Tendering

Tendering is one of the stages in construction procurement that requires extensive information and documents exchange. However, tender documents are not always clear in practice. The aim of this study was to ascertain the clarity and adequacy of tender documents used in practice. Access was negotiated into two UK construction firms and the whole tender process for two projects was shadowed for 6-7 weeks in each firm using an ethnographic approach. A significant amount of tender queries, amendments and addenda were recorded. This showed that quality of tender documentation is still a problem in construction despite the existence of standards like Coordinated Project Information (1987) and British Standard 1192 and 1990) that are meant to help in producing clear and consistent project information. Poor quality tender documents are a source of inaccurate estimates, claims and disputes on contracts. Six recommendations are presented to help in improving the quality of tender documentation. Further research is needed into the recommendations to help improve the quality of tender documents, perhaps in conjunction with an industry-wide investigation into the level of incorporation of CPI principles in practice.

This paper proposes a new public procurement evaluation model, the added value threshold model. The added value threshold model is a flexible procurement tool, which has been developed to account for the costs associated with offering added value within a tender response. The added value threshold model has been developed in response to the findings of an extensive literature review and case studies.

This model has the potential to be applied to other supplier selection problems, when a third element needs to be highlighted. In this paper it is applied to the notion of added value, but it could equally be applied to sustainability requirements.

Procurement for e-Government is an important part of activities which are similar to the nature of B2B. That is usually characterized by bulk volumes with complex variables, bureaucratic workflows and the need to function in a regulated environment under which many partners participated. In the past, e-Government procurement involved a lot of manual processes which are known to be time-consuming and may be error-prone. In this paper, we present the design of a Web-based Tendering System which aims at improving the efficiency as well as transparency. In addition to a prototype which we developed for proof-of-concept, we modeled the new system in contrast of traditional manual workflow by using a Business Process Reengineering tool. We showed that certain processes could be automated by leveraging the power of Internet and information technology, as well as operating costs could be lowered in the new model. Various tendering schemes can be supported. In particular, our new design incorporates a decision-support design at the backend for assisting a panel of judges pertaining to suggesting how the jobs should be allocated to different bidders. As a core of the decision-support module, the system has an automated analyzer that rationally considers the bidders' backgrounds and feasibilities, in the perspective of achieving an overall goal.

The construction industry in Singapore is dominated by a competitive business environment that is being driven by a lowest cost mentality. The pressure on contractors' pro t margins has further increased after a prolonged recession in this sector, which has seen construction demand and output shrinking signi cantly. This paper examines the factors that contractors perceive to be important when they are considering the size of their bid mark-up. The research hypothesis is that contractor size would have a signi cant bearing on the factors that would in uence the bid mark-up decision. Forty factors were identi ed and a survey was conducted. The results showed that contractor size has a signi cant impact on their attitude towards bid mark-up decision-making. The analysis also showed that when deciding the size of a bid mark-up large contractors tend to be more concerned with the nature of the construction work while medium-size contractors are more concerned about the state of their own companies nance.

Pamerkan kenyataan tender di sekolah dan kawasan-kawasan yang berdekatan dengan sekolah seperti masjid, warung atau kedai-kedai runcit supaya dapat diketahui oleh orang awam. Guru besar adalah orang yang bertanggungjawab menetapkan di mana harus dipamerkan kenyataan tender tersebut.

Yapım işlerinin pek çok uzmanlık konusunu birlikte içermesi, bu işlerin yapılmasında yüklenicilerin alt yüklenici çalıştırmasını adeta bir zorunluluk haline getirmektedir. Nitekim yapım işi ihalelerine ilişkin ihale dokümanı ve sözleşmelerde yüklenicinin alt yüklenici çalıştırmasını engellemeye dönük herhangi bir düzenleme de yapılamamaktadır. Ancak bu durum idarenin, alt yüklenici çalıştırılmasına ve alt yüklenicilerin onaylanmasına ilişkin takdir hakkının bulunmadığı şeklinde yorumlanmamalıdır. Diğer taraftan idarenin bu takdir hakkının katı bir şekilde kullanılması ise işin yapılamaması sonucunu doğurabilecek ve süreç sözleşmenin feshine kadar ilerleyebilecektir. Dolayısıyla alt yüklenici çalıştırılması konusunda gerek idarenin gerekse yüklenicinin hak ve yetki sınırlarının dengeli bir şekilde değerlendirilmesi ve bu değerlendirme yapılırken doğabilecek olası uyuşmazlıkların da göz önünde bulundurulması gerekmektedir.

The objective of going out to contract is to obtain specific services, equipment, materials or licenses as required to
support the general business objectives.
The FWA can be used as "umbrella agreement" that sets
out the terms (particularly relating to price, quality and
quantity) under which individual contracts "Call Off" can
be made throughout the term of the agreement
Under the terms and conditions of the FWA, the buying
organisation may purchase materials, or works, or services
without any commitment for using such agreement

SUMARIO 1. INTRODUCCIÓN 2. DERECHOS LIMITADOS EN NÚMERO 2.1. El derecho 2.1.1. Dominio público 2.1.2. Tipos de usos y títulos habilitantes a) Bienes destinados a la prestación de un servicio público b) Bienes destinados al uso general c) Bienes comunales d) Síntesis 2.1.3. Naturaleza jurídica 2.1.4. Contenido 2.2. La escasez 2.2.1. Justificación 2.2.2. Formalización 3. PRINCIPIOS DE DERECHO EUROPEO 4. PRINCIPIOS DE DERECHO CONSTITUCIONAL 4.1. Principios inspiradores del régimen del dominio público 4.2. Libertad de empresa y propiedad privada 4.3. Otros principios constitucionales 5. PROCEDIMIENTOS Y CRITERIOS DE ADJUDICACIÓN 5.1. Procedimientos 5.1.1. Licitación 5.1.2. Sorteo 5.1.3. Reparto proporcional 5.1.4. Adjudicación directa 5.1.5. Cierre del programa de adjudicación 5.2. Criterios 5.3. Antiguos y nuevos entrantes 5.4. Asignación secundaria 2 Capítulo 5 La adjudicación de derechos de uso de bienes demaniales Dolores Utrilla Fernández-Bermejo Profesora contratada doctora de Derecho Administrativo Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015 stipulates guidelines on the whole procurement and disposal process in
Kenya. This study sought to establish factors influencing disposal of assets in the public sector in Kenya, with a case study of
the Mombasa County Government. Specifically, the objectives focused on were procurement regulations, tendering,
procurement staff training and inventory management. The Act however does not give conditions of the association between
public asset and their disposal planning in connection to when these assets are being procured or planned to be procured.
There needs to be a plan of how the surplus, obsolete, obsolescence and unserviced assets are disposed of not left on yards and
stores to gather dust and deteriorate further thus attracting unnecessary costs. Theories in connection to the study were the
inventory control theory and the transactional cost theory. Case study design of research was employed targeting a population
of one hundred sixty six managers of various levels at the Mombasa County government offices with a sample size of thirty
three managers picked from the top, middle and lower management levels. Stratified sampling method was used. Data was
collected primarily using questionnaires and secondarily from books, journals, other published and unpublished research
works from governments and non-government publications. A pilot study was carried out to determine the validity and
reliability of the questionnaires and data analyzed by use of qualitative and quantitative methods. In addition, graphs, pie
charts, regression analysis and statistical package for social science were used to present the data. Findings were that the four
variables: procurement regulations, procurement staff competencies, tendering and inventory management all positively
influenced asset disposal. It was therefore recommended that other factors that influence assets disposal in the public sector
need to be determined by additional research since the four variables contribute only 45% of all the variations in assets
disposal.

This paper is presented the flow of an ongoing PhD’s research entitle “A Study on the Accuracy of a Bill of Quantities”, which are at the proposal stage. The accurateness of the information in the bill of quantities has been criticised since many years ago. Based on the literatures, there are numerous errors in the bill of quantities mentioned by previous researchers particularly in the quantities, descriptions, and unit rates. The accurateness of the information in the bill is a concern because a bill of quantities is a comprehensive document inclusive of the important information of a construction project. Besides that, a substantial error particularly on the descriptions, quantities and unit rates might lead the construction project to a variety of risks such as cost escalation, variations, claims for additional cost, discrepancies and disputations. Therefore, this problem sparks interest in the researcher to conduct this research study. This study intends to identify the errors and study the causes of errors in the bill of quantities document in terms of the descriptions, quantities, and unit rates. The researcher examines the accuracy by identifying errors in the bill documents (analysis of the existing document), observes human activities and processes during the preparation of such documents (case studies during preparation of tender documents), interviews  and distributes questionnaires survey to get opinions and recommendations from the target samples.  The findings of the research are analysed using frequency tables and graphs with interpretation, and also parametric and non-parametric tests. The results of the research are intended to achieve the aim of the research which is to propose strategies to minimise errors in a bill of quantities document that benefits in enhancing the accuracy of the bill of quantities document, improving quantity surveyor services, reducing risk of construction project, and contributing to a body of knowledge in the quantity surveying field.

Bills of Quantities (BQ) is one of systematic ways applied in the construction industry in which its primary function is to record items of works for tendering purposes and to create a fair agreement among the parties involved for contracting purposes. However, there are some issues pertaining to BQ functions such as BQ is a misunderstood facet in the construction industry today, BQ is only useful for tendering purposes, BQ's benefit is not fully utilised by the construction team and most of them cannot relate BQ with everyday construction works and processes. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study on the importance of BQ and its functions in the construction industry. A content analysis was used to identify the importance and functions of BQ from reviewing articles and books. Findings from this paper are beneficial in providing knowledge to the education field and construction teams on the importance and functions of BQ in the construction industry.

NEGOTIATING ACCESS INTO FIRMS: OBSTACLES AND STRATEGIES

Samuel Laryea
University of Reading, Reading
[email protected]
Will Hughes
University of Reading, Reading
[email protected]

Researchers often experience difficulties with the negotiation of access into firms for the purpose of data collection.  The question we explore is: What are the main obstacles associated with access negotiation into firms; and what strategies do researchers employ to increase their chances of success?  Our research work on the tendering process of contractors took place between 2006 and 2008.  We successfully negotiated access into four firms (two each in Ghana and the UK) to observe live examples of tender preparation  The techniques we employed in negotiating access were personal contacts, contacting firms through online details and professional institutions, etc.  With all of this effort, our average success rate was less than 5 per cent.  The main obstacles encountered were firms’ reluctance because of commercial sensitiveness and fear that the data could eventually be divulged to their competitors or end up in the public domain.  However, some firms agreed mainly because of the written assurances of confidentiality and anonymity in reporting the study; reputation of the researchers’ academic institution; gatekeepers who spoke to their colleagues on our behalf; academic purpose of the study; and a feedback report which was promised in return for access to the case studies.  Although the access through personal contacts is by far the easiest, it is not always possible.  Researchers can approach firms as complete strangers, especially in a foreign country, and that could make the firms more likely to assist the research.

KEYWORDS: access, access negotiation, data collection, Ghana, UK

This paper celebrates the interdisciplinarity of architectural paint researchers who are drawn from a wide range of disparate professional backgrounds, and recognises the different national, social and economic circumstances within which they operate. Self-defined standards are required to ensure that the discipline is not defined by cost-cutting clients and acquiescent inexperienced architectural paint research practitioners. Instead of searching for a Goldilocks 'just right' standard it is suggested that architectural paint researchers should agree minimum 'good enough' baseline proficiencies for the discipline. This paper identifies the six stages of any architectural paint research project and suggests the minimum range of skills and basic equipment needed to carry out 'good enough' architectural paint research to which beginners can aspire and experienced architectural paint researchers may transcend.

This paper discusses the content, origin and development of Tendering Theory as a theory of price determination. It demonstrates how tendering theory determines market prices and how it is different from game and decision theories, and that in the tendering process, with non-cooperative, simultaneous, single sealed bids with individual private valuations, extensive public information, a large number of bidders and a long sequence of tendering occasions, there develops a competitive equilibrium.

Indonesia spends more than 30 percent of its national budget, and around 60 percent of foreign development assistance, on the procurement of goods and services on behalf of government agencies. Yet, the Indonesian regulatory framework is marred by legal inconsistencies, poorly drafted laws and a lack of clear accountability mechanisms within the bureaucracy. In addition, the Indonesian judiciary has been unable until present to develop clear procurement review
procedures. Add to this an incompetent and corrupt police force and a politicized anti-corruption commission and the results is an extremely dangerous environment for procurement officials to operate in. The country’s corrupt and inefficient procurement system has contributed to the country’s crumbling infrastructure, delayed government spending, and weak performance on a range of social indicators. Procurement reform has the potential to reduce resource inefficiency and save precious resources for other investments that can contribute to Indonesia’s economic growth.

Construction cost management is the most important function for project success, and the construction project performance is generally expressed in terms of cost and its variance from the budget. However, it has not been effectively used due to the presence of a large quantity of data with many complex interrelationships. Construction firms, being project based organizations, have to develop their project management capacity in order to accomplish firm and project objectives successfully. Hence contractors need to focus on project cost management process. The study presents the limitations, drawbacks and shortcomings of each project cost management functions related to current practices of domestic contractors, which need to be improved for achieving the predefined project objectives and the profitability of contractors along with the proposed improvement recommendations, through critical literature review.

O sistema de transporte coletivo por ônibus da cidade de São Paulo teve diversas mudanças nos últimos 25 anos, o que resultou em modelos de concessão distintos, impactando nos custos, nas receitas e na remuneração desse serviço, além da variação da qualidade decorrente destes fatores. O estudo analisa o caso da cidade de São Paulo, detalhando principalmente as formas de remuneração, financiamento, política tarifária e Taxa Interna de Retorno, desde 1990 até o início do ano de 2015; descreve também boas práticas de outros municípios, que não foram adotadas na capital paulista no período analisado. As manifestações de junho de 2013 abriram a janela de oportunidade para que o governo municipal implementasse as políticas de mobilidade urbana que, até então, eram rejeitadas pela mídia e por parte da sociedade. Os projetos realizados pelo governo nos anos seguintes ainda não foram suficientes para atender as expectativas dos usuários do transporte coletivo. Portanto, a partir da análise do modelo vigente e a conjuntura favorável para implementar novas mudanças, a pesquisa apresenta possíveis alternativas a serem consideradas em um novo modelo de concessão de transporte coletivo.

ABSTRACT:

São Paulo´s public bus transportation system has experienced several changes in the past 25 years. As a result, different concession models emerged impacting on cost, revenues, remuneration and consequently, affecting service quality. This study analyzes the case of São Paulo, specifically the forms of remuneration, financial return, tariff policy and the Internal Rate of Return from 1990 until early 2015. Furthermore, this study describes good practices implemented by other cities that had not been taking into account in São Paulo. The 2013 protest opened ‘the window of opportunity’ for the municipal government to implement urban mobility policies that had previously been rejected by the media and society. However, user expectations had not be attended by the Government policies, and therefore based on the current model and given the favorable environment for the implementation of new changes; this research highlights some possibilities to be considered in a new public transport concession model.

تصویب پیوست فناوری یکی از مهمترین کارهای صورت گرفته در ستاد اقتصاد مقاومتی در سال¬های اخیر بوده است که آیین‌نامه اجرایی آن نیز در دست توسعه می‌باشد. پیوست فناوری تاکنون عمدتاً مبتنی بر ادبیات سیاست‌های ساخت داخل  مورد بررسی و تحلیل قرار گرفته است که جهت‌گیری‌هایش بیشتر مرتبط با حوزه‌های تجارت و اقتصاد است تا فناوری و نوآوری. مدل جدیداً توسعه یافته برای ارزیابی توانمندی تامین¬کنندگان در پروژه ساخت داخل ده گروه کالای راهبردی صنعت نفت از مزایای قابل¬توجهی برخوردار است که شایسته بررسی و تحلیل بیشتر و کاربرد آن در حوزه¬های دیگر می¬باشد. از جمله مزایای مترتب بر این مدل لحاظ نمودن توامان هر سه بعد توانمندی¬های فناورانه، ساخت و سازمانی (عمومی) مناقصه¬گران می¬باشد که هر کدام در هر دو بُعد بالقوه (تعهد آتی) و بالفعل (سابقه) بررسی شده و با یکدیگر ترکیب می¬شوند. امکان ارزیابی این ابعاد برای تمامی اجزا و فناوری¬های محصولات پیچیده براساس مدل¬های شناخته شده MRL و TRL و پیونددهی ارگانیک آن با نظام بازپرداخت از دیگر مزایای آن می¬باشند.
کلیدواژه‌ها: پیوست فناوری، ده گروه کالای راهبردی، ساخت داخل، انتقال فناوری، محصولات فناورانه، تدارکات دولتی، ارزیابی توانمندی فناورانه بنگاه.

Neoliberal politikaların Dünya’da etkinlik kazanmasıyla birlikte devletlerin kamu hizmetlerini gerçekleştirme anlayışları da değişime uğramıştır. Devletler üretici konumundan çekilerek kamu hizmetini piyasa şartlarında üretim yapan kurum ve kuruluşlardan alır konuma gelmişlerdir. Böyle bir değişim ise yeni kamu harcamalarının içerisinde kamu alımlarını oldukça önemli ve rekabete açık, piyasa da belirleyici olan bir görünüme sokmuştur. Özünde mal ve hizmet alımı ile yapım işlerini barındıran kamu alımları, kamu hizmetinin özel bir görünümü olması ve kamu hizmetine girme hakkının da Anayasanın “Hizmete girme” yan başlıklı 70.maddesi hükmü, “Temel hak ve hürriyetlerin niteliği” yan başlıklı 12.maddesi ile “Temel hak ve hürriyetlerin sınırlanması” yan başlıklı 13.maddelerinde güvence altına alınarak korunması nedeniyle rekabet eşitliğinin güvence altına alınması ve temel hak ve özgürlüklerin korunması açısından çeşitli hak arama yollarını bünyesinde barındırmak-tadır. Bu yollardan birisi olan, idari ve yargı yollarının tüketimi üzerine güncel bir hakkın ihlali ile 1982 Anayasası, İHAS ve Türkiye’nin taraf olduğu ek protokollerin hepsinde birlikte bulunan temel hak ve özgürlük kaybı için başvurulan, bireysel başvuru yolu; kamu alımları açısından birçok defa başvuruya konu olmasına karşılık sadece makul sürede yargılama hakkına ilişkin ihlal kararı verildiği diğer başvuruların ise tamamına yakınının başvuru şartlarına uyulmadığı için reddedildiği, birisinin ise ihlal olmadığı gerekçesiyle reddedildiği görülmektedir. Öncelikle başvuru sayısının azlığı nedeniyle kamu alımlarındaki sürecin tabiatı gereği yükleniciler ya da isteklilerin uyuşmazlıklarda sulh yolu olan idari yolları genellikle tercih ettikleri, idare ile karşı karşıya gelmemek için yargısal yollar ve dolayısıyla bireysel başvuru yolunun nadiren tercih edildiğini söyleyebiliriz. Genel olarak ise, başvuruya hangi haklarla ilgili başvurulması gerektiği, olağan kanun yollarının tüketilmesi gerekliliği gibi temel ihlallerin varlığı nedeniyle kamu alımlarında bireysel başvuru yoluna ilişkin şartlara ilişkin yeterince bilinçli olunmadığı ve dolayısıyla bu yolun etkin olarak kullanılamadığı sonucuna varılacaktır.

In the global construction context, the best value or most economically advantageous tender is becoming a widespread approach for contractor selection, as an alternative to other traditional awarding criteria such as the lowest price. In these multi-attribute tenders, the owner or auctioneer solicits proposals containing both a price bid and additional technical features. Once the proposals are received, each bidder’s price bid is given an economic score according to a scoring rule, generally called an economic scoring formula (ESF) and a technical score according to pre-specified criteria. Eventually, the contract is awarded to the bidder with the highest weighted overall score (economic + technical). However, economic scoring formula selection by auctioneers is invariably and paradoxically a highly intuitive process in practice, involving few theoretical or empirical considerations, despite having been considered traditionally and mistakenly as objective, due to its mathematical nature. This paper provides a taxonomic classification of a wide variety of ESFs and abnormally low bids criteria (ALBC) gathered in several countries with different tendering approaches. Practical implications concern the optimal design of price scoring rules in construction contract tenders, as well as future analyses of the effects of the ESF and ALBC on competitive bidding behaviour.

There is a growing body of theoretical and empirical evidence to support the promotion of awarding mechanisms with formal and informal devices, aimed at economic efficiency and effectiveness through the life of the contract, i.e., ex ante and ex post coordination. Building on growing arguments to support negotiations instead of auctions, Bajari et al. [Bajari, P., McMillan, R., Tadelis, S., 2002. Auctions versus Negotiations in Procurement: An Empirical Analysis, Department of Economics, Stanford University, October] suggest that auctions perform poorly when projects are complex and contractual design is incomplete. Areawide contracts in bus and rail appear to fit this circumstance, in contrast to somewhat simple and relatively unambiguous bus route contracts. This literature argues theoretically and empirically that auctions (i.e., competitive tendering) can stifle communication between buyers (i.e., the regulator) and sellers (i.e., the service provider), preventing the buyer from utilising the contractor's expertise when designing the project. A growing number of authors promote the case for greater emphasis on establishing a credible regulatory scheme able to govern the procurement of public services ex post, and that focusing on introducing market mechanisms via competitive tendering per se does not guarantee better value for money. Implicit in the arguments is the need to develop trusting partnerships and (incomplete) commercial contracts with unambiguous incentive and penalty structures throughout the life of a contract, with market mechanisms such as competitive tendering always present as a way forward when operators fail to comply under reasonable notice. This paper develops these themes as a way of gaining a better understanding of negotiated performance-based contracts.

Overuse disorders of tendons, or tendinopathies, present a challenge to sports physicians, surgeons, and other health care professionals dealing with athletes. The Achilles, patellar, and supraspinatus tendons are particularly vulnerable to injury and often difficult to manage successfully. Inflammation was believed central to the pathologic process, but histopathologic evidence has confirmed the failed healing response nature of these conditions. Excessive or inappropriate loading of the musculotendinous unit is believed to be central to the disease process, although the exact mechanism by which this occurs remains uncertain. Additionally, the location of the lesion (for example, the midtendon or osteotendinous junction) has become increasingly recognized as influencing both the pathologic process and subsequent management. The mechanical, vascular, neural, and other theories that seek to explain the pathologic process are explored in this article. Recent developments in the no operative management of chronic tendon disorders are reviewed, as is the rationale for surgical intervention. Recent surgical advances, including minimally invasive tendon surgery, are reviewed. Potential future management strategies, such as stem cell therapy, growth factor treatment, and gene transfer, are also discussed.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between tender figures, consultants' figures and final construction costs of construction projects under competitive bidding in the Nigerian construction industry, as guided by the Due Process policy, a national public procurement reform programme.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the economic and legal rationale for the use of the competitive dialogue in complex procurement. The authors use the data set of public contracts awarded by European Union (EU) member states between 2010 and 2017 to analyse its usage patterns. In particular, the authors identify the types of contracting authorities that mainly use the procedure, the sectors and contract characteristics and the role of institutional factors related to the country’s perceived corruption and level of innovativeness.

Non-competitive bids have recently become a major concern in both Public and Private sector construction contract auctions. Consequently, several models have been developed to help identify bidders potentially involved in collusive practices. However, most of these models require complex calculations and extensive information that is difficult to obtain.
The aim of this paper is to utilize recent developments for detecting abnormal bids in capped auctions (auctions with an upper bid limit set by the auctioner) and extend them to the more conventional uncapped auctions (where no such limits are set). To accomplish this, a new method is developed for estimating the values of bid distribution supports by using the solution to what has become known as the German tank problem. The model is then demonstrated and tested on a sample of real construction bid data and shown to detect cover bids with high accuracy.
This work contributes to an improved understanding of abnormal bid behavior as an aid to detecting and monitoring potential collusive bid practices.

This paper examines the effects of different factors on the success or failure of bids for infrastructure projects in Australia. Logistic regression analysis was used to empirically determine which factors have the largest effect on bidding success. Data was collected from 123 bids submitted by several infrastructure companies with subsidiaries in Australia. The analysis found that having a competitive advantage and a local partner, and also not competing against a local company were the most important factors; as they significantly increase the chances of success. However, four  other factors, having relevant expertise, resource availability, a previous relationship with the client, and a previous relationship with consortium members, are ‘essential’ to be able to compete; as the absence of any of these four factors results in bid failure, although having them is not a guarantee of success. Results of this paper provide valuable information for any company considering the opportunity of entering into Australia’s infrastructure market as well as for companies that are already present in that country and are considering whether to bid for a specific project.

The statistical distribution representing bid values constitutes an essential part of many auction models and has involved a wide range of assumptions, including the Uniform, Normal, Lognormal and Weibull densities. From a modelling point of view, its goodness is defined by how well it enables the probability of a particular bid value to be estimated – a past bid for ex-post analysis and a future bid for ex-ante (forecasting) analysis. However, there is no agreement to date of what is the most appropriate form and empirical work is sparse.
Twelve extant construction datasets from four continents over different time periods are analysed in this paper for their fit to a variety of candidate statistical distributions assuming homogeneity of bidders (ID not known). The results show there is no one single fit-all distribution, but that the 3p Log-Normal, Fréchet/2p Log-Normal, Normal, Gamma and Gumbel generally rank the best ex-post, and the 2p Log-Normal, Normal, Gamma and Gumbel the best ex-ante – with ex-ante having around three to four times worse fit than ex-post. Final comments focus on the results relating to the third and fourth standardised moments of the bids and a post-hoc rationalisation of the empirical outcome of the analysis.

The Procurement Modernization (PM) project of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) was designed to transform the operation of the public procurement system in Indonesia by reducing existing resource inefficiency. The PM project’s objective was to strengthen the implementation of the procurement function within the Government of Indonesia. It aimed to build capacity and facilitate the institutionalization of Procurement Service Units (PSUs) so that they would be resourced with systems, structures, and skilled procurement professionals. It encouraged more systematic assessments of tenders to procure required goods and services with cost efficiency, higher quality, and reduced procurement and delivery time. MCC expected that the cost savings resulting from the project, if applied to other investments, would enhance economic growth.

The National Public Procurement Agency or Lembaga Kebijakan Pengadaan Barang/Jasa Pemerintah (LKPP), along with several other organizations, implemented the PM project from 2013 to 2018 through the Millennium Challenge Account-Indonesia (MCA-I). It had two main activities: (1) the Procurement Professionalization Activity and (2) the Policy and Procedure Activity. The first comprised human resource development activities (e.g., procurement skills training), institutional strengthening support (e.g., training and mentoring on organizational skills and performance measurement, establishing PSUs as centers of excellence), support for framework contracting, and strengthening the Procurement Management Information System (PMIS). The second comprised guidance for public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the development of a policy framework for sustainable procurement. The projected supported a total of 44 PSUs; Phase 1 (2013-2018) engaged 29 pilot PSUs, and Phase 2 (2016-2018) engaged 15 pilot PSUs. Abt evaluated the project using mixed methods. The qualitative approach used the 5-S framework (modified from McKinsey’s 7-S framework) to analyze organizational change within PSUs related to shared values (perception about corruption), structure (permanency of PSUs), systems (procurement processes adopted), skills (staff procurement skills), and staffing (staff preference for careers in procurement). To evaluate changes along the 5-Ss and several key procurement outcomes, the evaluation used a quasi-experimental weighted difference-in-difference design that compared outcomes for Phase 2 treatment PSUs with outcomes for comparison PSUs—or those that were shortlisted in Phase 2 but not selected to receive the program’s core services after weighting to look similar to the treatment PSUs. Through efforts that had nationwide reach and through PSUs that became centers of excellence (CoEs), it is possible that the comparison PSUs received some treatment at the same time, but less intensively. Data for the evaluation come from structured surveys with PSU and OPD staff at the baseline (2016) and endline (2019), semi-structured interviews with PSU staff at endline (2019), and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders after the project ended (November 2018-January 2019). The quantitative analysis also used PMIS time series data on two tender-level final outcomes: time and cost efficiency.

Findings. The impact evaluation found evidence of positive impact of PM project’s intensive activities in only a few areas. The project improved staff skills (as measured by their quiz scores on procurement processes), but absolute quiz scores remained quite low. Also, more PSUs achieved permanency as a result of the PM project. The impact evaluation found that the relative odds that a PSU was permanent increased almost nineteen-fold because of the project. However, we did not find clear evidence that the project’s intensive activities increased the adoption of improved procurement processes, maturity model, e-catalogs, PMIS, or framework contracting in treatment versus comparison PSUs. Adoption of policies and procedures and PMIS increased over time, even in comparison PSUs. Some of these efforts were simultaneously promoted by nationwide policies, which can explain improved performance in the comparison PSUs. Conceivably, CoEs could have also helped improve the outcomes in comparison PSUs, but our data suggest that the majority of comparison PSUs did not receive CoE input. Overall, despite the small gains in staff skills and greater permanency of PSUs, we did not find evidence that the PM project’s intensive activities improved the quality, cost, or time efficiency of procurement. We did not find evidence that these outcomes improved in the comparison group.

In a paper to the Thredbo9 Conference, Stanley, Lucas and Betts outlined a framework for the creation and sustenance of a trusting partnership at the tactical level for public transport services. Since that time, the Victorian (Australia) bus industry has been in negotiation with the Victorian State Government about the future development of the State's route bus services and about implementation of supportive service contracts. This paper outlines the system development directions that are being implemented and the way that a broad-based constituency has been built to support those directions. It then illustrates the extension of the tactical trusting partnership approach between purchaser and provider to the level of the individual operator contract, showing how this should create a flexible yet disciplined environment to manage and cope with change and growth. The broad nature of the new contracts is summarised and, building on the findings from Workshop B at Thredbo 9, processes that are being implemented to manage the ongoing relationship between purchaser and providers are outlined. Finally, the paper argues for extending KPIs beyond the operator to encompass the authority/regulator and the partnership of authority/operator, to extend performance pressures beyond the operator and recognise the interdependence of partners in a true partnership.

Achieving project completion within the estimated cost is fundamental criteria for success of any project. Hence cost management and control is very important consideration for ensuring cost performance. Various cost management techniques can be applied throughout the project life cycle to avoid poor cost performance and overrun of cost. This study focused assessing project cost performance and level of effectiveness of various cost management techniques implemented in large construction project in south Malaysia. Data collection was carried out through structured questionnaire survey which resulted in collecting 97 data samples. It was found that most of projects face cost overrun problem with an average overrun in the range of 5% to 10% of the total project cost. Most effective approaches of cost management adopted in construction projects were cash flow forecasting, tender budgeting/estimating and elemental cost plan. Value management and cost code system were rated as less effective technique. One of possible reason for low level of value management application in Malaysian construction industry may be unawareness of the benefits of value management. Realizing the advantages of value management, it should be considered to implement this method to achieve better cost performance.

While academic researchers have proposed various theories for managing risk and uncertainty in construction projects, most of the propositions are conceptual in nature and based on analytical modelling approaches rarely used in practice. This research was triggered by an observation in which a R1.5billion (~$100 million) fast track New Universities Project was successfully delivered within budget despite up to 74% of the project scope not being capable of being priced by the contractor at the start of construction. The aim of this paper was to examine the client's delivery management approach used to successfully manage the uncertainty and deliver within budget. The evidence from document analyses and interviews with the client delivery management team members shows that setting a rigorous control budget, designing to the budget, working collaboratively, disciplined management of the control budget, and continuous value engineering were the key client management techniques used to successfully manage the high degree of uncertainty and deliver the project within budget. Given that these are client-led delivery management issues, the findings fill an important gap in our knowledge and understanding of how infrastructure projects outcomes can be significantly improved upon should the client function as the leader of the delivery process.