Procurement & Management of Construction for MSc CPM and QS

This document discusses the procurement and management of construction for MSc CPM and QS. It covers topics such as procurement methods for early contractor involvement, suitable procurement methods for building a new school for children with disabilities, and procurement methods that facilitate productivity, lean construction, building information modeling (BIM), and innovation. The document provides insights and recommendations for each topic.

Procurement & Management of
Construction for MSc CPM and QS

Table of Contents
Question 1: Procurement route/s to facilitate early contractor involvement with advantages in
different phases of construction project...........................................................................................1
Question 2: A suitable procurement method for building a New School for children with
disabilities........................................................................................................................................2
Question 3: A suitable procurement method with characteristics of facilitating procurement
routes for following –.......................................................................................................................4
a) Productivity.............................................................................................................................4
b) Lean Construction...................................................................................................................4
c) Building Information Modelling (BIM)..................................................................................5
d) Innovation................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

Question 1: Procurement route/s to facilitate early contractor involvement
with advantages in different phases of construction project
It is widely accepted in construction, that involvement of contractor in designing and
development of entire process in the front end, influence the project outcome in a positive way.
They provide design team for developing a concept design of way to construct project as process,
during tendering process (Sarhan and et. al., 2018). Early contractor involvement (ECI) offers
improvement in terms of increase value for money as well as meet delivery time of time. By
applying this approach, an owner gets better control over its project cost as prices of bidding
generally, make clear earlier in process. Along with this, client ensure more about how
environmental and social measures are implemented within planning process. This will prove
beneficial not only for owner but also for associated stakeholders of construction business, in
terms of better designing and development of whole process. For this purpose, mediated
procurement route helps in facilitating the ECI more easily, whereby additional actors will be
introduced instead of those who are responsible for designing and other tendering process, for
providing integration of fragmented coalition in project (Shalwani, Lines and Smithwick, 2019).
Hereby, notable feature of this route is separation of responsibilities for managing overall
process.
Early contractor involvement through mediated procurement method seems to be most
efficient and beneficial when integrate in early phases of project, because contractors are
relatively more experienced than designer and client about construction methods, local practices,
materials and buildability. Such benefits can be measured during different stages of the process
(Love, Teo and Morrison, 2018). In first stage, through mediator route, engagement of
contractors can be developed within preparation of preliminary design with Principal, which
often looks at ‘buildability’ aspects of project. It also includes know-how concept that associated
with actual construction and overall cost alongside with design process (Owusu, Chan and
Ameyaw, 2019). Similarly, on second stage which involves procedure of design and construct
model, however, collaboration among Contractor and Principal can be gained for continuing the
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work together throughout the project. Furthermore, another main advantage of mediated
procurement routes for facilitating ECI is its ability for addressing the adversarial relationship
between contractors and principle to cope with uncertainty or conflicting objectives happen in a
large construction project (Salem, Salman and Ghorai, 2018). This would also help in reducing
the contract variations and conflict, by giving opportunity to contractors for developing and
refining the design and scope of contract. It is particularly favoured by those clients whose main
concern is related with project programme and willing to more pay for a shorter elapsed time.
Mediated routes allow owner and associated stakeholders to change their objectives during the
project, in response with changing market conditions and uncertainty in nature of project for
services provided by built facility (Tiwari, Wei and Mubarak, 2019). Along with this,
maximising the availability of right resource, expertise of resources, elimination of competitive
tension and management of overall ECI process are other main benefits that could be gained
during different-different stages of project, by using mediated procurement route.
Question 2: A suitable procurement method for building a New School for
children with disabilities
Determining the optimal or suitable procurement method is considered as most challenging
task, especially for constructing a public property like schools. Considering the availability of
various methods where criteria must be met, which includes intentions of client behind
development, requirement of project, quality expectations, time-frame to complete project,
budget including building & running costs, etc. (Sackey and Kim, 2018). Determining all these
aspects before planning the project, will help in implementing better procurement methods for
project execution. Therefore, in context with present requirements i.e. constructing a new school
building for children with dementia, to select the best suitable procurement method, some factors
will be concerned first. It includes time constraints, expected budget, quality, risks and financing.
Since, this school is built for children with disabilities, therefore, the major considerations need
to be given on designing special facilities for such child, in terms of their mobility limitations.
Such facilities include- Slope should be only 1 foot over 20 foot for younger children and 12 foot
run for adult ones (Montalbán-Domingo and et. al., 2018). Similarly, for a 2-way traffic, curbed
aisles should be divided by hand rails as a safety factor for children, in case of loss of control.
Handrail facility at a suitable height for different-age groups, ramp surfaces must be made up of
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non-slippery materials like broom finished concrete, level areas at top and foot of ramp, etc.
should be provided within school building.
As a number of procurement methods are available which can be categorised as
traditional and alternative ones, where traditional method includes Lump-sum contracts, re-
measurable contracts, cost reimbursement; and alternative methods include management
contracting and Design & Build techniques (Tang, Ng and Skitmore, M., 2019). So, considering
the demand of constructing special facilities in new school for children with disabilities, design
and build procurement method will be used. Because hereby, client wants to get a clear idea of
costs and entire design process with some flexibility. So, under this system, contractor will be
responsible for designing entire process of building and executing the same.
Key Feature of design and built contract procurement route –
 Design – One of the best feature that justified the use of design and built method for
given project, is designing the entire project as per requirements of client (Gurmu, 2019).
 Plan – Contractors get whole responsibility to fulfil client’s expectation regarding with
time and cost flexibility, so this would aid in planning the project in more efficient way.
 Organise – Materials and entire resource could be organised for completing the project
in given constraints.
 Control – Expected quality of new school building project can be controlled using the
given procurement method i.e. design and build
 Execute – Given project will be executed and handover to client as per agreed time plan
and budget more easily.
Budget required for constructing the New School for children with disabilities using design
and built procurement method in following way –
Particulars Amount
Material £12000
Wages to labour £14000
Salaries to managers £18000
Compensation to
engineers
£25000
Machinery £50000
Special facilities £10000
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Research and
development
£5000
Other overheads £16000
Total £150000
Question 3: A suitable procurement method with characteristics of facilitating
procurement routes for following –
a) Productivity
Hiring good management is considered as the main key for increasing productivity on
construction site, where professionals do a great deal. But for large and complex projects, it
creates a number of difficulties in terms of risk and transfer responsibilities of management to
many contractors and associated professionals (Owusu, Chan and Ameyaw, 2019). This might
impact on entire productivity and progress of construction project. Therefore, applying
management contracting procurement method could prove beneficial, for reducing such risks
where only few contractors will be appointed at the initial stage of project related to design the
whole project, with intention to get their involvement at early process of designing. Through this
procurement method, client can make communication with contractor to get information about
entire plan and manage progress of project. Along with this, for developing and increasing
productivity of project, contractors can reimburse cost as per agreement (Tang, Ng and Skitmore,
M., 2019). Appoint sub-contractors at pre-contract stage, will aid contractor management in
getting their participation for seeking better ideas for possible development, reviewing feasibility
of project strategies and get support for further approvals. Similarly, at the post-contract stage,
appointing sub-contractors will help in arrangement of entire accommodations, with welfare
facilities at site (Gurmu, 2019). Thus, involving sub-contractors at both pre-contract and post-
contract stages, help in minimising risk of failure with maintenance of progress, that increase
project productivity.
b) Lean Construction
Lean Construction includes a combination of operational research, practical development
of design and construction etc. with application of lean manufacturing principles. This type of
construction is mainly concerned with alignment and holistic pursuit of continuous and
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concurrent improvements in entire process, like designing, activation and more, with aim to
construct with minimum cost and maximising value of client’s needs (Montalbán-Domingo and
et. al., 2018). Therefore, for this purpose, management contracting procurement method will be
used as best suitable system. Under this method, contractors can reimburse whatever cost as per
agreement basis, which include entire pre-contract and post contract activities related to lean
manufacturing process. It consists involving participation of associated stakeholders for resource
allocation, project design and possible developments, supervising construction process to
maintain site progress; facilitating the early contractor involvement to minimise overall costs to
reduce project risks and more (Sackey and Kim, 2018). Other characteristics of management
contracting that will help in facilitating the lean construction is developing communication with
all suppliers, sub-contractors and entire stakeholders for maintaining the progress of the project,
so that better outcomes could be achieved. Similarly, involvement of contractors in initial stages
of project also to ensure design and cost flexibility with minimum wastages, that further reduce
risks regarding with failure in any activity during project.
c) Building Information Modelling (BIM)
BIM defines as an intelligent 3D model-based process which gives contractors,
architecture, engineers and other professions to gain insight of construction project, so that
planning, designing, constructing and other activities could be developed efficiently (Tiwari, Wei
and Mubarak, 2019). Through BIM, all associated stakeholders can work more collaborative
with successful ways of working. It helps in optimising the better decisions regarding with
designing and improving all lifecycle process of construction project. To facilitate this model in
project, design and build procurement method will be used, where contractor will be appointed
for setting entire plan including building design, infrastructure design, exploring the project
constructability and more. This method will also help in managing project cost efficiently
implementing the BIM model, especially for refurbishment and renovation projects (Salem,
Salman and Ghorai, 2018). Design and build contract is generally appropriate under such
projects where client/owner wants to start work early as possible. Since, in such process, work
could be started immediately when most required drawings are finalised, therefore, design and
built procurement method contractor aid in providing maximum expertise at the design stage by
facilitating the BIM model, which would help in execution of entire process.
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d) Innovation
To bring innovation in construction and facilitating better facilities for meeting
environmental and social concerns, cost reimbursement route is considered as the best
procurement methods (Love, Teo and Morrison, 2018). Unlike other contracts like lump-sum,
management contracting and more, this one helps in valuing the project in terms of drawing &
specs, where final project value is agreed upon type of innovations used for constructing eco-
friendly buildings (Shalwani, Lines and Smithwick, 2019). This would aid in creating highest
reimbursement amount as well. Along with this, showing proper evidences about cost incurred in
developing innovation in construction can also be shown by using cost reimbursement contracts.
This would reduce conflicts that might arise in client’s thought about intentionally increasing of
costs etc. for maximising profit. The best advantage part of such procurement method includes
minimal risks for contractor, easy approval process for procuring materials and resources to
develop innovation, fixed final costs, immediately start of work and final quality of project will
meet client’s expectation efficiently (Sarhan and et. al., 2018). But they must prove their
expenditures, where justification for indirect cost for creation of innovation in construction
project could be hard. Along with this, there is a risk for delay in time which may increase
preliminary cost as well. Therefore, for facilitating innovation, contractors must be concerned on
these limitations as well before applying the cost reimbursement route.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Gurmu, A. T., 2019. Tools for measuring construction materials management practices and
predicting labor productivity in multistory building projects. Journal of Construction
Engineering and Management, 145(2), p.04018139.
Love, P. E., Teo, P. and Morrison, J., 2018. Revisiting quality failure costs in
construction. Journal of construction engineering and management, 144(2), p.05017020.
Montalbán-Domingo, L., García-Segura, T., Sanz, M.A. and Pellicer, E., 2018. Social
sustainability criteria in public-work procurement: An international perspective. Journal
of Cleaner Production, 198, pp.1355-1371.
Owusu, E. K., Chan, A. P. and Ameyaw, E., 2019. Toward a cleaner project procurement:
Evaluation of construction projects’ vulnerability to corruption in developing
countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 216, pp.394-407.
Sackey, S. and Kim, B. S., 2018. Development of an Expert System Tool for the Selection of
Procurement System in Large-Scale Construction Projects (ESCONPROCS). KSCE
Journal of Civil Engineering, 22(11), pp.4205-4214.
Salem, O., Salman, B. and Ghorai, S., 2018. Accelerating construction of roadway bridges using
alternative techniques and procurement methods. Transport, 33(2), pp.567-579.
Sarhan, S., Pasquire, C., King, A. and Manu, E., 2018. Institutional waste within the UK
construction procurement context: A conceptual framework. Engineering Project
Organization Journal, 8, pp.36-64.
Shalwani, A., Lines, B. C. and Smithwick, J. B., 2019. Differentiation of evaluation criteria in
design-build and construction manager at risk procurements. Journal of Management in
Engineering, 35(5), p.04019017.
Tang, Z. W., Ng, S. T. and Skitmore, M., 2019. Influence of procurement systems to the success
of sustainable buildings. Journal of Cleaner Production, 218, pp.1007-1030.
Tiwari, S., Wei, C. S. and Mubarak, M. F., 2019. Sustainable procurement: a critical analysis of
the research trend in supply chain management journals. International Journal of
Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, 10(3), pp.266-282.
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