Risk management model for international public construction joint venture projects in Kuwait

International construction projects carried out by foreign construction organizations may be subject to various risks due to the nature of the construction industry and business environment of the host country. The regulations of Kuwait oblige foreign organizations to create joint venture relations with qualified local partners to conduct business in Kuwait. A joint venture is a business strategy used to reduce expected risks when expanding into an international market; however, new sources of risk are created via this strategy. This research produced a risk management model for international construction in Kuwait (RIMMICK) designed to facilitate the success of international public construction projects in Kuwait. The aim of this research was to support various governmental agencies such that their projects can be successfully completed. The goal of this work was to reveal and assess the most critical risk factors that can influence the success of international construction projects in Kuwait. RIMMICK is a risk management model designed to identify the risk associated with international construction joint venture (ICJV) projects, assess the identified risk factors and provide project-specific risk ratings, reveal the consequences of the assessed risks, and suggest adequate risk mitigation and response strategies. This model focuses on the most critical phases of a construction project's lifecycle: the bidding and construction phases. RIMMICK can help sustain a risk-controlled environment by continuously monitoring a project's progress and providing reliable risk assessment. The risk intelligent system for construction in Kuwait (RISCK) is a tool designed to facilitate risk evaluation and control processes in RIMMICK. This knowledge-based system was tailored to ICJV projects in Kuwait that are owned by Kuwaiti governmental agencies. The RISCK tool can be utilized during two critical phases of a construction project: bidding and construction. During the bidding phase, RISCK calculates the level of risk of the lowest three proposals using a built-in evaluation tool to help select the most appropriate joint venture. Then, the tool depicts an overall risk rating for proposals in a bidding-specific risk decision tree, which shows the expected risk levels of the three proposals with the lowest bids and highlights the lowest bid risk path. If an owner selects a particular joint venture, the assessment process for the risk factors of the construction phase creates a project-specific risk fault tree (RFT). The RISCK tool proposes a risk rating for a project if executed by the selected joint venture and highlights the most critical risk factors. The RFT shows the top event as the total risk of construction project and provides the risk categories and factors that contribute to the expected risk level. The RFT provides the risk rating for individual risk factors, risk categories, and overall construction risk. Accordingly, RISCK creates a project-specific risk narrative report that reveals the expected consequences of the evaluated risk factors and suggests proper response strategies that are expected to minimize various negative consequences such as time and budget overruns and procedures that result in reduced safety and quality.