Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Selecting an appropriate procurement method to deliver supply chain efficiencies can reduce the costs of public sector projects by an average of 5%. Despite the considerable practical experience of Australian governments in the public sector, little agreement exists about how to effectively select an approach to deliver social infrastructure (e.g., schools, hospitals, museums, and prisons). Determining the optimal procurement approach for social infrastructure is a challenging task considering the array of procurement methods available and the criteria that must be assessed. Methods for procurement selection that have been developed are prescriptive and unable to deal with the complex and changing needs of public sector clients. As a result, a robust procurement selection process is developed and examined using a participatory action research. Focus groups, comprised of key stakeholders involved with delivering an educational project, examined the approach’s applicability and use in determining a suitable procurement method. Participants overwhelmingly supported the outcome, albeit a small minority who had limited wider exposure to alternative methods initially perceived their bastion (i.e., a default traditional lump sum [TLS]) to be a credible option. Indeed, those participants with limited knowledge procured almost 95% of social infrastructure projects using a TLS and did not adopt a formal procurement method selection approach. Application of the approach presented in this paper, by the public sector agency responsible for delivering its social infrastructure projects, provides a clear indication of demonstrable impact. The procurement approach that is produced enables decision makers to constantly reevaluate outcomes in the form of recommendations that are grounded in practice, reflection, and detailed evaluation.

Incentive/Disincentive ($I/D$) and Cost-plus-Time ($A+B$) are the two most widely used alternative contracting strategies to implement public transportation infrastructure projects in the United States. However, little is known about their impact on project schedule performance. As a result, state highway agencies often struggle to select effective contracting strategies and estimate the budgets accurately for transportation projects. A quantitative analysis drawing on 1,372 public transportation projects in California was conducted to address this shortcoming by determining the schedule effectiveness of alternative contracting strategies. The analysis showed that $I/D$ contracting strategy was effective in shortening overall construction duration, however, $A+B$ contracting strategy led to severe schedule delays, worse than conventionally contracted projects. The findings of this study will assist decision-makers, particularly state highway agencies, make better-informed decisions when they are planning and selecting the most effective alternative contracting strategies for transportation improvement projects.

The appropriate use of tactics can have a significant effect on dispute negotiation. This study aimed to investigate the confidence of negotiators in their own ability to successfully use tactics to achieve desired outcomes—a concept defined as negotiation-efficacy that underpins Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. A questionnaire survey was used to measure the frequency of and confidence with which negotiators used negotiating tactics and the achievement of negotiation outcomes. With the collected data, confidence indices were created to reflect the strength of negotiation-efficacy for each negotiating tactic. Relationships of negotiation-efficacy and the achievement of negotiation outcomes were then examined by multiple regression analyses. The findings show that the strength of negotiation-efficacy is significantly related to the achievement of certain negotiation outcomes. In general, for negotiators who have negotiation-efficacy in executing distributive (integrative) tactics, negative (positive) negotiation outcomes are likely. One of the key implications of these findings is that the study of negotiation-efficacy can serve as a test of reality to prevent negotiators from under-or overestimating the entire negotiation situation and, most importantly, to increase the prospect of negotiation success.

This paper presents an automated image-based safety assessment method for earthmoving and surface mining activities. The literature review revealed the possible causes of accidents on earthmoving operations, investigated the spatial risk factors of these types of accident, and identified spatial data needs for automated safety assessment based on current safety regulations. Image-based data collection devices and algorithms for safety assessment were then evaluated. Analysis methods and rules for monitoring safety violations were also discussed. The experimental results showed that the safety assessment method collected spatial data using stereo vision cameras, applied object identification and tracking algorithms, and finally utilized identified and tracked object information for safety decision-making.

Given a changing competition environment, strategic management has become of essential importance to construction firms. Effective strategy enables construction firms to match their activities to the changing environment and achieve superior performance in competition. Therefore, there is a need for studying contractors’ competitive strategies. This paper does that in relation to the Hong Kong construction industry. The impact of competition environment on contractor performance, and the relationship between competitive strategy and performance are examined by a questionnaire survey. The findings show that competition environment has a great impact on contractor performance, and four generic competitive strategies have been applied by contractors. Contractors can indeed be classified into four groups according to their different strategic orientations: prospectors, analyzers, defenders, and reactors. As a result, the strategies that contractors should pursue in the local construction industry can be identified with confidence.

The ability to predict and develop organizational flexibility is important for firms to survive and prosper in volatile business environments. The aim of this study is to investigate the constituents of and the constructs for predicting organizational flexibility. The specific objectives are to ascertain the relative importance of different constituents of flexibility and to construct and validate mathematical models to predict organizational flexibility of Singaporean construction firms. The research was conducted by a questionnaire survey and data were collected by face-to-face interviews with 41 construction industry experts. Three mathematical models were developed and validated by using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The validation data consisted of ratings provided by four subject matter experts whose data were not used in the model development. The results show that the mathematical model for predicting strategic flexibility is able to predict to a good level of accuracy. The models show that the cost leadership initiative and supply chain capabilities of firms are the most important factors driving organizational flexibility. It is recommended that construction industry practitioners use the mathematical models that were developed to make a preliminary assessment on their firm’s flexibility potential.

This paper presents an automated tool named the stochastic project financing analysis system (SPFA). The system makes use of critical path method (CPM) schedule data exported from Primavera Project Planner (P3), computes the best-fit probability distribution functions (PDFs) of historical activity durations, assigns to respective activities the probability density functions identified, simulates the schedule network, computes the deterministic and stochastic project cashflows, plots the corresponding cash-flow diagrams, and estimates the best-fitPDFs of overdraft and net profit of a project without user intervention at any time. The SPFA improves the reliability of project cash-flow analysis by effectively dealing with the uncertainties of the activities’ durations and costs, increases the usability of the schedule data obtained from commercial CPM software, allows the user to incorporate the contractual terms of payment into the cashflow, and effectively handles the variability of the overdrafts and net profits by finding their best-fitPDF. It is implemented as an easy-to-use computer tool programmed in matrix laboratory (MATLAB). The SPFA allows a financial manager to estimate the extent of cash-flow problems in a specific period by using both deterministic and stochastic modes. Two test cases verify the usability and validity of the system in practice

Delays in the completion of highway construction and maintenance projects are important concerns to state highway agencies and contractors alike because such time delays can have a number of adverse consequences, such as extending the duration of active work zones, contributing to road-user dissatisfaction and increasing the risk of litigation regarding delay responsibility. In this paper, using data from 1,722 highway projects in Indiana, random-parameter statistical models are estimated to study the factors that contribute to the likelihood of encountering a project time delay and its duration. The model estimation results show that the likelihood and duration of project time delays are significantly influenced by factors such as project cost (contract bid amount), project type, planned project duration, and the likelihood of adverse weather.

Data obtained using visual inspection are qualitative and subjective in nature. Reported methodology utilizes fuzzy sets for modeling qualitative data. Characteristic distress manifestations corresponding to various deterioration mechanisms in RC structures and associated repair priorities (conditions) are first classified. To deal with the subjective nature of associated data, independent responses on applicable repair priorities for different distress manifestations are obtained from experts through questionnaire survey. Data obtained from questionnaire responses are subsequently used for the development of corresponding fuzzy membership functions (MFs). Visual-inspection data for various characteristic distress manifestations (on the basis of deterioration mechanism) are recorded individually for every deteriorating element of the structure as per the prepared guidelines. Recorded data are used for the selection of corresponding MFs. Selected MFs are combined according to the proposed fuzzy rule using vertex method to obtain the element MFs individually for all specific deteriorations and for collective effect of all the deteriorations. Defuzzification using area-centroid method provides condition indices. These indices provide quantified measure of condition and repair needs of the elements. Element indices are further aggregated to obtain the indices for the structure as a whole. To explain the developed methodology, a brief case study on the assessment of a section of an industrial building is illustrated.

Risk is involved in every business, and the construction industry is no exception. Most of the project management issues that impact a project arise from associated uncertainties. The Indian construction industry is worth about $120 billion and this could grow considerably, driven by major projects across the country. There are a number of problems in the construction industry in India that are attributed to various factors. The focus of the present research is to identify factors that influence the smooth completion of a project and develop a risk assessment model. The authors of the paper have made an attempt to analyze the present risk condition in the construction industry by meeting experts in the field to collect first-hand information as a first step towards risk assessment and suggest a risk response strategy. A total of 93 risk factors were identified and listed under various subgroups in this paper. A questionnaire was prepared on the basis of a literature review and was filled by six contractors, four owners, five project management experts, having more than 20 years of experience in the construction field in India. As the factors are represented in qualitative terms, fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used. The result of the study is listed, in which the percentage contribution of various factors to smooth completion is shown. Because the findings are based on a small cross section of experts, Student’s $t$-test, a significance test, has been applied to know the significance of test findings on the general construction industry. The study results are reduced further into two groups for simplification and better understanding. The first group covers owner-, contractor-, project manager-, finance-, and resource-specific risks; and the second group covers risk pertaining to project-, architect/consultant-, external environment-, and contract-clause-specific factors. The analysis results indicate that the risks specific to the first group are found to be 10.5 to 12.0% with a standard deviation less than 1.66, whereas the percent apportionment of second group ranges from 9.5 to 13%, a larger range than the first group of factors with standard deviation up to as high as 3.3, indicating wider variation, thus making it difficult to predict their occurrence in a project. The findings are also confirmed by the project disputes related to various projects discussed in the paper. The risk response strategy suggested in this paper will be useful in mitigating the adverse effects of risk in project completion in the Indian construction industry. A planned approach in handling a project-specific and external-environment-specific risk coupled with a proper contract administration can mitigate overall risk to a greater extent in the Indian construction industry.

Limiting greenhouse gas emissions has continually gained importance since the Kyoto protocol became effective in 2005. A variety of efforts have been made to reduce energy consumption and introduce supposedly clean and renewable energy that can replace fossil fuelbased energy sources. However, many clean energy sources are not economically viable by themselves, and, therefore, government subsidies are necessary to provide sufficient economic motivation for the installation of new types of energy. For that reason, it is necessary to develop a method for reasonably and accurately determining an appropriate level of government subsidy for private entities. In this paper we propose a real option-based framework for rationally quantifying the amount of government subsidy required by private entities in order to implement a clean energy generation system. A case study that involved the installation of a photovoltaic system in an average household in Seoul, Korea was conducted in order to verify the proposed framework. The proposed framework is expected to help energy policymakers choose the proper level of government subsidy that will effectively encourage private entities to install clean energy systems without wasting taxpayers’ money.

Facilities management (FM) encompasses and requires multidisciplinary activities, and thus has extensive information requirements. While some of these needs are addressed by several existing FM information systems, building information modeling (BIM), which is becoming widely adopted by the construction industry, holds undeveloped possibilities for providing and supporting FM practices with its functionalities of visualization, analysis, control, and so on. This paper explores how BIM can be a beneficial platform for supplementing FM practices. An online survey and face-to-face interviews were conducted to assess the current status of BIM implementations in FM, potential applications, and the level of interest in the utilization of BIM. Interactions between BIM and FM are defined by illustrating application areas and data requirements for BIM-enabled FM practices. Highlighting the synergy between the two, this paper can help professionals recognize potential areas in which BIM can be useful in FM practices.

This paper extends the understanding of working-time changes and work-life balance (WLB) through analyzing a case study where a reduction in working hours designed to assist the workforce in balancing work and nonwork life was implemented. An alliance project in the Australian construction industry was established initially with a 5-day working week, a departure from the industry-standard 6-day week. However, a range of factors complicated the success of this initiative, and the industry-standard 6-day working week was reinstated for the project. The authors argue that this case is valuable in determining the complex mix of influences that work against a wholesale or straightforward adoption of working-time adjustments and work-life balance practices. It is concluded that although the prevailing workplace culture is considered an important factor in the determination of working time, structural and workplace principles and practices may also be critical in working to secure the successful introduction of working-time reduction and work-life balance initiatives in the construction industry in the future.

In many cases, disorganized cost and schedule tracking practices, as well as inaccurate data collection, cause many projects to experience distress and possible profit loss. This paper introduces an earned value management system that allows electrical contractors to monitor construction progress, perform forecasts on the project, uncover problems occurring on-site, and respond to problems in the project as early as possible. This paper also presents a case study, along with its results, to supplement the application of the earned value management system. In the case study, several progress reports for the earned value system were used, including the field personnel loading curve, Hanna’s control points, S-curves, performance factor profiles, and work-hour forecasts. Results from the analysis showed that early determination of probable project outcome is possible with reasonable forecasting accuracy. Early warning signs are discussed and explained by the author. Using an earned value management system can also help detect cost overruns and schedule slippages early in the project, which makes it possible for the project team to take corrective measures in a timely manner.

Although horizontal directional drilling (HDD) has been widely accepted and used for installing gas lines, waterlines, and telecommunication cables, its applications to gravity-flow sewer lines have been limited. One primary reason is the difficulty with maintaining critical grades essential for gravity-flow sewer systems when using the conventional HDD tracking methods. Recently, advancements made in tracking systems, electronics, and operational techniques have made this HDD technology a technically feasible and an economically attractive method for installing on-grade underground pipes in many situations. This paper presents a newly developed HDD technology in terms of its technical capabilities and economic feasibilities compared with the traditional open-cut method on the basis of two real-scale case studies. Installation errors are quantitatively analyzed and discussed, and a general set of boundary site conditions for the application of this new technology is also discussed. The detailed analysis of the two case studies demonstrates that the on-grade HDD method could be a very attractive alternative construction method for gravity-flow sewer pipelines when some favorable site conditions are available.