Competitive Bidding in Construction Contracting

2019-313/Z5Competitive bidding and accurate cost estimation allow state departments of transportation (DOTs) to make effective use of budgeted funds to deliver construction projects. However, the different bidding procedures and practices in use affect the market competition in competitive bidding. For many state DOTs, including Michigan DOT (MDOT), obtaining precise estimations, especially for traffic control and maintenance items, is a challenging task. In addition, state DOTs need effective metrics and methods for reviewing unbalanced bids and for advanced bidding tendency monitoring. To fill these gaps, the research presented in this report aims to improve the competitiveness of construction bidding in Michigan and to develop new methods and tools for post-bid analysis and cost estimation, especially for traffic control items. The research objectives are pursued through (1) a literature review and nationwide survey on construction bidding and estimating, (2) competitive analysis of construction bidding in Michigan and in peer states, (3) bidding experiments of various strategies for pre-bid information releases, and (4) data analytics and tool development for bidding tendency monitoring, unbalanced bid detection, and competition evaluation. Leveraging the results of a national survey, literature review, industrial reports, data analytics, and bidding experiments, we synthesize recommendations for MDOT to improve the competitiveness and estimation accuracy of construction bids in Michigan. The recommendations include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) Engineer\u2019s Estimate (EE), awarded average unit prices, and the list of eligible bidders should not be released together to prospective bidders prior to bidding; (2) the developed tool can be used to assist MDOT in systematically performing post-bid analysis and evaluations, such as unbalanced bid detection, bidding tendency monitoring, and competition assessment; and (3) bid-based estimation canbe used in cost estimation, although it needs to be improved in certain respects

Assessing the Factors that Cause Poor Quality of Design and Contract Documentation and the Influence on Project Implementation in Ghana

Design and contract documentation processes which occur throughout the life cycle of the contract, is often mentioned an area that engenders contractual disputes in Ghana.  This paper investigated the factors causing poor quality of design and contract documentation (DCD) and how this impact on successful project implementation in Ghana. It used questionnaire approach as the main method to obtain data which was analyzed using Relative Importance Index (RII) and Kendall’s concordance testing. Out of forty factors noted to contribute to DCD deficiencies, six were identified as critical: selection of designers on the basis of lowest price, unwillingness to pay fees commensurate with design services, last minute changes by clients, insufficient design reviews, inadequate clients’ briefs, slow payment systems and insufficient or missing input information from the client. To minimize or prevent DCD deficiencies in Ghana’s construction industry, the research recommends that briefs are adequate, clear and precise; consultancy fees are commensurate to the required service quality; consultants to ensure adequate review of design and contract documentation with all stakeholders and clients to select consultants based on merits. The measures suggested by the paper are believed to contribute to good quality contract documentation which can consequently improve project implementation in Ghana. Keywords: Contract documentation, Construction projects performance, Quality documentation, Deficient Design. DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-7-08 Publication date:July 31st 2020

Sustainable Construction

Construction is one of the main sectors that generates greenhouse gases. This industry consumes large amounts of raw materials, such as stone, timber, water, etc. Additionally, infrastructure should provide service over many years without safety problems. Therefore, their correct design, construction, maintenance, and dismantling are essential to reducing economic, environmental, and societal consequences. That is why promoting sustainable construction has recently become extremely important. To help address and resolve these types of questions, this book explores new ways of reducing the environmental impacts caused by the construction sector, as well promotes social progress and economic growth. The chapters collect the papers included in the “Sustainable Construction” Special Issue of the Sustainability journal. The papers cover a wide spectrum of issues related to the use of sustainable materials in construction, the optimization of designs based con sustainable indicators, the life-cycle assessment, the decision-making processes that integrate economic, social, and environmental aspects, and the promotion of durable materials that reduce future maintenance

Application of Fuzzy Logic on Understanding of Risks in Supply Chain and Supplier Selection

The aim of this research is firstly to determine the key risk factors of Supply Chain Management (SCM) and developing an efficient model to assess them. In this work, first the risks involved in SCM has been identified and arranged in a systematic hierarchical structure. Questionnaire surveys have been used for data collection from a managerial decision-making group of a case industry. Next, based on the obtained linguistic data, a fuzzy logic based assessment module has been designed for the evaluation of aggregated SC risks. Finally, various risk factors have been categorized; then ranked using ‘fuzzy maximizing and minimizing fuzzy set theory’ in order to identify/assess the major risk factors that need to be managed or controlled. The present trend in the market is no longer the competition among the enterprises but the supply chain. Supplier selection is the most critical decision of the whole procuring department. Selection of supplier is a complicated decision involving many criteria to take into consideration. In later part, this study tries to rank the suppliers centred on different risks and draw a compromise solution. In order to achieve this, understanding risks is of utmost important. In this work, risks associated with the supplier selection have been recognized and analyzed to rank candidate suppliers based on their affinity to risk using fuzzy based VIKOR method. These risks have varied probability of occurrence and impact on the supply chain. Risks have been represented by linguistic variables and then parameterized by Triangular Fuzzy Number (TFN). Fuzzy risk extent has been calculated and thereby Fuzzy Best Value (FBV) and Fuzzy Worst Value (FWV) have been determined. Fuzzy Utility value has been calculated and utilizing this, ranking has been made by closeness to FBV and farness to FWV. Best alternative has been preferred by maximizing utility group and minimizing regret group

A Review of Construction Program Delivery Attributes: Bibliometric Analysis of Two Decades

In scholarly construction management, “program” denotes terminologies like “mega-project” and “infrastructure project”. Within this framework, the Construction Program Delivery (CPD) system is an indispensable mechanism affecting the entire lifecycle of these complex endeavours. The CPD system harmonises an arrangement of crucial delivery attributes to achieve successful outcomes, rendering the elucidation of these attributes a scholarly imperative. Numerous studies have identified multiple attributes that impact delivery strategies in the construction industry. However, only a limited number of studies have focused explicitly on the CPD attributes. Hence, the study aims to explore the main drivers of CPD methods based on a systematic review, including a bibliometric analysis over the current century in existing literature. It also addresses current research trends and gaps in the delivery context concerning mega projects. The two major-step research methodology involves a bibliometric assessment and determining key delivery attributes. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using 639 journal articles focused on CPD. Ultimately, the analysis of the findings and existing knowledge of the CPD literature have revealed that researchers, as well as construction agencies, have emphasised regulatory and technical aspects embedded within a socio-economic context conveying normative and cultural attributes when addressing CPD. These triple aspects of the delivery strategy have been considered by scholars simultaneously for a successful construction program

Genetic testing for sudden arrhythmic death syndrome and the coroners' system of England and Wales

The author of this thesis examines how SADS is made and remade within interdisciplinary professional practice. Whilst recent sociological scholarship has followed the discourse of ‘molecularization’ when examining the construction of biomedical categories, I instead place the genetic as part of a broader clinical and medico-legal system. Whilst it is accepted that there are genetic aspects of SADS this does not reduce the usefulness of other disciplinary explanations in practice. This thesis is situated around the molecular autopsy, a technology simultaneously employed to identify the cause of death and help in the diagnosis and treatment of family members of the deceased. As such, this thesis examines the professional system which surrounds this technology across the medico-legal – clinical divide. In doing so, the author of this thesis argues that the usefulness of genetic testing for SADS is an explicitly political problem. Suggesting that the current focus of research examining translational medicine falls short by focusing on the translation from ‘Bench to Bedside’, instead arguing for the importance of examining the political, and socio-economic space in which the technology is to reside. Finally, I explore the co-construction of the professional system of making SADS. A relational approach to professionalism is developed as a way to examine how mutuality is achieved during collaboration between distinct epistemic cultures. The consequence of such an approach is the ability to understand how professional groups are able to mobilise multiple conceptions of SADS in the pursuit of preventing future deaths. Making SADS gains further meaning in that I argue that understandings of SADS are distinct to accounts given in practice. Understandings of the usefulness of genetic testing for coroners is thus, not only based upon the ability of genetics to serve a particular function, but is based upon a fragmented account of the technology, rhetorically produced by clinicians

Frustration of performance of contracts: a comparative and analytic study in Islamic law and English law

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThis thesis is an assessment of the position of Islamic law and English law regarding the doctrine of the frustration of the contract. The thesis gave in the first general view about Islamic law and Saudi legal system, also about the contract in Islamic law in general. This study provides a detailed and critical account of the principles of frustration of contract law which operate under Islamic law and English law, where appropriate, identifies and critically evaluates the differences between the principles of frustration of contract which operate respectively under Islamic law and English law and to recognize the effect of the frustration on the performance of the contract. In the case of the absence of theory of frustration of contract in Islamic Law, an attempt will be made to create a complete doctrine of frustration of contract. Researcher discussed the frustration of contract in Islamic Law. In the case of the absence of theory of frustration of contract in Islamic Law, an attempt will be made to create a complete theory of frustration of contract in Islamic law. This is recognised owing to the fact that most cases of the application of frustration fall under the doctrine of impossibility. Impossibility can be regarded as taking place ‘when there supervening events without default of either party and for which the contract makes no sufficient provision which so significant changes the nature, if the cases where impossibility relates to the subject-matter of contracts or relates to the parties, subjective or objective impossibility. This study discusses the issue of Frustration of contract due to external factors covering cases of legal impossibility. This study examines the discharge of contract if there is circumstances do not make the performance impossibility but became difficult to perform such as impracticability and frustration of purpose. It will also look in some detail at the limitations and narrow scope of the doctrine of frustration, and also discuss contractual parties’ sometimes preferred alternatives, such as drafting force majeure clauses and hardship clauses