Investigating the alignment of project delivery methods and financial contract types on construction project perfomance in Uganda

Abstract

Uganda is a low income developing country with a GDP growing at a rate of 3.4%, against an inflation of 14% (World Bank, 20013). The construction industry contributes over 12% of Uganda’s GDP and has witnessed steady growth for the last 20 years and despite recent upsurge in inflation Uganda National Commission for UNESCO (2013). The problems the industry faces are still a downside to the rate of growth. The World Bank (1984) summarizes some of these problems in the developing countries as inexperienced and excessively rigid contract supervision, inadequate training staff, construction business proprietors who tend to outgrow their capacity to manage construction risk and inadequate procurement and contracting procedures leading to delayed payments without adequate compensation for contractors. Contracting procedures include the choice of Project Delivery Methods (PDM) and financial contract types (FCT) to be used for a project. A Project delivery method is a system for organizing and financing design, construction, operations and maintenance activities and facilitates the delivery of a good or service, Miller (2000). Project Delivery Methods have evolved over the years. The master builder was hired by an owner to design, engineer and construct an entire facility. This system was common until the 20th century (Sanvido, 1998) Continuous changes in technology and the increasing sophistication in buildings required specialization of design and construction services. Designers and constructors began to specialize in the design, fabrication, and/or construction of building systems. This led to the traditional design-bid/build delivery system, which offered clients a sequential design, bid, then build approach Sanvido (1998). With time, this method seemed not to work for all clients’ needs and hence there was a need to adjust the method of delivery to suite the different clients and different projects. In the 1970s and 1980s the construction manager was introduced Sanvido (1998). The construction manager's role was to provide input to the designer to increase the constructability of designs and to decrease schedule durations through overlapping the design and construction phases (P.E.D Love, 2002). The construction manager approach before long became costly and there was a need