Eadie, R; Perera, S; Heaney, G and Carlisle, J (2007) Construction contractor's perspective on web-based advertising of public sector construction contracts. In: Boyd, D (ed.) Proceedings of 23rd Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2007, Belfast, UK.
Abstract
Despite a number of articles on the legal issues surrounding web-based advertising and e-procurement very little has been published on the softer issues surrounding its introduction. This paper seeks to fill that knowledge gap by identifying whether this is desired from a contractor perspective. The seventy contractors surveyed showed that contractors were in favour of advertising construction contracts electronically, publishing the status of these, showing who has won the contracts after the competition has been completed and were supportive of the integration of an e-mail notification system being built into the website. Cost and time savings, a central repository for contract advertisements, the flexibility improvement and improved visibility are identified as the drivers towards the introduction of such a system. The results show that 80% of contractors are satisfied that all investigated aspects of a web-based contract advertisement site for construction contracts under the European threshold would be beneficial. They are aware of the benefits, not only to them but also to the client. This paper also reports the results of a SWOT analysis: (strengths; weaknesses; opportunities and threats) to web-based advertising of contracts. The strengths identified in the SWOT analysis far outweigh the weaknesses and the opportunities overshadow the threats.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | advertising; contracts; construction |
| Index terms: | public sector, construction contractor, construction contract, time saving, integration, competition, advertising, e-mail, legal issue |
| Subjects: | business, communication, organizational analysis, administrative law, market analysis, time analysis, legal systems, practitioner, contract type |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Time Control, Information Management, Procurement, Legal Issues, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
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