A comparative analysis of procurement methods used on competitively tendered office projects in the UK

Muriro, A; Wood, GD

Abstract

The proliferation of procurement methods used for construction projects has inevitably
resulted in comparisons being made between the performances associated with each of
them. The challenge for researchers in this field has been largely to do with how to
compare procurement systems on a like-for-like basis.
In addition the focus of previous studies has tended to be mainly on the critical success
factors as assessed at the post-contract stage with less consideration of the effective
benchmarking or measurement of success used in assessing the differences between
systems and projects. Because of the limitations in previous studies it is perhaps not
surprising that, to-date, there seems to be no general consensus on the optimum
procurement method to be adopted for similar construction projects.
With this in mind this paper compares empirical information related to the successful
tender for procurement methods used in competitive tendering of office projects in the
United Kingdom (UK). It uses numeric/quantitative indicators such as construction
costs, construction speed, construction time and intensity of construction. Several
research techniques were used to achieve this goal. The research data was obtained from
the BCIS database. The tender analysis data gathered was grouped in frequency
distribution tables to facilitate rigorous examination, checking, interpretation and
statistical significance testing. Based on this synthesis the paper provides empirical
evidence that design and build (D&B) tendered office projects performed better in terms
of construction costs, unit costs, construction speed and intensity of construction. This is
despite the fact that projects tendered under D&B method were more complex, of
greater value and larger than those tendered using traditional methods.

Citation

Muriro, A., & Wood, G. A comparative analysis of procurement methods used on competitively tendered office projects in the UK. Presented at COBRA 2010, Paris

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: COBRA 2010
• Conference Location: Paris
• End Date: Sep 3, 2010
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Jul 25, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Publisher URL: http://www.rics.org/site/download_feed.aspx?fileID=8074&fileExtension=PDF
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference