Best value concessionaire selection through a fuzzy logic system

Best value is the ultimate goal in the development of infrastructure projects through public private partnerships. This necessitates a best value approach in selecting the right private partner (i.e., the concessionaire) that involves evaluating alternative concessionaires against multiple conflicting criteria of varying degrees of importance and uncertainty. Correspondingly, this paper has developed a quantitative best value concessionaire selection system. The essence of this system lies in (1) the establishment of four-package evaluation criteria that can effectively measure the concessionaire’s capability and “predict” its future performance toward achieving the government’s best value objectives and (2) the development of a fuzzy-composite scoring and ranking method that ensures the right “tradeoff” between these criteria by relatively weighting fuzzy scores and logically aggregating evaluation results. This system would not only provide the government integrated assessments of alternative concessionaires so as to award the contract to the right concessionaire whose proposal is perceived to be able to maximize the outcome of the project, but also satisfy the requirements of the legal decision in order to withstand legal challenges concerning the public contract awarded in a best value approach. A hypothetical case study is provided to demonstrate the application of this best value concessionaire selection system.     

Contractor as Trust Initiator in Construction Partnering—Prisoner’s Dilemma Perspective

Partnering has been advocated for use in construction as a project-delivery approach to curb dispute and enable a cooperative contracting environment. Successful construction partnering is perceived to derive benefits to both developers and contractors. In view of significant implications to successful project delivery, there has been a surge of research and studies on construction partnering. These studies typically focus on the partnering process as well as the identification of critical success factors. Among the various success factors that underpin partnering success, establishing trust among partners is considered the most important. Moreover, skeptics have been swift to point out that establishing trust in construction is daunting. A better understanding of the role of trust and its manifestation in partnering efforts is therefore of both academic and practical value. In this study, motivating trust in construction partnering is described within the classic framework of “the prisoner’s dilemma,” which suggests the trust cycle can be kick-started if construction partners put cooperation before competition and self-interest. This paper reports a study that is designed to suggest a suitable candidate for the trust initiator. As such, the critical trust factors for two groups of construction partners in Hong Kong—developers/consultants and contractors—are first identified. It is found that “performance” and “permeability” of partners are the two most critical trust factors. “Performance” describes the partner’s competence and problem-solving ability as perceived by their counterpart. “Permeability” reflects the partner’s openness in sharing information. The result of a multiple-regression analysis further suggests that the contractor is in a position to initiate trust through competent performance and maintaining effective communication with the client. In this manner, the trust cycle can expand with reciprocal trustworthiness from the client.     

Improving Concessionaire Selection Protocols in Public∕Private Partnered Infrastructure Projects

A critical contributor to the success of a public∕private partnered (PPP) infrastructure project is the selection of the right private-sector partner, the concessionaire, who would provide the best overall deal throughout the build-operate-transfer (BOT)[build∕operate∕transfer] development process. This paper proposes a core concessionaire selection protocol that incorporates public procurement principles, best-value selection approach, competitive selection process, and multicriteria tender evaluation. Key pointers for an improved concessionaire selection protocol are discussed and analyzed by drawing experience and learning lessons from worldwide PPP practices. These include improved project brief and tender documents, formulation of a best-value selection methodology, determination of suitable criteria and methods for prequalification and tender evaluation, capital structure (equity-to-debt ratio), financial models, and potential improvements in different stages of the concessionaire selection process. Relevant results of a questionnaire survey of international PPP expert opinions on an enhanced concessionaire selection protocol are also presented.     

The Story of Collective Action: The Emergence of Ideological Leaders,Collective Action Network Leaders,and Cross-Sector Network Partners in Civil Society

Collective action and community ecology theories frame this study of longitudinal interorganizational networks in Croatia during the country's political transition. As time progresses toward political stability, grass-roots organizing activities shift through participation in new networks. Although engaged cross-sector communication was important in early stages of the transformation, homophilous partnering emerged as the system stabilized. System stability left room for organizations to exit the collective action network but with costs associated with centralized organizing. Over time, organizations embodied roles as ideological leaders, collective action network leaders, and within-sector network partners. We offer a unique contribution to community ecology and collective action theories with a communication-centered framework that emphasizes the nature of communication in interorganizational networks over a 4-year period.     

社会资本举办医疗机构的开发模式研究

国家在新医改中鼓励和引导社会资本举办医疗机构,针对社会资本举办医疗机构的开发模式,本文进行了模式构建和比较分析。根据医疗机构的营利性和非营利性,结合社会资本的单独投资和政企合作投资模式,提出了社会投资营利性医疗机构、社会投资非营利性医疗机构、政企合作非营利性医疗机构三种可行的开发模式,以及每种模式的适用范围,并结合国内外的案例实践对各模式进行了分析和比较,提出了社会资本举办医疗机构的开发流程框架。为社会资本举办医疗机构的实践提供参考。     

A Model Korean Ubiquitous Eco-City? The Politics of Making Songdo

Building cities from scratch has continued unabated since the latter half of the twentieth century despite some of these planned cities achieving global infamy for their failures. These endeavors are, in part, due to a persistent belief by governments that newly constructed cities can set their nations on a fast path to the future. Today, challenges posed both by global climate change and increased urbanization have widened this platform from projects almost exclusively of developing nations to include those in the developed world. Today we talk of the eco-city, a local solution to a global crisis. If completion is successfully fast-tracked, the resultant eco-city will position its respective nation at the forefront of innovation in what is effectively a global race: the resultant city can be exported as a model both locally and globally. In this regard, the envisioning and building of Songdo in South Korea may not be unique. Songdo is a city underway on flat land created from wetland reclamation. As part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ), Songdo's development has benefited from opportunistic circumstances that has led to its pursuit of becoming a “Ubiquitous Eco-City.” The green infrastructure of the new city is to be enhanced by the provision of extra services that combine information and communication technologies as well as digital networks to ideally create harmony among the environment, society, and technology. Songdo, as planned, will position South Korea among a group of leading nations, and possibly at the forefront of new city development, potentially producing a model for export.     

Partnering Mechanism in Construction: An Empirical Study on the Chinese Construction Industry

Partnering and its principles have increasingly been introduced to the construction industry to improve the efficiency of project delivery. However, little research outlines the mechanism behind its application. This paper presents the findings of a study that was conducted to develop and test a partnering model that reveals the relationships between the critical success factors (CSFs) of partnering and demonstrates their importance to construction. With support of data collected from the Chinese construction industry, this study has revealed strong correlations among partnering CSFs, risk management, total quality management (TQM), use of incentives, and project performance. It is concluded that project success is the outcome of the interaction between a variety of techniques, and that partnering, associated with incentives, is a basic management method through which risk management and TQM can be strongly improved.     

PPP项目范式选择与风险分配的关系研究

基于15个案例,分析PPP项目三种范式选择方案与风险分配之间的相关关系,结果发现:一部分项目风险的分配方案与范式选择无关,这类风险的主要特征是产生主体明确且能够防范,风险事件的发生直接针对PPP项目;另一部分项目风险分配方案与范式选择高度相关,其相关关系体现为随着范式私有化程度的提高,民间实体承担的风险也在逐渐增大,而且随着范式选择的不同,风险转移的时机和程度也有所差异,这类风险的主要特征是风险事件产生于政府或第三方,民间实体没有能力进行防范,风险损失需要在政府和民间实体之间进行分配。研究结论可为提高我国PPP项目风险分配的科学性提供指导和借鉴。     

A review of studies on Public–Private Partnership projects in the construction industry

Public–Private Partnership (PPP) in construction is gaining in popularity. Although papers published in major journals have documented real cases of PPP projects, there appears to be a lack of systematically summarizing what they have already provided. Consequently, this paper reviewed PPP studies published in the six top journals in the construction field. The objectives are to compare and contrast the findings of the studies so as to provide insights for directing further PPP research and improving the existing practices of PPP projects. To achieve the review objectives, studies were first classified as either empirical or non-empirical. Empirical studies were further grouped under three themes: risks, relationships, and financing. Non-empirical studies were grouped under five themes: financing, project success factors, risks, and concession period. Suggestions for further research are risks, financing, contractual agreements, development of PPP models, concession periods, and strategies in choosing the right type of PPP.     

Construction Partnering Process and Associated Critical Success Factors: Quantitative Investigation

This paper aims at examining a customized model of construction partnering in order to highlight the relationships between the critical success factors and individual partnering process stages. It used two surveys (a simple rating method and the analytic hierarchy process) to produce empirical evidence for identifying the critical success factors and the partnering process stages. Results suggest that this study is consistent with previous findings that a general partnering process consists of three stages (formation, application, and completion/reactivation). In addition, it reaffirms that there are critical common factors affecting the whole partnering process and critical functional factors influencing individual process stages. Specifically, the four critical common factors are top management support, open communication, effective coordination, and mutual trust. Also, the critical functional factors at the stage of partnering formation are team building, facilitator, and partnering agreement; those of partnering application are joint problem solving, adequate resources, and partnering goals’ achievement; those of partnering reactivation (or strategic partnering) are partnering experience, continuous improvement, learning climate, and long-term commitment. Finally, the paper provides implications to practical application and future theory testing efforts.