Technical Papers
Jun 26, 2024

Analyzing the Critical Success Factors Affecting Project Bundling Performance of Infrastructure Projects

Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 150, Issue 9

Abstract

Project bundling is an innovative project-delivery approach that bundles and groups different infrastructure projects into a single contract. Project bundling provides numerous opportunities and benefits for agencies and states while maintaining, rehabilitating, and repairing their infrastructure assets. Although previous research provided insights on some aspects of project bundling, none have identified the success factors needed to enhance the performance of bundled projects after the project bundling decision has been made. This study aims to fill this gap through identifying, studying, and prioritizing the success factors needed to efficiently bundle several infrastructure projects together. First, a survey was developed and distributed to numerous experts to examine the likelihood of occurrence and relative impact of 25 success factors. Second, the reliability of the survey and its results were assessed and validated using internal and external reliability assessment measures. Third, various statistical analysis tests were performed to examine the alignment between the perspectives of different project stakeholders in relation to the various project-bundling success factors. Fourth, the criticality of the different project-bundling success factors was quantified. Fifth, the success factors were ranked and prioritized to identify the key and most critical factors. The results showed that the most critical project-bundling success factors are (1) having well-defined design features; (2) having a complete project design prior to construction; (3) requiring prior knowledge or experience with similar project size and scope (by the contractor and the design agency); (4) having clear design control requirements; and (5) maintaining constant coordination and communication between all project stakeholders. This study adds to the body of knowledge by quantifying and studying the criticality of different success factors needed to enhance the performance of bundled projects. This study also provides decision-makers with the required knowledge and guidance on the key success factors that influence project-bundling performance.

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Data Availability Statement

All data generated or analyzed during the study are included in the published paper.

Acknowledgments

This manuscript is based upon work supported by the US Department of Transportation, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R) under Grant No. 69A3551847102 through the Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) Region 2 UTC Consortium Led by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (Project No. CAIT-UTC-REG68). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency(ies).

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Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 150Issue 9September 2024

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Received: Nov 27, 2023
Accepted: Apr 1, 2024
Published online: Jun 26, 2024
Published in print: Sep 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Nov 26, 2024

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Ghiwa Assaf, Ph.D., S.M.ASCE [email protected]
Jr. Project Manager, Gedeon GRC Consulting, Newark, NJ 07102; formerly, Ph.D. Candidate, John A. Reif, Jr. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102. Email: [email protected]
Assistant Professor of Construction and Civil Infrastructure, Founding Director of the Smart Construction and Intelligent Infrastructure Systems (SCIIS) Lab, John A. Reif, Jr. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102 (corresponding author). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4626-5656. Email: [email protected]

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