Kraft, E R (2013) Alternative quality assurance organizations for highway design and construction projects. PhD thesis, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA.
Abstract
Historically, highway project quality has consisted of quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) for design and construction as well as project quality assurance (PQA), independent assurance (IA), and acceptance. A project quality assurance organization (QAO) consists of these roles and their relationships; analogous to a company organizational chart which assigns the roles and responsibilities within the company and identifies the relationships between these roles and responsibilities. Traditionally all quality roles have been the responsibility of the agency making a formalized identification of the QAO unnecessary. However, the highway industry has been experiencing growth in the implementation of alternative project delivery methods and, at the same time, a reduction in state highway agency (SHA) staffing levels; causing a shift of quality roles from the agency to either the designer, contractor, design builder, concessionaire or construction manager. There is little research pertaining to highway project QAOs; rather, the research has focused on organizational quality management, inspection, observation, specifications, pay factors and warranties. Additionally there is little research within the area of alternative project delivery speaking to the specifics of the assignment of project quality roles. As a result of time constraints and a lack of guidance and research the SHA has had to take an ad hoc approach to the assignment of quality roles. The goal of this research is to bridge the research gap and provide guidance to the SHA in the assignment of the project quality roles and responsibilities by linking the factors influencing the assignment of project quality roles to established QAOs. Outcomes of the research are five fundamental QAOs: Deterministic, Assurance, Variable, Oversight and Acceptance, the identification of ten different factors influencing the selection of a project QAO and the determination of the appropriateness of the QAOs for each selection factor. Another outcome of the research is the development of a project QAO decision support tool for the industry.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Molenaar, K R |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | decision support; concession; construction project; highway; specifications; delivery method; project delivery; quality assurance; quality control; quality management; builder; designer |
| Index terms: | design and construction, warranty, highway construction, project delivery, design-builder, implementation, quality control, quality management, inspection, designer, delivery method, construction manager, construction project, agency, specification, concessionaire, decision support, builder, quality assurance |
| Subjects: | contract type, practitioner, contractual arrangements, production management, quality assurance, profession, project delivery, civil engineering, performance measurement, contractual condition, sociology, decision analysis, delivery method |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Quality Management, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Risk Management, Procurement |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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