Editor’s Note

“Public Clients’ Best Value Perspectives of Public Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Development”: The process of choosing a private-sector partner, who inherently assumes much greater risks when joining a public private partnership, necessitates a best value source-selection methodology to select the right private partner. Zhang refers to a set of 21 previously determined best-value contributing factors, against which alternative proposals are evaluated and a sound contract award decision can be made, and he statistically analyzes the relative significance of each. He then compares the significance of each by using responses from academia and from the industry and finds that there is very little difference between the two.

“Moving a Reinforced Concrete Building: Case Study”: A project management team directing the construction of a concrete building learned during the last stages of construction that the building encroached by 190 cm into the permit-specified setback. Telem, Shapira, Goren, and Schexnayder present a case study that discusses how the Internet was used to aid the contractor in addressing the problem and the particular solution adopted for moving the building. The steps taken by the project management team from the moment the problem was discovered through moving the building to its correct location are described.

“Delay Mitigation in the Malaysian Construction Industry”: Berawi, Abdul-Rahman, Berawi, Mohamed, Othman, and Yaha describe the importance of applying proper management in dealing with delays in construction for a growing economy. The authors aim to identify the management tools that are used in the local construction industry in mitigating delay. The authors also identify the main factors that lead to project delays and suggest recommendations for overcoming or mitigating the effects of the problem. Conclusions are drawn from data gathered from responses to a questionnaire survey and interviews with those involved in project construction.

“3D Scan Information Management System (3DSIMS) for Construction Management”: Shih and Huang present an Internet-based 3D scan information-management system that can be used as an interface to input, display, and inspect design as-built construction information. This system is developed mainly by using three-dimensional scan data. The function of the system is to integrate the scan data collected before, during, and after a scan scheme that is designed to capture as-built 3D records. The authors also explain the feasibility of this approach by using examples of dimension-related checks through as-built data.

“Computer-Aided Site Layout Planning”: An interactive computer-aided site layout model to support site planning in the computer-aided design environment is presented by Sadeghpour, Moselhi, and Alkass. The model performs at two levels: site representation and site space analysis and allocation. The model uses site objects, construction objects, and constraint objects and allows for gradual expansion and enrichment of its knowledge base. The model is implemented by using Visual Basic for Applications in the AutoCAD environment and Microsoft Access. An example of an actual site layout is presented to illustrate the functionality of the model.

“Proposed Subcontractor-Based Employee Motivational Model”: Cox, Issa, and Frey investigate the factors that affect motivation, goal-setting, workforce needs, and incentives to determine the attributes for a subcontractor–employee motivational model. A survey addressing these four categories was distributed to subcontractor foremen and supervisors to establish a list of motivational factors. By using the statistical analysis of the survey, the authors develop the Subcontractor-Based Employee Motivational Model, which provides industry practitioners with another level of understanding of the motivation sequence of the subcontractor’s labor force.

“Owner’s Role in Construction Safety”: Despite dramatic improvements in recent decades, the construction industry continues to be an industry with a poor safety record. Although previous safety studies have investigated the roles of contractors, subcontractors, and designers, the owner’s impact on construction has been left mostly uninvestigated. Huang and Hinze present the results of a study on the owner’s role in construction safety and use data obtained by interviews on large construction projects. By identifying practices of owners who are associated with good project safety performance, they provide guidance on how owners directly affect safety performance.

“Owner’s Role in Construction Safety: Guidance Model”: Building from their paper “Owner’s Role in Construction Safety,” Huang and Hinze expand on their research findings and present a model that evaluates the impact of different owner practices on project safety performance. The authors establish four indexes that quantitatively describe the project characteristics, the selection of safe contractors, the contractual safety requirements, and the owner’s participation in safety management. The combined effects of different owner practices on project safety performance as measured by the total recordable injury rate are then evaluated to determine the association between the safety performances and the recordable injury rate.

“Effects of Schedule Pressure on Construction Performance”: Although accelerating a project can be rewarding, productivity and quality may be sacrificed for the sake of remaining ahead of schedule, and the actual schedule benefits are often barely worth the wait. Nepal, Park, and Son analyze the effects that schedule pressure has on construction performance. Data are collected from 102 construction practitioners working on 38 construction sites in Singapore. The results of the survey are tabulated and analyzed, and the authors draw conclusions.

“Contractor Process Improvement for Enhancing Construction Productivity”: David Cottrell presents a model that demonstrates the strong relationship of project performance to a variety of process improvement initiatives, including design completeness, definition of a project vision statement, testing oversight, and project manager experience and dedication. This methodology is used to analyze 75 civil construction projects by using 45 process improvement initiatives that involve quantitative and qualitative measures.

“Safety Hazard Identification on Construction Projects”: Naturally, unidentified hazards on construction sites present the most unmanageable risks. Authors Carter and Smith present an investigation that indicates the current levels of hazard identification on three U.K. construction projects. Hazard identification levels are found to be far from ideal. A discussion on the reasons for low hazard identification levels indicated key barriers, which leads to the presentation of an IT tool for construction project safety management, and in particular, a module within the tool that is designed to help construction personnel improve hazard identification.

“Determinants of International Architectural, Engineering, and Construction Firms’ Project Success in China”: Ling, Ibbs, and Hoo present a study that identifies significant factors that contribute to the successful performance of projects undertaken by international architectural, engineering, and construction firms in China. Data were collected by using structured questionnaires from foreign AEC firms that have completed projects in China. In addition, personal interviews were conducted with 27 experts to supplement and test the survey findings. The authors then analyze and draw conclusions from the information that they gathered.