Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Risk is often discussed in connection with public-private partnerships (P3s), and risk allocation is likely a determinant of P3 success or failure. Despite being central to the delineation and allocation of risks, contracts have not been used directly to examine risks in P3s, particularly in the United States. Employing a systematic content analysis framework, the allocation of 31 risks in 21 U.S. highway P3 contracts was determined. These contracts represent the entire population of U.S. highway P3 projects from 2004 through first quarter of 2016 with the exception of one project whose contract was not made available. The results were internally validated through interrater testing and externally validated using bond offering statements. Hence, the investigation is unique in its approach and comprehensive scope. The allocation results demonstrate that some risks were retained by the public sector, but the majority of the 31 risks were either transferred to the private sector or shared. The former outcome is not unexpected because risk transfer is generally viewed as fundamental to the P3 value proposition; however, the prevalence of sharing in the United States market is greater than that conveyed in the literature examining risk allocation in other large markets such as Australia and the United Kingdom. Risk sharing arrangements uncovered ranged from deductible schemes to event mechanisms with the latter employed quite frequently; hence, contract designers rely on ex post remedies to address risks once an event, such as a change in law, occurs. Parametric analysis did not reveal any dominant trends in risk allocation, but examination by the most active jurisdictions (Florida, Texas, and Virginia) and source of risk (exogenous versus endogenous) illustrated that project context influences risk allocation. While some consistency was found in the treatment of the 31 risks, the variation in allocation is further evidence that project-specific factors and environments will continue to challenge efforts to create uniformity in P3 contractual provisions. Additionally, with the U.S. P3 market still evolving, the results provide practitioners implementing P3s or considering their implementation a comprehensive overview of risk allocation practices and contractual language across a variety of project characteristics. Consequently, the results can inform practitioner decisions regarding risk allocation and contract design.

Clients’ input (i.e., design drawings and specifications containing clients’ desired changes) is a key resource for task completion often missing in customized building projects, leading to waste such as additional movement, increase in work in progress, rework, stoppages, and delays. Such waste can be potentially reduced by postponing the moment in which such input is first needed [i.e., the decoupling point (DP)]. This paper proposes a simulation-based method to quantify the probability of having clients’ input according to production plans using the line-of-balance technique. The method is applied to two sets of plans to assess the effect of four variables (cycle time, batch size, work structure, and construction start time) on such probabilities. Work structure and construction start time were found to be the main variables affecting such probabilities. Nonetheless, preliminary results (considering a uniform probability distribution for clients’ input) indicate a minimal probability of having clients’ input according to production plans even for the most favorable plan (late construction start, DP in the last work package, short cycle time, and large batch size). This means that altering these variables is not sufficient to ensure the availability of clients’ input and other approaches are needed to support a good flow.

Increasing public participation in infrastructure projects elicits the need for a rationalized approach for quantifying value creation in the societal context. Although economic and environmental viability may be relatively easy to quantify, theories for quantitative evaluation of social performance and underlying social value creation in public infrastructure projects from a community perspective remain unexplored. This paper argues that the needs and requirements of the community should be at the core in planning for infrastructure projects. The success and failure of these projects should be intrinsically linked to the social value being created for the community at large. Addressing this knowledge gap, this paper develops a community-centric framework by considering public viewpoints at the core of infrastructure planning across a range of project characteristics. Based on social network theory, four key stakeholder networks—interest, impact, communication, and satisfaction networks—are investigated and the underlying network measures are then used to compute mathematically the social performance index (SPI) of the entire project. The SPI is then compared with a threshold value so that an acceptable level of social performance can be ensured while planning the project. The application of the framework is demonstrated in a case study project. The research contributes new knowledge in evaluation of public projects across planning, business, and construction management literature.

Remote construction sites, such as oil production facilities and military forward operating bases, are often located in remote and hostile areas that are vulnerable to the threat of explosive attacks. Planners can significantly reduce the destructive effects of explosive attacks targeting these sites by incorporating a number of security measures, including increasing the standoff distance between facilities and the likely location of an explosive device, constructing perimeter blast walls, and hardening facilities. The integration of these site layout security measures increases site construction costs, and accordingly planners need to search for and identify an optimal site layout plan that strikes an optimal balance between the two conflicting objectives of minimizing facility destruction levels and minimizing site construction costs. This paper presents a multiobjective optimization model for optimizing the site layout planning and selection of security measures for remote construction sites. An application example of a remote military base is analyzed to demonstrate the use of the model and its distinctive capability to generate optimal trade-offs between minimizing facility destruction levels from explosive attacks and minimizing site construction costs.

Risk allocation has been a focus of interest in the construction industry for some time because of its effects on disputes, claims, tensions, quality shortfalls, and time and cost overruns. Although various theories have been used, albeit with observable limitations, the social theory of structuration has not been tried, and this study shows its relevance in this regard. In this study, structuration theory (ST) is used to understand constraints and enablers for risk allocation and the improvements that could be gained from applying aspects of the theory. A mixed-method approach is used with 15 semistructured interviews and a questionnaire survey from 198 respondents associated with the Zambian construction industry. The findings from the analysis suggest that facets of structuration theory, namely (1) work and effort; (2) interest and power; (3) agency and creativity; (4) materiality; and (5) knowledge, help to identify simple practices that can improve risk allocation. The structuration theoretical lens explains and helps to understand risk allocation because it combines the interaction between structure and agency. It clarifies some issues influencing risk allocation, decision making, and the management of risk allocation between the contractual parties, making it a valuable theoretical contribution, more so in a developing-country context where several structures are not fully developed. The facets can be agency-related or structure-related and may both enable and/or constrain appropriate risk allocation.

International megaprojects (IMPs) have a poor record of budget and schedule overruns. Lean Construction methods and the associated Last Planner System (LPS) have been successfully implemented in many projects, but the application of the LPS in IMPs is limited due to integration challenges and organizational behavior issues inherent in IMPs. Integration herein refers to the interfaces between subprojects in a megaproject. This paper introduces the IMPact framework to address integration challenges. A modified two-round Delphi method was used to identify, verify, and rate integration challenges. Thirty-one challenges were identified. After the development of the framework, the nominal group technique confirmed its internal validity. Finally, external validation was achieved in a focus group study. The measurement system of the proposed framework was tested on a real IMP. The validated framework provided a conceptual practical solution, based in LPS, to address the challenges within and across subprojects. It is intended to be an adaptive roadmap to address these challenges and potentially improve the performance of IMPs.

Construction workers (CWs) are directly responsible for the success of any construction project. However, the construction industry is stressful, which may significantly affect CWs’ performance and safety at work. It is possible to prevent CWs experiencing unmanageable stress and the associated negative consequences if the critical factors for managing their stress were known. Yet, very few studies have been conducted to explore these critical stress management factors for them. With consideration of their unique work characteristics and environment, the current study set out to fill this research gap through exploration of CWs’ coping behaviors, stress symptoms, and performance. Focus group studies were conducted to collect qualitative data from skilled CWs, general CWs, and supervisors of CWs. The study explored 15 coping behaviors (categorized as either problem based or emotion based), 5 emotional and 11 physical stress symptoms, and 5 indicators of CWs’ performance and safety. The principal findings include the following: CWs often not only experience physical stress symptoms, but also suffer from emotional stress symptoms; and unlike the managerial staffs, CWs usually adopt more emotion-based than problem-based coping behaviors (10 types and 5 types, respectively). A propositional model was proposed and validated by a short questionnaire survey study. Practical recommendations are made for promoting effective stress management and improving project management on CWs. The research limitations are discussed, and suggestions for future research are made. This paper is the first attempt to explore CWs’ coping behaviors, specific stress symptoms, and performance, which forms a basis for a future large-scale study.

To monitor the condition of the hot-mix asphalt production process, the quality and consistency of input aggregates are widely used for monitoring process variation. Current practice involves taking samples from actual production and subsequently analyzing them in the laboratory. The entire process can take up to 2 h, which, along with being expensive, is not amenable to find a single-fault pattern or multiple-fault patterns. In this paper, an intelligent hybrid classifier is proposed that can be used to recognize the hot-mix asphalt multiple-fault patterns with satisfactory accuracy. Statistical and shape features are extracted from the observation data, and the principal component analysis (PCA) is further applied to the statistical and shape features to extract effective features for the classifier. Multi-class support vector machines (MSVMs) with an adaptive mutation particle swarm optimization (AMPSO) are applied to recognize the multiple-fault patterns automatically. Simulation results show that this approach can effectively recognize multiple-fault patterns for a hot-mix asphalt production process. The proposed model has potentially good application in hot-mix asphalt fault diagnosis. The specific findings can be described in three aspects. First, by comparing to the method of using preselected parameters and the cross-validation method, the authors identified that the proposed AMPSO algorithm provides a better combination of parameters for the MSVM classifier so that the recognition rate of fault patterns is much improved. Second, the studies show that the extracted features by the PCA applied to the statistical and shape features can significantly improve the recognition accuracy. Third, this study also shows that the proposed method can deliver satisfying prediction results even with relatively small-sized training samples.

Failure to communicate effectively and poor project knowledge continue to plague the construction industry, particularly concerning delay management and cost control. This paper aims to empirically examine the influence of project communication management and project learning as preventive measures to mitigate time-cost overruns. Based on a comprehensive literature review, a conceptual framework was developed. A two-stage data collection was used, namely semistructured interviews and a broad questionnaire survey. The qualitative data was analyzed by content analysis of critical incidents. Partial least-squared based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analyses statistically tested the model hypotheses. The results suggest that project communications and project learning contribute positively to time-cost performance of construction projects. Effective communication tools, critical learning situations, and essential reusable project knowledge are identified. Collective sharing of experiences facilitates personal development and enables effective project learning. A triangulated approach was adopted to conceptualize the control loop-process emphasis on networking and communication, collaborative learning, experience accumulation, and expert judgment as critical elements of continuous learning. As such, this study advances the current knowledge of exploiting project communication management and project learning in mitigating time-cost overruns in construction.

High-performing and sustainable building certification bodies continue to update their requirements, leading to modifications in the scope of certifications and increasing the number of viable sources of environmental information for building materials. In conjunction, the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is seeing increasing demand for such environmental product information. The authors conducted a survey of 119 U.S.-based AEC practitioners experienced in certified sustainable building projects to understand the sources for environmental information and how this information is used in the building design process. The analysis of survey responses forms the basis of this paper, which provides three contributions to the body of knowledge: (1) identifying the AEC professionals’ varying experiences with sustainable building certifications and environmental performance information for building materials [the results show a correlation between use of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating systems and the exposure of members of the AEC industry to new environmental information sources]; (2) identifying the differing levels of knowledge and use of the environmental product declaration (EPD), a new environmental information source (most of the survey respondents who had used any environmental information sources were familiar with EPDs); and (3) providing insight into EPD use and guidance from early adopters for effective future use. These findings can help the AEC industry efficiently implement EPDs into its design and construction processes and better understand the environmental impacts of building materials used in construction.

The federal government is the country’s largest energy user and government facilities are responsible for 40% of total energy emissions, yet traditional energy-efficiency methods are not reducing emissions at the federal government’s annual goal of 2.5%. Behavioral science states decision makers do not always understand or anticipate outcomes of possible choices because of time or processing capability, and cognitive biases (i.e., loss aversion and anchoring) reduce consideration for energy efficiency. The hypothesis is that choice architecture, the structure of procurement options, influences facilities management decisions. In this study engineering and building science students ($\mathrm{n}=56$) were presented with scenarios varying in cost and energy efficiency. The control group received the current government facilities procurement form, and the intervention group received a modified version of the government form prompting them to calculate the payback period prior to choosing an option. The prompt for payback period framed the decision as comparing longer gains rather than upfront costs. The results indicate statistically significant differences ($\mathrm{p}=0.0003$) between participants in the control who did not choose the more expensive, more efficient option and those in the intervention group who frequently did choose this option. These results demonstrate potential applications for choice architecture to improve government facilities management energy-reduction decisions. This behavioral approach complements what are often costlier investments in technology and holds promise for less intrusive solutions compared with legal and economic policies for energy reduction.

Unforeseen conditions and uncertainties typically surround construction projects during the execution phase. These uncertainties are the main reason for schedule delays and cost overruns. Stochastic simulation models have been developed to consider projects’ uncertainties and various probabilities. Although numerous studies have been conducted on causes and effects of uncertainties in individual projects, the uncertainties in a portfolio of projects have not been assessed. This study presents an agent-based simulation model developed to consider time and cost uncertainties in an owner’s portfolio of projects. The model can simulate different conditions and scenarios, taking into account costs inflation during projects’ execution periods. It contributes to the portfolio management body of knowledge by simulating the progress of a portfolio of projects against different scenarios, considering stochastic time, cost, and inflation rates. The simulation results assist owners to do probabilistic assessment and reduce uncertainties and risks related to time, cost, and revenue of their portfolio of projects and calculate the confidence level of their decisions and strategies. To demonstrate the capabilities of the model, an example portfolio containing 50 projects is modeled and different scenarios are evaluated. Results of the simulation indicate that the model works well and provides detailed information at the portfolio level and projects’ level. Fitting probability distributions to the results, it is seen that using the most likely numbers as deterministic parameters may lead to overestimating portfolio revenue and cost. The results indicate that using the portfolio stochastic agent-based simulation model can have significant effects on organizations’ predictions regarding their costs and revenues.

Construction materials wastage has always been a problem in construction projects. This study was conducted to address a long-standing debate in the area of construction waste reduction: financially incentivizing or penalizing during construction. After a questionnaire survey, it was found that construction industry experts prefer financial-based incentive plans to levying. Accordingly, a financial-based incentive plan was developed based on guidelines elicited from comments of the respondents, content analysis, and plugging gaps of previous incentive-based plans. In this plan, the stakeholders are incentivized to save money by reducing quantities of purchased materials, wasted materials, landfilled wastes, and illegally dumped wastes. The saving is to be shared among the stakeholders. To investigate the plan’s usefulness, the plan was applied to a real construction project through which its serviceability was confirmed. The results of this study uncovered that incentivizing provides better results compared to penalizing in construction waste reduction. The main explanation for this observation is that incentivizing promotes ethics, is more efficient, and is more compatible with sustainable development goals. In addition, viability and on-site waste reduction via promoting professional ethics and motivating stakeholders are determined to be key factors of a successful financial-based incentive plan. In summary, this paper contributes to the construction engineering and management, built environment, and sustainable construction global communities by comparing incentive-based and penalty-based construction waste reduction schemes; providing evidence of preference for incentivizing by enumerating its advantages over penalizing; and finally, introducing professional ethics and personal motivation as two important factors in significant construction waste reduction as well as sustainable building materials management. This is accomplished by basing the design of a reward plan on motivating project stakeholders and developers that is focused on detailed net benefit calculation being applicable to construction projects regardless of their type, geographic location, and kind of construction waste they generate.

Construction contractors have historically been procured through price-driven methods. Yet the increased use of alternate project delivery methods, along with owner-perceived concerns over construction performance, has led many owners to introduce qualifications-based selection criteria into their procurement systems. As a result, construction contractors are tasked with preparation of qualifications-based proposal submittals ever more frequently. Contractors must therefore develop strategies to consistently differentiate their qualifications from those of their their competitors, which can lead to more favorable owner evaluation scores and ultimately improve their hit rate. This paper performed a content analysis of 71 contractor proposals containing both successful and unsuccessful bids. Regression results indicate that contractor project management proposals receive more favorable owner evaluation scores when contractor-controlled, design-related, and concealed conditions content are emphasized. Regression results show that contractor scope alternate proposals are encouraged to provide a comprehensive review of potential scope options to enhance the project and ensure the associated cost and schedule impacts are clearly defined.