Russell, J S and Jaselskis, E J (1992) Quantitative study of contractor evaluation programs and their impact. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 118(3), pp. 612-624. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
This paper’s dual intent is to assist contract administrators in better understanding the impact of contractor failure and to aid them in establishing adequate evaluation programs prior to contract award using quantitative data. Failure is defined in this study as a significant breach of the contractor’s legal responsibilities to the owner (for example, bankruptcy or material breach of contract related to meeting the desired project objectives such as cost, schedule, and quality). This study quantitatively documents both the amount of owner evaluation performed prior to contract award and subsequent monitoring during the construction process and correlates these efforts with the actual project outcome, either failure or nonfailure. A survey used to collect data prompted responses from 82 different organizations representing both public and private owner concerns; they provided information for a total of 107 projects. Of these, 44 involved a contractor failure. Results demonstrated a significant increase in final project cost and schedule duration as a result of the contractor’s failure. The practical considerations regarding contractor failure are also presented.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | monitoring, bankruptcy, duration, owner, project outcome, program, construction process, documents, contract administrator, breach of contract, survey, project cost |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, control systems, dispute resolution, practitioner, project completion, data collection methods, building construction, sociology, project controls, professional development, software systems, economics |
| Topics: | Cost Management, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Project Management, Information Management, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Legal Issues, Digital Applications, Time Control, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here