Xia, B; Molenaar, K; Chan, A; Skitmore, M and Zuo, J (2013) Determining optimal proportion of design in design-build request for proposals. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(6), pp. 620-627. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The design-build (DB) system is a popular and effective delivery method of construction projects worldwide. After owners decide to procure their projects through the DB system, they may wish to determine the optimal proportion of design to be provided in the DB request for proposals (RFP), which serves as a solicitation for design-builders and describes the scope of work. However, this presents difficulties to DB owners and there is little, if any, systematic research in this area. This paper reports on an empirical study in the United States entailing both an online questionnaire survey and Delphi survey to identify and evaluate the factors influencing owners' decisions in determining the proportion of design to include in DB RFPs. Eleven factors are identified, i.e., (1) clarity of project scope, (2) applicability of performance specifications, (3) desire for design innovation, (4) site constraints, (5) availability of competent design-builders, (6) project control requirements, (7) user group involvement level, (8) third-party requirements, (9) owner experience with DB, (10) project complexity, and (11) schedule constraints. A statistically significant agreement on the 11 factors was also obtained from the (mainly nonowner) Delphi experts. Although some of the experts hold different opinions on how these factors affect the proportion of design, these findings furnish various stakeholders with a better understanding of the delivery process of DB projects and the appropriate provision of project information in DB RFPs. Because the result is mainly industry opinion concerning the optimal proportion of design, in addition and for completeness future studies should be conducted to obtain a big picture of the optimal proportion of design by means of seeking owners' inputs.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Delphi method; design-build; proportion of design; request for proposals |
| Index terms: | proposal, United States, user group, survey, construction project, performance specification, questionnaire, project complexity, Delphi method, Delphi survey, owner, delivery method, empirical study, project scope, design-builder, future study, project control |
| Subjects: | Geography, organizational theory, production management, tendering, research methods, sociology, delivery method, control systems, scope management, practitioner, research design and methodology, client relations, data collection methods, project planning |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Procurement, Geographical Context, Project Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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