- I am a senior Lecturer in the Department of Construction Technology and Management at the Kwame Nkrumah University of... moreI am a senior Lecturer in the Department of Construction Technology and Management at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. I specialize in Quantity Surveying and Procurement.edit
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The introduction of the Public Procurement Act in 2003 in Ghana is over ten years, however research has indicated that value for money was not being achieved in both government- and donor-financed procurement resulting in poor project... more
The introduction of the Public Procurement Act in 2003 in Ghana is over ten years, however research has indicated that value for money was not being achieved in both government- and donor-financed procurement resulting in poor project performance. There is therefore the need to improve on the efficiency, timeliness, and quality of construction and maintenance work in many developing countries. The aim is to investigate the prospects of Building Information Modeling for implementation of procurement of works in Ghana. The following objectives were identified to be of paramount importance in achieving aforementioned aim: to conduct a comprehensive literature review on Building Information Modeling; to identify the benefits of Building Information Modeling on Procurement and determine barriers affecting the use of Building Information Modeling for procurement of works in Ghana. The research is qualitative; literature review was conducted to collect the data for barriers affecting the u...
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Corruption in public procurement has become endemic and not until the causes and types of this pandemic are identified, it would be very difficult to fight it. The rate of corruption in public procurement for the past five years has been... more
Corruption in public procurement has become endemic and not until the causes and types of this pandemic are identified, it would be very difficult to fight it. The rate of corruption in public procurement for the past five years has been on the increase and little action has been taken by government to restrain it. The paper discusses the types and causes of corruption in public procurement. The paper aims at identifying the major causes of corruption and the most prevalent types of corruption in public procurement. A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the causes and types of corruption from professionals and contractors. The field survey included 112 respondents made up of 52 professionals, 30 building contractors and 30 road contractors from the Central and Greater Accra Regions. The relative importance of the causes and their ranks revealed that greed and weaknesses in institutional structures, and failure to implement and enforce policies and laws are the most importa...
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Duration estimation for bridge projects is problematic in the construction industry and has generated much concern. The purpose of this study is to develop a working model for estimating the duration of prefabricated steel bridge projects... more
Duration estimation for bridge projects is problematic in the construction industry and has generated much concern. The purpose of this study is to develop a working model for estimating the duration of prefabricated steel bridge projects on rural roads in Ghana. Data for 18 completed bridge construction projects were collected from the Department of Feeder Roads. The data collected comprised of final payment certificates which included quantities of all work items completed under each project as well as the actual durations. Data relating to the prefabricated steel bridge components for each of the selected project were also collected through a questionnaire. The principal component analysis (PCA) was first employed to reduce the data to a smaller number of items, namely the bridge span and formwork as independent variables/items. The artificial neural network (ANN) was then used to develop the model using the two independent items as input variables and the actual durations as out...
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Adaptive-Retrofit Projects (ARPs) face the challenge of wide-adoption due to health and safety (HS hazardous and toxic substances (which are difficult to observe and evaluate); and highly labour intensive activities, the health, safety... more
Adaptive-Retrofit Projects (ARPs) face the challenge of wide-adoption due to health and safety (HS hazardous and toxic substances (which are difficult to observe and evaluate); and highly labour intensive activities, the health, safety and wellbeing of workers on ARPs generally tend to be more difficult to manage. In the context of the Ghanaian construction industry, safe management of ARPs is even more serious given the numerous problems and challenges the industry faces. As ARPs become common in Ghana, fatal and non-fatal accidents are likely to occur and even escalate further. Therefore, providing some guidance to help manage the H&S issues regarding ARPs will help to protect workers from accidents/injuries and thereby also encourage wider adaption of older buildings in Ghana. To this end, this study through a review of H&S literature makes the case for research to be undertaken to develop guidance framework for managing H&S on ARPs in Ghana. The study also proposes the Delphi me...
Corruption in public procurement is inevitable. Some officials and firms see procurement as a means of enriching their pockets. It is becoming complex and sophisticated by day. Practitioners in public institutions can perform their duties... more
Corruption in public procurement is inevitable. Some officials and firms see procurement as a means of enriching their pockets. It is becoming complex and sophisticated by day. Practitioners in public institutions can perform their duties well if they are guided by set of rules and principles that regulate what they do. Highly skilled and trained procurement professionals with good morals are required in public institutions to help trace and fight corruption. The paper aims at reviewing literature on the types of collusion or rigging practices and the approaches to defining corruption in procurement. The objective of this paper is to identify the types of tender collusion and rigging practices and approaches to defining corruption in procurement. The study reviews relevant literature which revealed that the most destructive type of procurement corruption is systemic corruption. It does not involve one person but a group who work together to exploit genuine firms. This type of corrup...
AbstractInternational construction joint ventures (ICJVs) have evolved as an effective approach to sustainable development, given their myriad socioeconomic and environmental benefits. Despite the ...
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Undue delays in public sector competitive tendering is perceived to persists because efforts to address them are not targeted at the root causes. This research highlights the need to identify the root causes of delays in public works... more
Undue delays in public sector competitive tendering is perceived to persists because efforts to address them are not targeted at the root causes. This research highlights the need to identify the root causes of delays in public works competitive tendering process in order to identify actual causes of delay and not perceived causes. A multiple case study of three Ghanaian public entities was used to identify the root causes of delays in the competitive tendering process. The root causes of delays in the competitive tendering process are, delays in approval processes and improper procurement planning. Root causes of delays should be identified in order to address actual delays and not perceived ones. This approach departs form the identification of symptoms as causes and focuses on actual causes of delays, enhancing process efficiency through innovation.
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The inability of public hospitals in Ghana to integrate electronic information in their supply chain systems has been a great disadvantage and affecting value for money and sustainability. Even though these government hospitals have... more
The inability of public hospitals in Ghana to integrate electronic information in their supply chain systems has been a great disadvantage and affecting value for money and sustainability. Even though these government hospitals have technological equipment in operations that are closely related to e-Procurement tools, they practice the paper-based transaction system of procurement due to inadequate knowledge of e-Procurement procedures. Our study investigates the other critical barriers beside technology that are not well in place hence the lag in e-procurement adoption in these hospitals. We sampled the views of supply chain management officers in selected hospitals in Ghana and applied a fitted logistic regression model as the main analytical tool to explore the effect of constraining factors on e-procurement adoption in Ghanaian hospitals. We observed a non-negligible effect of weak financial deployment, employee motivation, organizational structure, organizational culture, relat...
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PurposeThis research investigates the implementation of Six Sigma in competitive tendering processes to address persistent delays by identifying the potential benefits and challenges of implementing Six Sigma in construction competitive... more
PurposeThis research investigates the implementation of Six Sigma in competitive tendering processes to address persistent delays by identifying the potential benefits and challenges of implementing Six Sigma in construction competitive tendering processes. The results seek to encourage practitioners to implement Six Sigma in addressing competitive tendering process delays.Design/methodology/approachLiterature was reviewed to identify the benefits and challenges of Six Sigma implementation in construction processes and categorized under broad headings. Three case studies were used to authenticate the literature findings by applying Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control to their construction competitive tendering processes. Furthermore, quality tools and techniques together with documentary analysis, content analysis and determination of frequencies of quantitised qualitative data were employed to identify potential benefits and challenges.FindingsThe most common Six Sigma benefits ...
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PurposeProject management tools and techniques have been widely adopted in the construction industry; however, its combination with Six Sigma and application in construction procurement has not been widely researched. This paper explores... more
PurposeProject management tools and techniques have been widely adopted in the construction industry; however, its combination with Six Sigma and application in construction procurement has not been widely researched. This paper explores the use of Six Sigma Project Procurement (SSPP) and its potential applications in public sector construction procurement.Design/methodology/approachThe role of Six Sigma and project management in construction is critically evaluated using three case studies to demonstrate their application in public procurement.FindingsThe use of SSPP by public sector organisations creates efficient and effective construction procurement processes by addressing delays. The proposed timelines for competitive tendering in the Ghanaian Public Procurement Manual are not realistic.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes to and broadens the limited body of evidence and knowledge of applying SSPP to public procurement processes and identifies areas for furt...
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Little study on performance measurement has been conducted within sub-Saharan Africa, where international construction joint ventures (ICJV) have become an emerging trend in construction. Consequently, the reliability and comparability of... more
Little study on performance measurement has been conducted within sub-Saharan Africa, where international construction joint ventures (ICJV) have become an emerging trend in construction. Consequently, the reliability and comparability of existing performance measures in such a new region are unknown. This paper adds to the existing knowledge by identifying the relevant joint venture (JV) performance measures within the Ghanaian construction industry. Using a self-administered data obtained through a questionnaire survey by purposive and snowball sampling, respondents rated their perceptions of 20 performance measures identified from the literature. Factor analysis established the variables measuring aspects of the same underlying dimensions. A total of four key performance measures were identified and explained in terms of a cooperative relationship, financial measures, strategic and learning measures. The findings would enlighten JV stakeholders of the reasons underlying the choic...
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Research works into the effect of economic factors on the construction industry are enormous. But finding the core economic factors is limited in the Ghanaian construction industry. In an attempt to address this research gap, this study... more
Research works into the effect of economic factors on the construction industry are enormous. But finding the core economic factors is limited in the Ghanaian construction industry. In an attempt to address this research gap, this study articulates the aim of identifying exogenous economic factors influencing the construction industry through a qualitative literature review. The study used secondary data collected from over 50 published journals, conference papers, and dissertations on exogenous factors. Fifty-nine exogenous factors were identified, and the most prevailing ones were GDP, exchange rate, inflation, interest rate, consumer price index, etc. It also revealed that black market is a factor affecting construction industry in Saudi Arabia. The study contributes to the literature by highlighting generic and specific exogenous factors that should be of concern to players in the construction industry including policy makers in their project planning. This will help to reduce t...
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Although the advocacy for Social Sustainability consideration in the construction industry has been on the rise, however, the practice of Social Sustainability (SS) is plagued with barriers. The barriers that hinder the practices of SS in... more
Although the advocacy for Social Sustainability consideration in the construction industry has been on the rise, however, the practice of Social Sustainability (SS) is plagued with barriers. The barriers that hinder the practices of SS in the construction industry has to be carried out. Nonetheless, not many studies have been conducted on the barriers that hinder SS in the construction industry. This study aims to investigate the critical barriers to social sustainability from the quantity surveyors' perspective. A comprehensive literature review was conducted and nineteen (19) variables (barriers) were identified. Structured questionnaires were designed and were answered by 110 out of the total sample size of 120 Quantity Surveying professionals recognised by the Ghana Institute of Surveyors (GhIS) representing approximately 92% response rate. The data collected were analyse using Factor Analysis. The study revealed that the underlying grouped barriers for the 19 barriers were;...
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Purpose A major concern for construction professionals at the rural road agency in Ghana is the problem of fixing contract duration for bridge construction projects in rural areas. The purpose of the study was to develop a tool for... more
Purpose A major concern for construction professionals at the rural road agency in Ghana is the problem of fixing contract duration for bridge construction projects in rural areas. The purpose of the study was to develop a tool for construction professionals to forecast duration for bridge projects. Design/methodology/approach In all, 100 questionnaires were distributed to professionals at the Department of Feeder Roads to ascertain their views on the work items in a bill of quantities (BOQ) that impact significantly on the duration of bridge construction projects. Historical data for 30 completed bridge projects were also collected from the same Department. The data collected were executed work items in BOQ and actual durations used in completing the works. The qualitative data were analysed using the relative importance index and the quantitative data, processed and analysed using both the stepwise regression method and artificial neural network (ANN) technique. Findings The ident...
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Cost of building is usually influenced by several factors; one of such is frequent changes in macroeconomic variables. The purpose of this study is to establish the need to conduct further research on the impact of changes in... more
Cost of building is usually influenced by several factors; one of such is frequent changes in macroeconomic variables. The purpose of this study is to establish the need to conduct further research on the impact of changes in macroeconomic components on the cost of public educational buildings. The study adopted the qualitative research approach; purposive and snowballing techniques were used in selecting respondents. Questionnaire survey was used to obtain primary data from respondents who were Quantity Surveyors and Estimators. The questionnaires were analyzed through descriptive analysis. Secondary data was obtained through literature review. The study revealed that respondents were satisfied with cost management procedures and practices and mainly relied on cash flow, progress reporting, and project cost control methods as means of monitoring and managing project cost. Relative important index, prime rate, interest rate, and inflation were some of the macroeconomic components th...
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Purpose Time overruns are commonplace within the construction industry. These result in deception because project managers critically assess the economic and financial viability of a project before implementation. Forecasting the... more
Purpose Time overruns are commonplace within the construction industry. These result in deception because project managers critically assess the economic and financial viability of a project before implementation. Forecasting the likelihood of time overruns will not only lead to a reconsideration on the decision to build but also help put in place the necessary control measures – exactly what this research achieved. Design/methodology/approach The paper argues that rather than depending on the critical failure factors that are unknown at the pre-contract stage to forecast the likelihood of occurrence, it will be more useful to rely on project attributes that are known before contract signing. A multiple linear regression analysis is used for the model development based on ten independent variables. Findings About 86.6 per cent of all the projects experienced time overruns. The mean time overrun is 106.5 per cent. Initial contract sum, initial duration, gross floor area, contractor c...
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Purpose Determining the duration for road construction projects represents a problem for construction professionals in Ghana. The purpose of this paper is to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model for determining the duration... more
Purpose Determining the duration for road construction projects represents a problem for construction professionals in Ghana. The purpose of this paper is to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model for determining the duration for rural bituminous surfaced road projects. Design/methodology/approach Data for 22 completed bituminous surfaced road projects from the Department of Feeder Roads (rural road agency) were collected and analyzed using the principal component analysis (PCA) and ANN techniques. The data collected were final payment certificates which contained payment bill of quantities (BOQ) of work items executed for the selected completed road projects. The executed quantities in the BOQ were the total quantities of work items for site clearance, earthworks, in-situ concrete, reinforcement, formwork, gravel sub-base/base, bitumen, road line markings and furniture, length of road and actual durations for each of the completed projects. The PCA was first employed to r...
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Despite a number of reforms undertaken by the Quantity Surveying-Division of Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) to raise the standards of professionalism and global competitiveness, Quantity Surveying Firms (QSFs) feared attrition of... more
Despite a number of reforms undertaken by the Quantity Surveying-Division of Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) to raise the standards of professionalism and global competitiveness, Quantity Surveying Firms (QSFs) feared attrition of professionals that could lead to their extinction. Several practicing professionals and graduates yearly end up in other industries. Though employees leave for many reasons, this study aim to explore and identify factors that lead to attrition of Quantity Surveying Professionals (QSPs). This is to establish the rate, type and factors that account for attrition of QSPs in the country and attempt to propose measures to reduce professional turnover of QSPs in order to sustain QSFs. An in-depth field interviews/survey was conducted on ten QSFs in Ghana. The findings revealed the existence of voluntary and involuntary attrition of QSPs in QSFs at rate of two (2) QSPs within a firm per year and the extinction of some QSFs. QSFs in Ghana are classified as small (10 employees) per the number of employees. The tattered growth of QSFs which affects infrastructural delivery in Ghana. Rebranding QSPs/QSFs was recommended as a measure to reduce high rate of professional attrition, attractive compensative packages to QSPs, strict usage of Public Procurement Act (PPA 663) in award of contract rather than political influence and a possible review of course content for student professionals so as to add on innovative and entrepreneurial training with new technologies in work delivery. Finally, the legal framework (surveyors' bill) and its implementation must create an enabling environment for the rapid development of QSFs.
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Project control is undertaken throughout a construction process and it involves planning, monitoring, comparing actual with planned and taking actions. The three major areas of control in construction are ‘cost control’, ‘Quality control’... more
Project control is undertaken throughout a construction process and it involves planning, monitoring, comparing actual with planned and taking actions. The three major areas of control in construction are ‘cost control’, ‘Quality control’ and ‘Schedule or progress control’. In all planning/ setting target and monitoring, work quantity information is used within the control mechanism to provide vital information. The paper therefore identifies the challenges of accurately quantifying construction work and organising the quantified information for control processes in Ghana. A structured questionnaire was administered to Quantity Surveyors and Project Managers on phone (not a common research practice in Ghana) to rate pre-identified challenges quantity surveyor face in quantification of construction work. Poor quality of drawings, limited time to carryout measurement, lack of adequate quantification skills, poor specification, poor remuneration, difficulty in interpretation of standard method of measurement, and difficulty in measuring work on site in that order were identified as the major challenges to quantification in Ghana. The major impact of these challenges is on cost control of project which is vital to developing countries.
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... In summary, Quantity surveyors in developing countries face several challenges of which the major ... in strategic planning decisions of contractors in Ghana The Ghanaian Surveyor, 1, 22 ... Hohoabu, K., 2003, Factors influencing... more
... In summary, Quantity surveyors in developing countries face several challenges of which the major ... in strategic planning decisions of contractors in Ghana The Ghanaian Surveyor, 1, 22 ... Hohoabu, K., 2003, Factors influencing bid-no-bid decisions of contractors in Ghana, The ...
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Brochure and Book of abstracts of the West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference 2015 10th - 12th August 2015 in Accra, Ghana Editors Samuel Laryea, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Roine... more
Brochure and Book of abstracts of the West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference 2015
10th - 12th August 2015 in Accra, Ghana
Editors
Samuel Laryea, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Roine Leiringer, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
First published in 2015
978-0-620-66249-9(print)
978-0-620-66250-5(e-book)
The ISBN for this publication was provided by the National Library of South Africa. Legal deposits of the publication have been supplied to the National Library of South Africa, Library of Parliament, and other places of Legal Deposit.
© Copyright. WABER Conference. 2015. The copyright for papers in this publication belongs to authors of the papers.
Published by:
West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference
C/o Samuel Laryea
School of Construction Economics and Management
University of the Witwatersrand
1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg, South Africa
PO Box 20, Wits 2050
Tel: +27 78 172 6106
Email: samuel.laryea@wits.ac.za
Website: www.waberconf.com / www.waberconference.com
Declaration
All papers in this publication have been through a review process involving initial screening of abstracts, review of full papers by at least two referees, reporting of comments to authors, revision of papers by authors and re-evaluation of re-submitted papers to ensure quality of content.
10th - 12th August 2015 in Accra, Ghana
Editors
Samuel Laryea, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
Roine Leiringer, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
First published in 2015
978-0-620-66249-9(print)
978-0-620-66250-5(e-book)
The ISBN for this publication was provided by the National Library of South Africa. Legal deposits of the publication have been supplied to the National Library of South Africa, Library of Parliament, and other places of Legal Deposit.
© Copyright. WABER Conference. 2015. The copyright for papers in this publication belongs to authors of the papers.
Published by:
West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference
C/o Samuel Laryea
School of Construction Economics and Management
University of the Witwatersrand
1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg, South Africa
PO Box 20, Wits 2050
Tel: +27 78 172 6106
Email: samuel.laryea@wits.ac.za
Website: www.waberconf.com / www.waberconference.com
Declaration
All papers in this publication have been through a review process involving initial screening of abstracts, review of full papers by at least two referees, reporting of comments to authors, revision of papers by authors and re-evaluation of re-submitted papers to ensure quality of content.