Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Two common approaches have been used by governments for the implementation of public-private partnerships (PPPs): a finance-based approach that aims to use private financing to satisfy infrastructure needs, and a service-based approach that aims to optimize the time and cost efficiencies in service delivery. The implementation of PPPs, however, may suffer from legal, political, and cultural impediments. In the United States, the federal government enabled a number of acts to ease the impediments and promote PPPs for infrastructure development. Based on a detailed analysis of PPPs in the United Kingdom and British Columbia, Canada, this paper describes principles that would characterize the implementation of PPPs at the program level (e.g., whether the implementation is successful). The principles pertain to the: availability of a PPP legal framework and implementation units; perception of the private finance objectives, risk allocation consequences, and value-for-money objectives; maintenance of PPPs process transparency; standardization of procedures; and use of performance specifications. Guidelines for successful implementation are explained and discussed in the context of the United States PPPs experience and impediments.

International construction projects do not necessarily produce a high level of profit, as opposed to what is generally expected of high-risk international attempts. Overseas construction projects tend to have various risk factors that can diminish project profitability. This paper provides a comprehensive hierarchical framework to investigate the cause-and-effect relationships of various profit-influencing factors for international construction projects. After long-term profitability trends are analyzed based on a total of 3,487 international projects performed by Korean global contractors during the last 4 decades, case surveys of 126 overseas projects are conducted to draw the criticalities of each factor and to develop a hierarchical framework. An in-depth comparative case study of 20 additional international projects is also performed to verify the applicability of the hierarchical framework. Finally, we present significant distinctions between successful and failed projects from the comparative case study.

There has been an increase in research on risk management practice in the construction industry. However, little research has been conducted to systematically investigate the overall aspects of risk management on the perspectives of various project participants. This paper reports the findings of an empirical Chinese industry survey on the importance of project risks, application of risk management techniques, status of the risk management system, and the barriers to risk management, which were perceived by the main project participants. The risk management strategies adopted in the Three Gorges Project were also studied. The study reveals that: Most project risks are commonly of concern to project participants; the industry has shifted from risk transfer to risk reduction; current risk management systems are inadequate to manage project risks; and lack of joint risk management mechanisms is the key barrier to adequate risk management. Future studies should be conducted to systematically improve the risk management in construction by different approaches that facilitate equitable sharing of rewards through effective risk management among participants. Such studies should also consider the establishment of an open communication risk management process to permit the corporate experience of all participants, as well as their personal knowledge and judgment, to be effectively utilized.

This study introduces a new probabilistic project control concept to assure an acceptable forecast of final project performance, in terms of not exceeding planned budget and schedule risk levels. This concept consists in the implementation of performance control limit curves for both actual cost and elapsed time, obtained with a probabilistic approach and a graphical representation referred to as Stochastic S curves (SS curves). In order to facilitate the project control process, control limit curves can be used to display and evaluate actual project performance status without the need of actualizing at completion performance forecasts. Three different approaches (quality, benchmarking, and incremental variance) are proposed in this paper for obtaining the project performance control limit curves. In order to find the control limit curve definition with more conservative acceptable performance variations, these approaches are tested in an example project. A further managerial advantage is found in the recommended approach, as it allows monitoring the use of both cost and scheduling contingencies, along the project execution.

Construction companies must deal with several projects at once, but a system to manage multiple projects is not fully developed yet. The first step towards developing such system is to design an information model that is suitable for managing multiple projects. This paper presents the cost-based project modeling (CBPM) method in contrast to the traditional activity-based project modeling methods. The CBPM uses cost as a core of the model along with other project information organized around it. The CBPM serves as a platform for integrating project information from multiple projects. Various types of construction costs are hierarchically modeled to generate corporate-wide information such as project performances, cash flows, and other predictive indicators. Based on the information model, an object-oriented database was developed to contain cost data across several projects. In the model, a module that connects to external systems is built into the model to enhance interactivity with the legacy systems and the industry standards. A prototype system was developed and tested with actual project data to validate the information processing capabilities of the model. The findings from the test indicate construction cost can be an excellent medium that can organize various types of information of multiple projects.

To a tunnel under construction, a prompt assessment of the stability of the lining through in situ measured data is of practical importance both for the observational designing of the tunnel and to guarantee the safety of construction. Among all the parameters measured during tunnel construction, displacement measurement is the most convenient and at the same time, the most credible and cost effective method to track the performance of tunnel lining. The aim of this paper is to develop a displacement-based method suitable for conducting reliability evaluation of the shotcrete lining in the progress of construction of a tunnel. First of all, a performance function at the cross section is put forward. Next, formulas are listed to calculate the internal forces in a lining segment. Then, the variability of the basic random variables is explained. Further, a process to compute the reliability index through measured displacements is presented. After that, two case studies are done. Finally, the nature of the proposed method is observed and some remarks are made on further developments. The proposed method can meet the need of reliability evaluation of shotcrete lining during tunnel construction and also is certainly of theoretical significance to a large extent.

Materials that are in the form of one-dimensional stocks such as steel rebars, structural steel sections, and dimensional lumber generate a major fraction of the generated construction waste. Cutting one-dimensional stocks to suit the construction project requirements result in trim or cutting losses, which is the major cause of the one-dimensional construction waste. The optimization problem of minimizing the trim losses is known as the cutting stock problem (CSP). In this paper, three approaches for solving the one-dimensional cutting stock problem are presented. A genetic algorithm (GA) model, a linear programming (LP) model, and an integer programming (IP) model were developed to solve the one-dimensional CSP. Three real life case studies from a steel workshop have been studied. The generated cutting schedules using the GA, LP, and IP approaches are presented and compared to the actual workshop’s cutting schedules. The comparison shows a high potential of savings that could be achieved using such techniques. Additionally, a user friendly Visual Basic computer program that utilizes genetic algorithms for solving the one-dimensional CSP is presented.

Researchers find that the successful implementation of information systems that span organizational boundaries enhances competitive advantage. However, the process by which networks of design and construction firms implement boundary-spanning technological changes remains poorly understood. In this paper I explore the implementation of three-dimensional computer-aided design tools in 26 design and construction organizations. I analyze empirical data collected over a $7\text{-}\text{month}$ period to induce a set of antecedent constructs that enable the evolution from “printed sets of plans” to “virtual model” boundary objects. The findings highlight the importance of addressing regulative, technological, work, and organizational issues at the interfaces between design and construction firms when implementing boundary-spanning technological changes.