Awad S. Hanna

Delay is an ever-present risk on any construction project that causes run up costs. Owners (sellers) and contractors (buyers) who enter into a contract are keen to mitigate the economic risks that they will have to bear as a result of the delays. In order to address delay damages and transfer risk, an owner may often include a no-damage-for-delay (NDFD) clause in his agreement with the contractor. This clause contractually provides time relief and excludes delay damages to insulate the owner from the contractor’s claims. While the owner is protected under this clause, the contractor is left exposed to significant financial damages. Generally, NDFD clauses are enforced as written, but there are certain circumstances that circumvent its enforceability. Courts and administrative boards have recognized exceptions to the enforcement of NDFD clauses and have acknowledged the right of the contractor to recover delay damages. The main objective of this paper is to identify the risk associated with a NDFD ...

Integrated project delivery (IPD) is an emerging construction project delivery system that collaboratively involves key participants very early in the project timeline, often before the design is started. It is distinguished by a multiparty contractual agreement that typically allows risks and rewards to be shared among project stakeholders. Because IPD is becoming increasingly popular, various organizations are expressing interest in its benefits to the architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) industry. However, no research studies have shown statistically significant performance differences between IPD and more established delivery systems. This study fills that missing gap by evaluating the performance of IPD projects compared to projects delivered using the more traditional design-bid-build, design-build, and construction management at-risk systems, and showing statistically significant improvements for IPD. Relevant literature was analyzed, and a data collection instrument was developed an...

Over the past decades, numerous research efforts have been undertaken concerning the allocation of construction risks. Although the research currently available provides many valuable insights into the issue, industry participants remain concerned over risk associated with construction contracting. Based on this problem, a research product was developed to aid contracting parties in identifying, assessing, and allocating each construction risk. After a three-phase survey methodology for data collection, three worksheets were developed to identify construction risks with high potential for conflict and to aid in assessing and allocating these risks to the appropriate parties. To complement the model worksheets, three tools were developed: flowcharts, to help determine which party should carry each particular risk; legal research; and risk allocation principles, to help select appropriate contract language to address the identified risks. This paper discusses (1) the risk assessment and allocation m...

Many decisions are based on more than one criterion, judged by more than a single evaluator. Multievaluator multicriterion (MEMC) decision making can be controversial if bias or uncertainty find their way into the final decision. In fact, both public and private organizations have recently faced challenges when making decisions. In a previous study, the authors of this paper developed a multievaluator decision making model that reduces the effect of possible uncertainty resulting from an evaluator’s insufficient expertise in a particular criterion. This paper builds on the previous model by also correcting for any possible evaluator favoritism or bias. It presents a more comprehensive mathematical model that supports MEMC decisions and protects decision makers and their agencies from potential criticism. Testing of the model shows that it performs better than the simple averaging method on 100% of the simulations.

Contractors have responded to the growing pressure from owners to shorten project duration by employing a variety of crew-scheduling techniques. Unfortunately, only a limited knowledge base exists for determining the impact of different crew schedules on project performance in terms of cost, duration, productivity, and safety. Standard crew schedules include those that require crews to work 40 h per week, including five 8-h days, four 10-h days, or a second shift. Overtime schedules are also common, which require crews to work additional hours beyond the standard 40 h per week. These overtime schedules include five 9-h days, six 8-h days, or five 10-h days. In addition to the standard and overtime schedules, several other crew-scheduling techniques have been used successfully by contractors. This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of crew-scheduling techniques on overall project performance. The paper identifies the proper application and conditions for successful use of various c...

A request for information (RFI) is a formal written procedure initiated by the contractor seeking additional information or clarification for issues related to design, construction, and other contract documents. Large numbers of RFIs along with slow responses to RFIs are frequently cited as a metric for poor project performance. Implementation of an RFI process is an integral part of successful project management for construction projects that improves communication between the construction, design, and project management teams. The use of RFIs is common in vertical construction, but is just gaining use and acceptance in the delivery of transportation infrastructure projects. The purpose of this paper is to benchmark the RFI process and develop benchmarks and metrics to aid project teams in assessing the performance of a transportation infrastructure project and to provide best practices for improving the overall RFI process. Data on RFIs were collected from major highway construction projects in ...

Decision-making in fields such as politics, engineering and healthcare, shapes the world and how it evolves. Both public and private organizations face challenges when making decisions. Two examples occurred with the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2007 and the U.S. Department of Energy in 2008. Losing bidders for a bridge-rebuilding contract and a liquid-waste cleanup project, respectively, protested the agencies' awards on the basis of evaluation methods and selection criteria. Multi-evaluator multi-criterion (MEMC) decision making can be controversial if bias or uncertainty find their way into the final decision. In a previous study, the authors of this paper developed a model that reduces the effect of uncertainty resulting from an evaluator's insufficient expertise in a particular criterion. This paper builds on the previous study by also correcting for potential favoritism or bias. It presents a more comprehensive mathematical model that supports MEMC decisions and protects decision-makers from criticism. The methodology includes: (1) proposing a probabilistic model and its assumptions; (2) developing an iterative algorithm; (3) testing the algorithm and analyzing its convergence; and (4) revising the model based on the results. Tests of the model show it performs better than the simple average method on 100% of the simulations.

In many cases, disorganized cost and schedule tracking practices, as well as inaccurate data collection, cause many projects to experience distress and possible profit loss. This paper introduces an earned value management system that allows electrical contractors to monitor construction progress, perform forecasts on the project, uncover problems occurring on-site, and respond to problems in the project as early as possible. This paper also presents a case study, along with its results, to supplement the application of the earned value management system. In the case study, several progress reports for the earned value system were used, including the field personnel loading curve, Hanna’s control points, S-curves, performance factor profiles, and work-hour forecasts. Results from the analysis showed that early determination of probable project outcome is possible with reasonable forecasting accuracy. Early warning signs are discussed and explained by the author. Using an earned value management system can...

When selecting construction design-build teams, subjective multi-evaluator decision making can be controversial and can lead to project delay, loss of public trust, and increased legal fees. This paper introduces a mathematical algorithm that supports multi-evaluator selection decisions by detecting and reducing the effect of possible uncertainty in the scores given by the evaluators. The algorithm was coded and tested using several scenarios. The study results show that the model is robust and capable of extracting the maximum knowledge from the scores given by evaluators with varying degrees of expertise. Simulation results show that the proposed model performed better than the simple averaging method 89% of the time. The outcome of this research provides the decision maker with a justified basis to proceed with the selection decision.

Developing a reliable project cost estimate is a challenge for any state highway agency (SHA), especially at the conceptual stage. A conceptual estimate is defined in this paper as the estimate prepared at the point at which only 30% of the design is complete. This paper describes a statistical approach to producing a reliable conceptual cost estimate when few project design details have been finalized and many assumptions still form the basis of the estimate. This approach used an analysis similar to the program evaluation and review technique (PERT), which is more commonly used in project scheduling, to assign certainty factors to cost estimates. The approach uses a combination of historical bid data for major roadway items whose quantities can be estimated early in the development process and historical percentages for other major components of the project, called allowance and contingency factors. The paper focuses on (1) the methodology developed to analyze the historical bid data; (2) the analysis o...