Procurement, contracts and project management

While many in the construction sector view the industry as unique, there is no one feature of the industry that is unique. Economists who study the construction sector have often pointed out that, while it shares many of its economic features with other industries, it is the particular combination of features that makes it unique (see, for example, Gruneberg and Francis, 2019).

Construction is a complex activity, involving many different organisations across extended timescales, with a view to long-term impact of some sort. The processes around the procurement of a construction project may be viewed at three levels: governance, organisation and management. Project governance involves the same processes as the governance of any other kind of organisation (International Standards Organization, 2021). Indeed, every organisation will be subject to its own governance regime. However, by bringing numerous organisations together to achieve the purposes of a construction project, it is useful to think of the project organisation as a temporary multi-organisation, which demands governance at the project level. Increasingly, legal requirements for governance impact on projects.