisfaction being associated with lower symptoms and more positive outcomes. The largest predictors of the clinician-rated symptom scales were Outcomes-Functioning and Social Connectedness.

Strategic Supply Chain Partnering in Industrialised Building System

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of supply chain partnering practiced in Industrialised Building System. The relationship was based on the elements of trust, share a vision, decision-making and continuous improvement. The methodology adopted used quantitative and qualitative approach. Outcomes of the results, the public clients point out on the element of trust in between contractors were based effectiveness of communication. Meanwhile, the private client indicates competence of work as a successful element of trust in supply chain partnering in Industrialised Building System.

Accounting Firm Association Membership and Audit Firm Growth

In this study, we explore a topic of primary concern to small audit firms – attracting new clients. A potential avenue available to small audit firms to enhance their visibility and legitimacy among potential audit clients is to join an association of accounting firms. We examine whether small audit firms with accounting association membership have greater clientele growth than their peer audit firms without association membership. We separately explore growth in private and public clientele. Using hand-collected data, we find that, on average, small audit firms with accounting association membership have private (public) client growth over a two-year period of approximately 35 (4) percentage points more than those without association membership. We find that this growth is due to both gaining new entrants into the audit market and winning over clients from competitors. Further, we find that the reputation of an association positively affects the clientele growth seen by member firms. We find consistent results for public client growth of association members over a longer time period using Audit Analytics and Compustat Capital IQ data.

A quantitative analysis study on the implementation of partnering in the design and build construction project

Design and Build construction project involved the biggest scale of the cost of investment as compared to the traditional approach. In Design and Build, the client hires a design professional that will design according to the client’s need and specification. This research aim is to explore the concept of partnering implementation practiced in the design and build procurement approach. Therefore, the selection of design professionals such as Contractors and consultants in the project is crucial to ensure the successful project completion on time, cost, and quality. The methodology adopted using quantitative approach. Administration of the questionnaire was distributed to the public client by using postal survey. Outcomes of the results, the public clients agreed that project management capabilities and commitment to budget as a crucial element of partnering from the design professional in design and build construction project.

Public Procurement Incentives for Sustainable Design Services: Swedish Experiences

Abstract When procuring building design services, public clients may provide incentives for the development of design tools and management practices that lead to more sustainable buildings. Procedures for selecting design professionals, including the choice of contract award criteria, can be analysed as the outcome of external and internal factors that influence procuring units. This investigation studies how the selection procedures that Swedish municipal clients rely on when procuring services from architectural and engineering consultants provide incentives for environmentally sustainable design management. Questionnaire responses from 93 Swedish municipalities show that a minority include sustainability-related criteria in tender assessments. Environmental management systems were a criterion for 30% of the respondents, while only 11% regularly used life cycle cost as a criterion. More than half of all municipalities were reported to have a general policy for services procurement, and these policies us...

Direct and indirect connections between type of contract and software project outcome

This paper reports two empirical studies on how the use of different contract types affects, directly and indirectly, the outcomes of software projects. The first study evaluates the effect of contract type on project failure using information from a large international dataset of small-scale, outsourced software projects and tasks. The second study proposes and tests how the use of contracts is connected with project outcome using information about Norwegian software projects with a public client. Both studies find that the use of fixed price contracts is connected with a higher risk of project failure compared to time and materials types of contracts. The results from the second study suggest that different project outcomes with different contract types is explained by differences in how the provider is selected, how the client is involved in the project, the use of agile practices and the use of benefit management during project execution.

QMS in the consulting engineering industry – can we do better?

The consulting engineering industry in Iceland has transformed itself in recent years to the extent that ISO 9001 certification has now been widely achieved. This paper explores aspects of this transformation from three different perspectives: Firstly through interviews with quality managers and executives of five engineering firms employing 80% of consulting engineers in Iceland; secondly through a survey conducted among all employees of the same engineering firms; and thirdly through interviews with representatives of five major public purchasers of engineering services in this country. The representatives and employees of the engineering consultancies are quite positive about the benefits of their ISO 9001 certification and that their experiences have surpassed their expectations. The public clients are more neutral in how they view the same topic and often seem to take certification for granted. Nevertheless, it is normally a key requirement for these public clients that companies tendering for larger projects have to have ISO 9001. Certified companies need to adapt and continuously improve their quality systems and make the benefits of this known to management, employees and clients, as appropriate.

Auditor Litigation Risk and the Number of Institutional Investors

SUMMARYWe investigate whether auditors are sensitive to litigation risk related specifically to having greater numbers of institutional investors that hold the common stock of a given client. Our findings suggest that audit fees are higher when the number of institutional investors holding stock in the company is greater. Additional tests corroborate our inference that the association between audit fees and the number of institutional investors is related to litigation risk. The importance of improving our understanding of auditors' sensitivity to factors that increase litigation exposure is highlighted by the number and magnitude of lawsuits filed against auditors relating to the audits of public clients.

Does the PCAOB international inspection program improve audit quality for non-US-listed foreign clients?

We examine whether the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) international inspection program improves audit quality for a sample of non-US-listed foreign public client companies from 55 countries audited by foreign (i.e., non-US) auditors. For a sample of non-US-listed clients of PCAOB-registered foreign auditors, we find that initial PCAOB inspections improve audit quality, over and above the threat of such inspections, for foreign auditors’ non-US-listed foreign clients. Our findings document the benefits of PCAOB international inspections for foreign investors in non-US-listed foreign companies which could increase the acceptability of the PCAOB international inspection program abroad.

Challenges when implementing BIM for industry change

Public clients have been identified as drivers of architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry change through their implementation of building information modelling (BIM). Yet, little is known of this implementation process and the associated challenges. This study aims to increase the understanding of what intra- and inter-organizational challenges that arise when a large Swedish public infrastructure client implements BIM to change the work practices of the actors in the Swedish AEC industry. The IT business value model allows for understanding the public client’s implementation of BIM as an IT-supported change process and for understanding the associated intra- and inter-organizational challenges. The findings show nine categories of intra- and inter-organizational challenges related to, for example, demanding BIM in procurement and creating incentives for BIM implementation. The findings show that intra-organizational challenges related to a top-down implementation of BIM, while inter-organizational challenges related to a bottom-up implementation. The impact of these challenges on the public client’s ability to drive AEC industry change by implementing BIM is discussed. The findings contribute with the client perspective to studies on BIM implementation and with an increased understanding of the challenges associated with implementing IT-supported change processes.

Applying the dynamic capabilities framework in the case of a large public construction client

Public clients in the construction sector face a number of challenges in designing, procuring and managing major construction projects. The client’s role in bringing about project delivery has more recently been emphasized, particularly with respect to developing capabilities that facilitate the coordinating of projects through its different phases. In line with these developments, this paper sets out to examine the management of capabilities in a client organization through the lens of the dynamic capabilities framework. In particular, what is investigated is how the client organization senses, seizes and transforms opportunities. In pursuit of this objective, an exploratory case study approach is adopted which examines one of Sweden’s largest public client organizations. The study explores the concept of dynamic capabilities and its applicability to the public construction context. Although the usefulness of dynamic capabilities as an interpretive framework is recognized, it is suggested that the concept of dynamic capabilities is inadequate for addressing the specific context in which public client organizations operate. Particularly with respect to the project-based characteristic of these organizations and the difficulty in framing what constitutes “competitive advantage” for public organizations.