“TO STUDY IN REDUCE DELAY OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECT(S) DUE TO INADEQUACY OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT & CONTRACTS

Abstract

This Time is one of the major considerations throughout project management life cycle and can be regarded as one of the most important parameters of a project and the driving force of project success. Time delay is a very frequent phenomenon and is almost associated with nearly all constructing projects. However, little effort has been made to curtail the phenomenon, this research work attempts to identify, investigate, and rank factors perceived to affect delays in construction projects with respect to their relative importance so as to proffer possible ways of coping with this phenomenon. To achieve this objective, researcher invited practitioners and experts, comprising a statistically representative sample to participate in a structured questionnaire survey. Brain storming was taken into consideration, through which a number of delay factors were identified in construction projects. Totally, ninety-nine
(99) factors were short-listed to be made part of the questionnaire survey and were identified and categorized into nine (9) major categories. The survey was conducted with experts and representatives from private, public, and local general construction firms. Delay in construction have been classified in different ways. Sample feedback form (Table 5.1) along with ranking criteria developed based upon linkert scale (Table no. 5.2) was also disseminated to various experience Project managers, engineers, Project Head etc. to record their responses over Probable Reasons/cause for Delay in Project Completion. Many uncertainties can cause construction projects to be delayed, resulting in conflicts between the two parties to a construction contract. Using case study and content analysis methodologies, this study analyzed 79 litigation cases to identify the main causes of schedule delays in construction projects, which are “change orders,” “changed scope of the work,” “delayed site handover,” and “weather.” In this study, these causes are organized into a causation model to provide a reference for preventing schedule delay. The employed approach can be implemented for assessments of other regions, as schedule delays are common features in most construction projects. The most important according to the key project participants; clients, consultants, and contractors. Thirty-two possible causes of delay were identified from the literature and semi-structured interviews of 15 key players in the implementation process. These delay factors were further categorised into nine major groups. The list of delay causes was subjected to a questionnaire survey for the identification of the most important causes of delay. The field survey included 130 respondents made up of 39 contractors, 37 clients and54 consultants. The relative importance of the individual causes and the groups were calculated and ranked by their relative importance index. The overall results of
the study indicate that the respondents generally agree that financial group factors ranked highest among the major factors causing delay in construction projects. The financial group factors were delay in honouring payment certificates, difficulty in accessing credit and fluctuation in prices. Materials group factors are second followed by scheduling and controlling factors. Contracting is an integral part of construction projects. Managing the contracts therefore is equally important for the success of any business process due to rapid increase in multiple contracts. The conventional method of managing contract involves risks and chaos which include inadequate information in contracts, inadequate delegation of authority and responsibility, fraud, theft, corruption, other unethical activities, communication gap, delayed financial decisions thus dampening the progress of the project, all due to manual intervention in managing contracts. This calls for a need of systematic and an effective method of contract management. This paper speaks about Intelligent Contract Management (automated contract management) which is an efficient, transparent and flawless concept of
managing contracts. This technique will streamline the business process by reducing the time taken to create, review, execute and approve contracts, thus easing activities like tracking, central storage of contract documents, and reduction in disputes, minimize risks associated with manual data entry. Contract management is an issue of strategic importance to both organization and to projects and through automated contract management technique; organizations can increase control, increase effectiveness, reduce cost and also
provide strategic and competitive advantage. Key objective of automated contract management system is to ensure easy access to contract information to form flexible support for the contract workflow.