Analysis of Federal Design-Build Request for Proposal Evaluation Criteria

This study’s objective is to identify the benefits federal owners are seeking through the design-build process by analysis of research data gathered from 110 requests for proposal (RFP) evaluation plans issued for $1.5 billion of federal work by 11 different agencies. The output from this study was then compared to a 1996 study whose authors sought to analyze the reasons cited by owners to use design-build project delivery. That study included a survey of 108 owners of public and private projects, which represented over $12.5 billion of construction. The goal of comparing the 1996 survey with the results of the new research project is to discover correlations between owner attitudes and the selection criteria identified in government RFPs. The comparison produced some interesting results. First, although owners in 1996 cited schedule as the most significant reason for selecting design-build delivery, the federal RFP content analysis found it to carry a very low average weight. Another finding shows that federal RFPs give price a very heavy weight in the government selection processes, again differing significantly from the previous survey of owner attitudes. Finally, the current study found that the qualifications of the firms and individuals that formed the design-build team were significantly more important than the proposed technical design approach. Thus, this paper concludes that the typical federal agency was looking for a low price from a well-qualified design-build team.     

Owners Respond: Preferences for Task Performance, Delivery Systems, and Quality Management

Twenty years ago, public owners did almost all of their own design work and project inspection, but this is no longer the case. Innovative construction ideas of 15 years ago are now considered mainstream, and newer ideas are taking their places. Fifteen years ago, the concept of fast-track construction was still being researched and many federal agencies refused to fund it; today, most large federal projects call for some sort of fast tracking. These systems allow construction input into the design process of construction projects. Whoever performs tasks such as scope development, prebid cost estimates, and quality assurance can significantly affect the quality of the project, as can which delivery system is used. The Construction Institute of ASCE sponsored a survey of construction owners to determine what delivery systems are used in their projects and whom they select to perform various tasks. The survey also sought to ascertain the owners’ satisfaction level with the performance of the individuals and systems they choose. This paper, written for practitioners and researchers, describes the results of that survey.     

Distributed Augmented Reality for Visualizing Collaborative Construction Tasks

Augmented reality is a visualization method in which virtual objects are aligned with the real world and the viewer can interact with the virtual objects in real time. In this paper, a new methodology called distributed augmented reality for visualizing collaborative construction tasks (DARCC) is proposed. Using this methodology, virtual models of construction equipment can be operated and viewed by several operators to interactively simulate construction activities on the construction site in augmented reality mode. The paper investigates the design issues of DARCC including tracking and registration, object modeling, engineering constraints, and interaction and communication methods. The DARCC methodology is implemented in a prototype system and tested in a case study about a bridge deck rehabilitation project.     

Construction Coordination Activities: What Is Important and What Consumes Time

Coordination is an important function in the building process. Recent research has shown that poor or inadequate coordination is the best that is achieved on construction sites. Nevertheless, many authors of textbooks on construction project management have not discussed this vital topic. A literature review carried out in this present study revealed that there is a lack of formal understanding on how day-to-day coordination is actually achieved on a construction project. This research was directed at identifying what activities are performed to achieve coordination and, which among those are the most important and more time-consuming for a construction coordinator. In the absence of previous research, texts on the duties and responsibilities of project managers, clerks of works, construction engineers, etc., were reviewed from the contractor's project manager's perspective during the building phase of a construction project, and an array of issues relevant to achieving coordination were identified. Initially, the array included 64 coordination issues; a questionnaire was developed for construction project managers to indicate the relative importance and time consumed on a 3 point scale (i.e., high, mid or low). Thirty-three responses received from practitioners in the Hong Kong and Singapore construction industries indicate that identifying strategic activities and potential delays and ensuring the timeliness of all work are the most important activities. Conducting regular meetings and project reviews and analyzing the project performance, detecting variances and dealing with their effects (16th and 17th, respectively in order of importance) appear to be the most time-consuming activities.     

钢结构设计中稳定性分析探讨

无论是建筑工程,还是桥梁工程都离不开钢结构设计,钢结构设计中的稳定性设计对于整个工程的质量是至关重要的。在现代工程史上有很多重大事故都是钢结构不稳定,在外界条件发生巨大变化时,出现结构失稳,建筑物倒塌的情况,造成严重的经济损失,为此加强钢结构设计中的稳定性,对于工程质量的控制和预防工程事故发生是很有必要的。本文主要分析了现阶段钢结构设计中稳定性的相关问题,并针对这些问题提出了一些解决的办法。     

Contractors’ Views of the Potential Causes of Inconsistencies between Design and Construction in Saudi Arabia

The study identifies the causes of inconsistencies between the design and construction of large building projects. To achieve the study objectives, a questionnaire survey was carried out to collect information on potential causes of inconsistencies at the project design and construction interface. Responses from 27 contractors were analyzed. The results suggest that the involvement of designer as consultant, communication gap between constructor and designer, insufficient working drawing details, lack of coordination between parties, lack of human resources in design firm, lack of designer’s knowledge of available materials and equipment, and incomplete plans and specifications were considered as the most important causes of the project design and construction interface inconsistencies. On the other hand, project management as a professional service, weather conditions, nationalities of participants, involvement of the contractor in design conceptual phase, unforeseen problems, involvement of the contractor in design development phase, and government regulations were the least important causes of inconsistencies between professionals at the project design and construction interface in large building projects.     

Value Engineering and Optimal Building Projects

The goal of any engineering design is to obtain an optimal solution to the design problem. This paper examines how value engineering contributes to the process of obtaining an optimal solution to the design problem for a building project. The factors that determine a building project and its costs are listed and these factors fall into two groups; one group relates to specific engineering systems, while the other group is general in character and relates to the whole building. Value engineering is effective because its procedures give opportunities for raising design issues associated with the latter group of factors as well as for providing for peer-review of the design. A summary of other methods of optimal design—such as design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA), concurrent engineering, and total quality management—is given, and these methods are compared with value engineering. Cost minimization in building construction is discussed with examples from the writer's experience on building projects in West Africa and the Middle East.     

Impact of Green Building Design and Construction on Worker Safety and Health

Sustainable, or “green,” rating systems, such as the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), are leading to changes in the way owners, designers, and contractors approach the design, construction, and operation of buildings. The processes and features included in green design and construction may have positive and/or negative impacts on construction worker safety and health. This paper presents the findings of a research study of the impact of green building design and construction practices on construction worker safety and health. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable and lost time injury and illness data from green projects (as identified by LEED) and from nongreen projects was collected through a structured questionnaire survey. The data collected was analyzed to test for the presence of a difference in OSHA recordable incident rates (RIRs) and lost time case rates (LTCRs) between green and nongreen projects. It was found that there was suggestive, but inconclusive evidence of a statistically significant difference in the RIRs of the green and nongreen building projects included in the study. No statistically significant difference was found between the LTCRs for the green and nongreen projects included in the study. The study findings provide valuable information to the construction industry for the purposes of project safety planning and the assessment of safety and health on projects.     

Lessons Learned: Failure of a Hydroelectric Power Project Dam

The case of a hydroelectric power project is presented to show how lack of understanding and poor filter design, along with insufficient control of construction quality, caused the failure of a dam. This paper summarizes the forensic investigations and attempts to explain the conditions that led to the formation of sinkholes on the embankment slope and the subsequent initiation of progressive failure of the embankment. The steps necessary to restart the power project, including the final remedial design, are then detailed. This paper also discusses how the functions of various engineering design components are integrated in the context of failure of the embankment. This case serves as a lesson for practicing engineers concerning the difficult technical, professional, and procedural issues that may arise during the design and construction of critical infrastructures.     

Alternative Delivery Approaches for Military Medical Construction Projects

Military medical construction projects take more than 10 years to complete, from the time the need for a new facility is identified until the building actually opens for occupancy. This time is often extended even further due to complications during the design and construction process. Furthermore, these projects often are completed well over their original budget. Although there are many reasons for this exorbitant amount of time and many causes for the budgetary problems, one of the major factors is the reliance on the traditional methods of a lump-sum contract and the design∕bid∕build project delivery approach. The writers illustrate how the use of alternative project delivery methods (specifically construction management and design∕build) can reduce the amount of time it takes to design and build a new military medical facility, as well as reduce the overall cost of the project. The advantages offered by these alternative delivery methods are set forth, and their applicability within the federal procurement process is discussed. Several recommendations are then given for using these methods for the design and construction of military medical facilities.     

Best Practices for Integrating the Concurrent Engineering Environment into Multipartner Project Management

The use of the Internet, e-mail, and other technologies has been steadily filtering into the building process, creating a concurrent engineering (CE) environment, and enabling collaborative efforts in the building process. The concurrent engineering environment is established by a variety of tools, including internet accessible servers, e-mail, mobile telephones, and many other existing CE tools. Organizations involved in the construction process recognize the need for assessment of benefits resulting from CE tools, but find the evaluation of these benefits difficult and complicated. The project presented in this paper, “project management and organization in the concurrent engineering environment (ProCE),” is applicable to both researchers and practitioners. The ProCE project developed a measuring model, which may be used by future researchers in this area, attempted to measure benefits derived from using the CE environment in construction design and project management routines, and developed guidelines for best practice implementation by practitioners, based on four case studies. The project included the measurement of both the quantitative and qualitative benefit of CE environment implementation in building construction projects using tools that were readily available through application service providers. Measurement of cost and other quantifiable benefits have been extensively studied. Therefore, the majority of the discussion in the current paper will address the ProCE project’s measurement of qualitative benefits.     

Postoccupancy Indoor Environmental Quality Evaluation of an Institutional Building

This paper presents a case study of an institutional building's heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system that was not providing satisfactory comfort control. In the investigation, significant design, construction, and operational problems were discovered. Poor communication between the architect, consulting engineers, construction personnel, and owner∕financier was a significant factor in the failure of the comfort control system. Problems with the windows, insulation, design of the system zones, supply air fan, and indoor air quality due to poor ventilation were also identified and investigated. Recommendations for correction of these problems range from obvious, low-cost actions to more substantial retrofits of the HVAC system. Actions that should have been taken during the design stages of the project, as well as postoccupancy corrective measures, are discussed with emphasis on comfort, health, and economics. The results of this project show that a well-designed HVAC system will operate poorly if the building is not constructed or operated as planned. This case study should help institutional building contractors, owners, and operators avoid or identify and correct similar problems with their planned and existing comfort control systems. To ensure successful operation of their designs, HVAC designers need feedback from the architect, contractors, building owners, and occupants.     

Causes, Effects, Benefits, and Remedies of Change Orders on Public Construction Projects in Oman

Change orders are usually issued to cover variations in scope of work, material quantities, design errors, and unit rate changes. This paper discusses variations in public construction projects in Oman by investigating causes of variations, studying their effects on the project, identifying the beneficial parties, and suggesting remedies to alleviate related problems. Tasks included an analysis of four actual case studies and conducting a field survey via a questionnaire. It was determined that the client’s additional works and modifications to design were the most important factors causing change orders, followed by the nonavailability of construction manuals and procedures. The most important effects of change orders on the project were found to be the schedule delays, disputes, and cost overruns. The contractor was found to be the party most benefiting from the change orders followed by the consultant and then the client. A set of remedial actions were suggested and respondents viewed that the revision of registration of consulting offices would be the most important action followed by establishing standard documents for design procedures and building a national database about soil conditions and services.     

Prediction System for Change Management in Construction Project

Changes are the main causes of delays and cost overruns in construction projects. Various change management systems have been developed to minimize the impacts of changes and to facilitate good project management. This paper presents a change prediction system using activity-based dependency structure matrix (DSM) to facilitate change management. DSM is used to model the process that may occur as a result of changes. Consequently changes can be predicted by setting the change criteria for each activity in the form of rework scope. Furthermore, Monte Carlo simulation is introduced to analyze the change probability of activities involved in construction projects. The effectiveness of the prediction system is verified by applying this system to an office building project. This study provides a useful tool for project management teams to manage changes proactively and efficiently.     

Knowledge Mining of Information Sources for Research in Construction Management

Extracting the right information at the right time is vital in any research project. Moreover, researchers generally seek innovative “knowledge mining” techniques for optimizing their research efforts within constrained time frames and with scarce resources. Meanwhile, rapid developments in the fields of computing and information technology drive the accelerated globalization process in both industry and academia. This paper explores some of the emerging technologies and associated research methodologies from an information supply chain perspective. An application in a recent Internet based two-phase questionnaire survey for design/build contractor selection provides a useful case study in the structuring of an innovative knowledge mining strategy. This experience feeds into the formulation of a “high-velocity” knowledge mining framework and a set of guidelines—to facilitate and enhance such innovative construction management research, while dealing with some initial issues/problems in the Internet based research environment. Furthermore, some critical success factors, key performance indicators, and mining strategies are consolidated for marshalling both vivid and tacit knowledge sources, such as by “exploiting” Internet resources for more creative and efficient construction management research.     

Renovation Projects: Design Process Problems and Improvement Mechanisms

This paper presents a case study of a recent office renovation project. The paper investigates the problems that occurred during the design process, analyzes the causes of design iterations and rework, and proposes changes that can improve the design process. The analysis illustrates two design challenges that cause iterations and rework: (1) preexisting, hidden conditions identified late in the design process, and (2) limitations of downstream systems that were not accounted for in upstream decisions. The recommendations propose mechanisms to reduce design rework and duration, and increase the quality of the design solution. The recommendations are (1) to accelerate the discovery of existing conditions, (2) to identify the project constraints that design and construction have to meet, (3) to select the project team early, and (4) to accelerate the iterative design process with a team-based rapid development of schematic design (rapid prototyping).     

Integrated Project Delivery Case Study: Guidelines for Drafting Partnering Contract

This paper presents a case study through which a multinational contracting firm aimed to introduce integrated project delivery through strategic partnering into its industry operations. The study reports on a research carried out by the author on behalf of the firm to set out series of principles and guidelines to consider when drafting a standard partnering contract whereby the owner, contractor, suppliers, and manufacturers collaboratively work together under the same terms and conditions. A partnering contract would never, on its own, change the culture and environment of the construction process and thus, strategic partnering should be promoted not only at project specific activities but at all organizational activities. Based on this project, the paper presents a list of ten managerial and contractual issues to promote strategic partnering. The author hopes that the results of this case study would foster legal professionals toward drafting a modern partnering contract, which should help in developing a more effective and efficient contracting environment.     

Integrating Neurofuzzy System with Conceptual Cost Estimation to Discover Cost-Related Knowledge from Residential Construction Projects

Cost estimation during early stage of a building construction project plays an important role for feasibility analysis in the planning and design phase. Traditional knowledge-based approaches suffer an essential difficulty due to resource price fluctuation in the market. This paper presents a hybrid method that integrates the principal items ratio estimation method with the adaptive neurofuzzy inference system for mining of cost estimation data. The proposed method provides exceptional capability for mining estimation knowledge that is difficult to be discovered by traditional knowledge-based approaches. A case study of residential building projects in China is conducted to demonstrate the proposed method. The testing results show that the proposed method does not only achieve high estimation accuracy, but also provide desirable features for estimators, such as explicit fuzzy decision rules and graphical presentations.     

Organizing Constructability Knowledge for Design

Construction contractors have significant constructability expertise to contribute to the design process of projects. To utilize this expertise most effectively, the right information must be made available to the design team at the proper point in time and at the appropriate level of detail. Current methods for utilizing construction knowledge in design have made significant advances to improving projects. However, they are typically rudimentary: unstructured, not very efficient, and rely heavily on reviews. Organizing constructability information according to its use in the design process will allow project teams to take the best advantage of the construction expertise. This paper introduces a model for organizing constructability information based on timing and levels of detail. The model differs from current approaches because of this focus. How the model was developed is described. It is tested on six case study projects to assess applicability on different projects. An illustrative example is provided using a detailed case study of the Pentagon renovation project to show how the model can be used as a metric to guide constructability input during design.