Readers of Management, Procurement and Law will no doubt be familiar with common phrases such as contract dispute, risk and claims, but I wonder how often we consider alternative ways of working to improve communication, approach, values and relationships within our projects? These aspects of project management and leadership are often overlooked in the real world, yet if approached differently can have a significant bearing on the success or failure of the project. This issue captures a variety of aspects that relate to the principles that underpin successful project delivery, both from a formal contractual perspective but also from a more flexible approach to working. The issue begins with a briefing by Stacey (2014) considering the risk education network.
Risk allocation within construction contracts is a key component in determining project success. Mooney and Mooney (2014) highlight the issues experienced with the allocation of risk in the Irish public works arena, questioning if the approach taken has been successful in driving project success. The paper raises a number of interesting observations in the use of new forms of contract adopted by the Irish government, aimed at achieving increased cost certainty and the reduction of project over runs. The paper compares the use of one such contract, PW-CF4 (Department of Finance, 2010), and compares this against a more common form of contract, the FIDIC (1999) Silver Book. Given the reduction in tender prices since the introduction of this approach by the Irish government, it will be interesting for this journal to follow up on ‘whether the out-turn costs and programme will affirm the effectiveness of this approach’. As noted by the authors, project risk is best managed and not exploited, and is best dealt with in the interests of the project; something a contract can never truly capture.
The form of contract and the method through which a contractor is procured can often be identified as the critical components of a successful or less successful project. Tamburro and Wood (2014) draw our attention to the use of alliancing in Australian infrastructure projects and the challenge that this presents to both client and supplier organisations. The paper highlights how ‘suppliers were taking higher profits with lower risk’ as clients abdicated ‘their central role in the competition of thought leadership in the procurement of projects’. The paper challenges the need for intelligent client organisations to lead the thought management of its projects, and the need for experienced clients able to understand the complexities of project risk with associated project leadership. It is a cautionary tale for many client organisations, with the paper highlighting an average increase of actual cost at project completion by 45–55%.
Ojiako et al. (2014) introduce the concept of Ubuntu within the South African construction industry and present the initial findings of research carried out investigating if this ‘socially and constructed philosophy and indigenous world view is able to guide human interaction and relationships’. The paper explores the importance of relationships, goodwill and communication when administering construction contracts and highlights the significance for all parties within a contract to demonstrate ‘expected humane behaviour’. The theory of Ubuntu therefore serves as a set of values that can aid the building of relationships within construction contracts, however, the paper highlights that it could not be relied upon on its own without the use of a formal contract. Nonetheless, it is a very interesting concept and aspects of Ubuntu are certainly worthy of consideration in general construction projects.
Building information modelling (BIM) is being more widely used throughout the industry, although many clients still appear slow to embrace the advantages for their projects of successful BIM application. Liao et al. (2014) introduce the foundation for a 4-year study into the use of a construction information model based on BIM and context-aware technology. The paper introduces a variety of theories and ideas that will be tested in the course of the study, the results of which will be of great interest to this journal. Along with technological advances in general, BIM has the ability to mitigate risk in construction projects from design, programme and cost perspectives, and the paper explores how these elements will be analysed within the 4-year study. The next issue, June, will be a BIM themed issue.
In our final paper, Samuel (2014) also explores the ability to reduce risk in construction projects, using an assessment of risk at contract tender stage to evaluate better the best tender as opposed to the more traditional approach of awarding a tender to the highest scoring contractor. While most practitioners are well aware that a project with a properly determined risk profile at contract award has a greater likelihood of success, Samuel has advanced this thinking and developed a mathematical model to predict these risks and thus better inform the tender evaluation stage of the project. A tool of this type may, therefore, prove useful in future tender evaluation in order to give a higher probability of project success in time, quality and cost perspectives.
