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