Quantifying the Similarity between Different Project Types Based on Their Pay Item Compositions: Application to Bundling
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 145, Issue 9
Abstract
Similarity between project types is an important consideration in several contexts of construction management, including contract development, contractor selection, and project bundling. Projects that require similar types of resources can generally be considered compatible or similar and thus are prime candidates for simultaneous delivery through project bundling as well as other construction management applications. Unfortunately, there is no universally accepted, robust, and quantitative measure of project similarity. This paper presents a methodology to quantify the similarity between different project types based on their constituent pay items. Two project types are considered similar if they have in common a large percentage of pay items. Cluster analysis was first carried out to evaluate how different project types can be clustered into different groups. Several approaches were then proposed for quantifying the similarity between any two project types and the average similarity among multiple bundled projects. The paper’s framework can be used by highway agencies to serve as a guide in making or evaluating construction management–related decisions in various contexts including project bundling.
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Data Availability Statement
Data analyzed during the study were provided by a third party. Requests for data should be directed to the provider indicated in the Acknowledgments. Information about the Journal’s data-sharing policy can be found here: https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001263.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Joint Transportation Research Program administered by the Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University. The assistance of the following individuals are acknowledged: Trevor Mills, Brad Steckler, Louis Feagans, Maan Omran, and Tim Wells.
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 145 • Issue 9 • September 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 11, 2018
Accepted: Feb 7, 2019
Published online: Jul 13, 2019
Published in print: Sep 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Dec 13, 2019
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