Opoku, A and Ibrahim-Adam, R (2018) Early contractor involvement in government construction projects in Ghana. In: Gorse, C and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 34th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2018, Queen’s University, Belfast, UK.
Abstract
The importance of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) and the input in project development have been acknowledged, however little has been done in practice to actually involve contractors early in government projects in Ghana. This study attempts to explore the prospects of early contractor involvement in public construction projects in Ghana. It investigates current construction procurement practices, evaluates potential benefits and challenges of ECI and examines the prospects of adopting the practice in public construction procurement. The research adopted quantitative research methodology using a survey to solicit the opinions of 100 professionals within 15 construction contracting organisations, 5 consulting firms and the relevant government ministry. Results from the study show that some challenges encountered under the traditional procurement route are linked to poor project development. Also, it is found that the government of Ghana might be reluctant to try ECI on its projects, however, if adopted; the practice could be successfully implemented and perpetuated. The research then concludes that early contractor involvement could be greatly beneficial to public projects if government understands the concept and the numerous benefits to be derived; the practice has some good prospects in Ghanaian public construction.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | early contractor involvement; public construction procurement; pre-construction phase agreement; Ghana |
| Index terms: | early contractor involvement, pre-construction, survey, traditional procurement, government project, Ghana, quantitative research, contracting organization, project development, methodology, public construction, public project, construction project, construction procurement |
| Subjects: | project delivery, data analysis and analytics, contractual arrangements, data collection methods, practitioner, building construction, administrative law, research methods, infrastructure engineering, Geography, production management |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Project Management, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles, Roles and Professions, Procurement, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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