Berlin Brandenburg Assignment Report

Running head: BERLIN BRANDENBURG
Berlin Brandenburg Airport Project
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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BERLIN BRANDENBURG
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
1. Issues with Berlin Brandenburg airport Project...............................................................2
2. The Procurement Process................................................................................................3
2.1. Challenges associated with Public Sector Procurement...........................................3
2.2. Understanding of the Business Needs in the Procurement Process..........................5
2.3. Specifications and Contracts.....................................................................................6
2.4. Sourcing and Selection Process................................................................................7
2.5. Supply Negotiation and Commercial Terms and Risk Management.......................7
3. Recommendations for Better management of Future Large Projects..............................9
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................10
References..........................................................................................................................11

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BERLIN BRANDENBURG
Introduction
The Berlin Brandenburg case is a classic case of engineering catastrophe. This global
infrastructure project is one of the most surprising cases of project failure. The project was
implemented with an aim of being the busiest airport in Germany and was projected to carry
around 45 million passengers annually (Fiedler and Wendler 2016). However, the project could
not be implemented successfully mainly because the project was subjected to several major
changes including the change in project scope. The aim of this report is to discuss the process in
which the procurement of this airport project was managed. The appropriateness of the input of
the stakeholders, policies and governance, surrounding the procurement process are discussed in
the following paragraphs. The report will further evaluate the process in which the key
challenges associated with the public sector procurement were managed the project. The
sustainability of the ongoing management of contracts and the suppliers throughout the
construction process of the project are indicated in the following paragraphs.
1. Issues with Berlin Brandenburg airport Project
The Berlin Brandenburg project failed mainly because of the ineffective project
management process. There were issues with the planning and the execution process of the
project. The feasibility and preplanning phase took almost 15 years. Even after such a long pre-
planning phase, the project was severely delayed and went 50 percent over budget (Kostka and
Anzinger 2016). Several factors contributed to the failure of this project. There were issues with
scope management, schedule management, cost management, human resource management and
procurement management that cumulatively contributed to the failure of this major project
(Geraldi and Stingl 2016). The issues were persistent and prominent mostly because the project

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BERLIN BRANDENBURG
faced issues of managing the key stakeholders (Fabricius and Büttgen 2015). Along with that, it
is reported that one of the significant reasons of project delay was insufficient quality test and as
a result the expectations of the stakeholders were not met even after the final project delivery.
2. The Procurement Process
The procurement process in project management generally refers to the technique of
creation of relationships with the outside vendors and the suppliers for the essential goods and
services that are required to complete a project. A general procurement process in a project
mainly consists of five major steps, which include initiating, planning, selecting, contract
writing, monitoring and closing (Mahidin 2014). There were certain major issues linked with the
procurement process followed in Berlin Brandenburg project. The issues that were faced were
mostly because of several instances of change in the scope of the project. A public procurement
process was followed in this project and all phases of the procurement were executed. However,
there were certain issues associated with the public procurement process followed in Berlin
Brandenburg project (Elbaz and Spang 2018). The key challenges faced with the procurement,
the details of the contract, the sourcing and selection process and the risk management process
are indicates in the sections following.
2.1. Challenges associated with Public Sector Procurement
A public tendering process was followed for the procurement process of the project and
for the construction works. The project procurement method phases associated with the Berlin
Brandenburg project are indicated in the following figure-