Overview of country summaries
| 2000–2010 | 2010–2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark | Partnering mentioned in government policy addressing productivity in 2001. Joint industry guideline with standard contract issued in 2001. A government unit, Byggeriets Evalueringscenter (BEC) was established to evaluate suppliers’ performance in projects and use for past performance evaluation. Legislation in 2003 prescribing to consider partnering for public projects and use the BEC system. Official government guideline issued in 2004. Three industry development programs with demonstration projects in 1999–2009 Partnering was inspired by UK and also promoted by the contractor NCC. It was widely spread, but increasingly questioned due to cost performance. After a few years, major cost overruns in the large partnering project DR Byen led to de-legitimization of the partnering concept | Sharp decline in use of partnering, expressed as “taboo”. Legislation to consider partnering was abolished in 2013 Research initiatives in the mid-2000s had promoted long-term, multi-project relationships. In 2013, a research report with Swedish examples was used to build knowledge and legitimacy. In 2016, Copenhagen municipality introduced strategic partnerships based on framework contracts. The initiative was followed by research projects and connected to two different industry development programs. These programs developed a standard contract in 2017 and guidelines in 2021. The partnership model was successful and had up to 2021 been followed by around ten other municipal and regional clients A model “New partnering” for single projects was issued by a government client in 2017 and has been used for a few projects. No important examples of RC in infrastructure |
| Sweden | Building sector: Formal partnering (also called samverkan) used first time by individual clients in the 1990s. Promoted in 2003 by NCC based on Danish development. Endorsed by the Swedish Client’s Forum which organized study visits and training, and developed model contract supplement. Widely spread in the building sector, mostly among public clients. No industry development programs Infrastructure: Collaborative government-industry initiative FIA in 2003, following conflicts and lawsuits. Based in non-contractual agreements In 2010, when the new Swedish Transport Administration (STA) was formed, FIA/Extended collaboration was replaced by a “pure client” policy advocating DB contracts | Building sector: Regular use of partnering/samverkan. Increase of strategic partnering. Large share of market (around 50% for some contractors), but still some failures and legitimacy problems Infrastructure: In 2013 contractors requested collaborative contracts and in 2015 STA introduced ECI. A few projects (ca 10) procured before 2018, but early conflicts in the first two caused STA to pause ECI. ECI had then gained poor reputation, and the new label TLS was used for ECI-type contracts. In 2022 contractors again request less risky contracts, and STA plans for a few “alliance-inspired” contracts, following contacts with Finland In parallel, use of ECI/partnering by other public infrastructure clients increases |
| Finland | First initiatives to introduce RC in the form of multiparty alliances inspired by AU taken in connection with research project in early 2000s, and subsequent VTT joint project with the industry, but did not gain momentum In 2006–2007, new research project and study visit to AU with infrastructure clients. In parallel, knowledge of IPD brought from the USA by individual practitioner, who founded the consultancy firm Vison and became a champion for alliances. Transfer of knowledge through involvement of Australian consultant, translation of guidelines and contractual frameworks. Seminars for industry Selection of first pilot project, call for tenders issued in 2010. Coaching by Vison to enable industry to submit tenders | Three consecutive pilot projects with transparent learning processes to develop and refine contractual and relational governance. Integration of lean principles to build legitimacy in industry. Independent consultants to audit costs Industry programs for clients to spread knowledge and share experiences. Separate programs for contractors. Committee to develop alliance contract 2015–2020. New public procurement legislation in 2017 emphasized lifecycle costs and competitive dialog. Government investigator recommended alliancing for demanding government projects No major failures, alliancing has favorable reputation. Rapid growth: 100 projects up to 2023 (10% of infrastructure sector). Alliances has spread to other sectors In parallel, various hybrid forms, called IPD (IPT in Finnish) are used. Here, performance varies more |
| Norway | In 1996–1999, the Norwegian Research Council initiated the program Collaboration in Construction (“Samspillet i byggeprosessen”), influenced by Danish improvement initiatives and business process engineering. In the following years, various forms of relational contracting (“samspillkontrakter”) were applied by clients in the building sector. An early, successful collaborative flagship project was St. Olav’s Hospital (2005–2013). However, there was no wide adoption In parallel, a government report in 1999 focused on cost overruns in large projects. As a result, a QA scheme and the associated research project Concept were established (both still running) At the industry level, a research programme was initiated to advance knowledge on project management, much based on experiences in the oil and gas sector. In 2001, the Norwegian Center for Project Management was established as an arena for research and learning | Around 2015, the Norwegian Center for Project Management was transformed to the center Project Norway, incorporating the collaborative research program BA2015, focusing on the construction sector. Many research projects include procurement aspects, but RC has not been a strong stream The interest in RC has increased in recent years, especially in the building sector. Several national and regional clients regularly use various forms of RC (samspill), including a few IPD projects. In 2017, a multiparty collaborative initiative was established by the contractor Veidekke for the development of a large residential project In the infrastructure sector, Nye Veier was established in 2016 to act as a lean and innovative client. Nye Veier has tested a variety of new models (BVP, IPD, CD, ECI), but not with strong focus on relational aspects. In 2019, Statens Vegvesen initiated a pilot project with two-phase relational contracts. Recently, Nye Veier has stopped using ECI since expectations were not met. Several attempts to develop standard contracts and models for RC projects, but little systematic evaluation and learning |
| 2000–2010 | 2010–2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark | Partnering mentioned in government policy addressing productivity in 2001. Joint industry guideline with standard contract issued in 2001. A government unit, Byggeriets Evalueringscenter (BEC) was established to evaluate suppliers’ performance in projects and use for past performance evaluation. Legislation in 2003 prescribing to consider partnering for public projects and use the BEC system. Official government guideline issued in 2004. Three industry development programs with demonstration projects in 1999–2009 | Sharp decline in use of partnering, expressed as “taboo”. Legislation to consider partnering was abolished in 2013 |
| Sweden | Building sector: Formal partnering (also called samverkan) used first time by individual clients in the 1990s. Promoted in 2003 by NCC based on Danish development. Endorsed by the Swedish Client’s Forum which organized study visits and training, and developed model contract supplement. Widely spread in the building sector, mostly among public clients. No industry development programs | Building sector: Regular use of partnering/samverkan. Increase of strategic partnering. Large share of market (around 50% for some contractors), but still some failures and legitimacy problems |
| Finland | First initiatives to introduce RC in the form of multiparty alliances inspired by AU taken in connection with research project in early 2000s, and subsequent VTT joint project with the industry, but did not gain momentum | Three consecutive pilot projects with transparent learning processes to develop and refine contractual and relational governance. Integration of lean principles to build legitimacy in industry. Independent consultants to audit costs |
| Norway | In 1996–1999, the Norwegian Research Council initiated the program Collaboration in Construction (“Samspillet i byggeprosessen”), influenced by Danish improvement initiatives and business process engineering. In the following years, various forms of relational contracting (“samspillkontrakter”) were applied by clients in the building sector. An early, successful collaborative flagship project was St. Olav’s Hospital (2005–2013). However, there was no wide adoption | Around 2015, the Norwegian Center for Project Management was transformed to the center Project Norway, incorporating the collaborative research program BA2015, focusing on the construction sector. Many research projects include procurement aspects, but RC has not been a strong stream |
Source(s): Authors’ own creation
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