EVALUATION OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT CONTRACTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

FOUAD MANSOOR AL-SINAN, Purdue University

Abstract

Developing countries face many formidable obstacles in their development process. Local inflation, material scarcity, slowly developing native technical and managerial talents, heavy international debts, and world wide inflation are dramatically affecting the development programs of developing countries. These problems demand the utilization of the most effective management and technical methods at their disposal in order to achieve their development goal. There are three main project delivery systems that owners from developing countries can use in executing their construction programs. The traditional Engineer, Procure and Construct system (EPC); the Design-build (Turnkey) system, and the Construction Management (CM) system are the main three project delivery systems discussed in this research. The thesis concentrates on analyzing the construction management system, since the traditional and the Turnkey systems are very well known and have been extensively used in developing countries. The process of selecting the appropriate project delivery system that responds to the project's nature and the owner's requirements is a very important step that may significantly affect the success or failure of the project. A Project Delivery Selection Model (PDSM), and a Project Delivery Decision Model (PDDM) were developed to evaluate the owner's requirements, the developing country's characteristics, and the project's nature. These models are very easy to use, a requirement for owner's from developing countries, yet they provide meaningful results that the owner can use in making his selection of the most suitable project delivery system. A survey questionnaire mailed to companies that provide construction management services in developing countries was utilized in identifying the parameters and attributes of construction management and developing countries used in the two models. The construction management system has had mixed results in the United States, but both its opponents and proponents agree that the system has a lot to offer once it is used on the appropriate project and in the right circumstances. These appropriate projects and circumstances are even more important for developing countries, where additional problems may also be present. These problems may be caused by the nature of the construction management system, or by the technical and managerial deficiencies of developing countries. The author examined these problems and recommended the appropriate modifications.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Civil engineering

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