Introduction

Before we begin, we should first know more about Project Delivery Partner (PDP). A
Project Delivery Partner (PDP) represents an entity that possesses significant amount of project
and construction expertise that will assume the project delivery risk from “the project Owner”
after the project has been competitively tendered.

PDP is normally used in a mega huge project such as government projects where 2 or more
legal binded (Legal Agreement) parties join venture to accomplish the project. PDP is there to be
the primary backbone for the particular project. Without them, probably the project can only
remain as a dream. For example in Malaysia, the current PDP project is the KVMRT (a Gov-
Private Project) by MMC-GAMUDA.

With the PDP strategy, the Project Owner enjoys the best of both worlds where the mega
project is divided into multiple packages for competitive bidding to ensure maximum spread,
while reducing risk of cost overrun and late completion – borne by the PDP.

The main concept of PDP is that the PDP assumes complete risk ownership and
accountability for project deliver, from conceptualization till date of completion, including
specifications to cost, time and quality by integrating all contractors (civil, infrastructure and
systems) involved.

The Project Owner, on the other hand, will be able to maintain full control and cognizance
of the delivery process, including the award of tenders, land acquisitions and progress
supervision.

Like any other project, there are duties, roles and even challenges of PDP that we will
discuss. As said in the task, we will propose the most suitable procurement route for the new Hi
Tech township fast-track development project. We will also include relationships and challenges
faced and risk management strategies in implementing fast track procurement project.
 Duties and Roles of PDP
There is an extent of duties and roles of PDP which have to be done liability
in the project. Due to the legally binding relationship, they have the liability to
ensure their duties are complete. The PDP will take on the multiple integrated or
concurrent roles. The below are the gist of duties of PDP:

-Ensure successful completion within the pre-determined target cost and date
(deliver on time & on budget).
-Reduce risk in design, construction and integration (effective & efficient).
-Encapsulate (summarize) the engineering design, procurement, system
work and technical specification to ensure optimum performance of all other
work package contractors in terms of Quality, Safety and Time.
-Responsible for packaging works calling tenders on(tendering), evaluating
bids, selection contracts and distribute awards on behalf.
-Enable project to be rolled out efficiently in phases.
-Attending to the delivery obligations.
-Ensure performance of all other contractors.
-Alignment options and review, preparations and submissions for the
scheme, public display, land acquisition, construction and supervision, as
well as testing and commissioning for safe keeping.
 Challenges Faced by PDP
The Project Delivery Partner (PDP) forms the primary/main backbone of the mega
project and will interface with all contractors which can run by the hundreds,
depending on the scale of the project, while ensuring targets for the project’s cost,
workmanship quality and completion schedule are achieved.

The PDP will take on the multiple integrated or concurrent roles including
alignment options and review, preparations and submissions for the scheme, public
display, land acquisition, engineering design, tendering, construction and
supervision, as well as testing and commissioning for safe keeping. The below are
the challenges and hardships faced by PDP:

-Ensuring the constructability of the project’s design.

-Tendering the project to contractors.
-Achieving the required speed of progress among all contractors.
-Ensure construction is on time and done correctly.
-Management of cost and construction schedule.
-Safeguarding Quality, Safety and Health and Environmental standards for
the project. (By Testing)
-Ensuring a smooth interface between all civil and systems packages.
-PDP will be financially penalized if project cost escalates above the
predefined cost and if it’s not completed by the targeted completion date.
 Design and Build Procurement Method
The procurement method that I will propose as the most suitable for the new
Hi Tech township fast track development project is the Design and Build Method.
This is because the main element of the project is the Time. This project require a
fast-track method. Therefore, the most suitable selection will be the Design and
Build method.

By using Design and Build method, the time taken in the whole period will
be shorten. This is because this method is using an integrated or concurrent
method. Which means the design stage and the building stage is combined where a
single contractor is appointed who is responsible/liable for both the design and
construction of the building. Both the stages will be start at almost the same time.
The contractor will take liability on both the design and build and be liable on both
as it provides a single point responsibility so that in the event of a building failure
the contractor is solely liable. Therefore, the cons of this method is although the
project will complete quicker, the contractor will uphold a higher liability and risk.
The contractor will use their own in-house designers to design the building or
designers appointed by the contractor to design the project.
Start Completion

Design Stage

Construction Stage

Pic:Intergrated / Concurent Method

In conclusion, because of two(2) of the stages can be overlapped, the time

will also shorten and therefore it satisfy the requirement for fast-track project
which is a shorter duration where the time of completion is reduced. I will then
stand my ground and propose this Design and Build procurement method for this
new Hi Tech township fast track development project for I have the required strong
justification/elements.
 Contractual and Communication Relationships
Relationship contracting is based on achieving successful project outcomes, which include
the completion within cost, and the time. A strong relationship between the parties are resulting
from mutual trust and co-operation, open and honest communication and free sharing of
information. Construction management is considered as an enterprise with involvement of many
people with diverse interests, talents and backgrounds. They are owners, design professionals,
contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, bankers and so on, and have diverse relationships
to each other according to different project delivery systems and ownerships.
In between the relationship, the variety of roles of key parties involved in a construction
project consisting of owners, project manager, professional advisor and consultants, contractors,
site managers, supply managers, quantity managers, transportation subcontractors, and etc. All
these key carious parties can be joined in only three main types of groups which are owners,
design professionals and construction professionals.
The relationship between the key parties in a construction project can be separated into 2
main type, either formal relationship or informal relationship. Basically, formal relationship
refers to the contractual and functional relationships.
Contractual relationship is the relation of the various parties involved in the construction
contract. The contractual relationships cover the contractual terms within a governing relation,
which typically includes the relationship, the risk apportionment, the division of responsibilities,
and the reimbursement mechanism. In addition, the contractual relationships must be required to
be “fit-for-purpose”, which means that the contractual relations are optimal to deliver desired
goals.
The functional relationships are non-contractual types of relationships between parties
involved in a project. They perform their functions or tasks specified in contracts and project
organizational structures. For example, design consultants have supervision and inspections
responsibilities in connection with the construction activities of contractors. In this study, the
functional relationships are considered as formal relations since these functional relations may be
recognized from project contracts, documents about task assignment in a project organization,
etc.
 As the diagram show above, for the design consultants, their relationship is only
alternatively related to the client and the architect and the project manager. It is because if
anything required from the client or the architect, it can changed or fixed easily. But for the
architect, they have a direct relationship with the client – contractual relationship and functional
relationship. For quantity surveyor, they have a functional relationship between themselves, the
architect, design consultants and main contractor. This is because, if there is anything needed to
be re-measure, consult or claim money, the architect, design consultants and main contractor can
refer to the quantity surveyors. Besides that, the nominated subcontractor, direct management
and labour force and the domestic subcontractors all have contractual and functional
relationships with the main contractor, as the main contractor has the liabilities and full
responsibilities to be in charge of them. If anything goes wrong, main contractor have to take the
liabilities as the main contractor has a contractual relationship between contractor and the client.
On the other hand, an informal relationship between key parties refers to the trust
relationships and the personal relationships.
Although trust is individual behaviour, trust may exist between key parties in a
construction project. The basic of trust is built throughout relationships between key parties over
time where they may gain direct, personal experience and information to each other. When the
owner and the contractor have the high trust relationship to each other, the contractor tends to
lower the premiums because of low risk of the disclaimer clauses and vice versa.
The personal relationship is relations between individuals in the environment. This
relationship may include family relationships, social relationships, religious relationships, etc.
The personal relationships are an important aspect in managing projects. This is because when
project team members have good personal relations to each other; conflicts between them during
work may be minimized. However, personal relationships need to be sacrificed to ensure a
successful project completion and to meet the firm’s objectives”. Furthermore, “the degree of
personal acquaintance is found to be low.
Based on the model of relationships between the key parties in the construction phrase, a
model of relationship between the key parties in the details design stage is established below.
This derives from the principle of the traditional approach. For example, the construction
contractors are selected after the detailed design is fully completed, therefore, there are only four
characters involve in the detailed design stage, included, the client, design consultant, project
manager and the quantity surveyor.
 Challenges Faced and Risk Management
Strategies
Fast-track project delivery has become standard operating procedure for construction of
many industrial projects. In fast-track projects, there is inherent overlap of the design,
procurement and construction phases. The design phase is essentially driven by the requirements
of the construction phase, and the success of the design phase in meetings those requirements
depends upon the accuracy and timeliness of the information available to Engineers and
Designers from the procurement phase.

CII formed the Best Modern Practices for Design in Fast Track Research Team to study
this method of project execution. The main objective was to identify best practices that impact
the performance of the design phase in order to support timely procurement and construction of
an overall fast-track project. Secondary objectives included identification of correlation between
use of CII Best Practices and performance of the design phase, and identification of challenges
faced in managing the design of fast track projects.

The correlation between the performance of the design phase and the use of various
Construction Industry Institute (CII) Best Practices (BPs) was evaluated. Statistically significant
correlation was found between design schedule performance and the following four CII Best
Practices:

1. Pre-Project Planning

2. Alignment

3. Constructability

4. Change Management

The correlation between these BPs and design schedule performance meant that the more
rigorously these practices were implemented in the projects, the better the schedule performance
of the design phase. When asked to identify the top best practices for success of design phase in
fast-track projects, an overwhelming majority of industry practitioners identified the above
practices.
 Correspondingly, the research also found that the most commonly faced challenges in
managing design in fast track projects included:

1. Lack of adequate front end planning

2. Inadequate alignment within and across organizations working together in projects

3. Scope creep resulting from changes

4. Getting timely and accurate information from vendors

5. Coordination and teamwork within the design team and between organizations

6. Limited availability of skilled and experienced design work force

Inherent risks

The final cost of the project is uncertain when construction begins because design is not
complete. With the traditional Design-Bid-Build process a complete set of construction
documents and specifications describes what the builder agrees to build and serves as the heart of
the contract. On Fast-Track projects, the design, construction documents and specifications are
incomplete, so setting the final cost presents problems. To deal with this difficultly, owners
typically use a cost-reimbursable contract with the builder (a construction manager or a general
contractor). The contract may include a cost estimate with no guarantee or there may be a
Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP). However, even with a GMP, there can be argument over the
scope of work covered by the GMP since the design was incomplete when the contract was
executed.

There is also a risk that work built in an early phase of the project may not suit later design
decisions. For instance, if the building shape changes after the foundations are built, there is
increased cost and delay to modify the completed foundations. Or an item of equipment that is
selected late in the process may require drains or water and power connections that were not
anticipated early in the project.

If time is not crucial, owners may take a prudent approach to finish design and get a fixed lump-
sum price before starting construction (the Design-Bid-Build process). However, if there is a
reason to speed project delivery, Fast-Track can be used with any project delivery strategy, such
as CM at Risk and Agency CM (see Construction Management),Design–
build, Bridging and Integrated Project Delivery. Even the traditional Design-Bid-Build process
can use Fast-Track concepts by bidding separate general construction contracts for phases of the
work.

However, many owners choose experienced project teams and consider the rewards to be well
worth the risks. One source states that Fast-Track is used on 40 percent of building projects.
Efficient risk management entails that risk should lie with the party able to best manage it. In pro
curement what is relevant is not only the capacity to identify and bear the risks but also the relati
ve attitudes to risk on the part of the government and the contractor. The nature of the risks and h
ow best to deal with them would depend on the relative complexity of the project, the relativ
e importance of quality aspects vis‐à‐
vis costs for the procurer, the innovation intensity ), the heterogeneity of the projects, and other
aspects on the supply side. So how to manage risk and what are the strategies? The strategies can
be state with:
1) Coordination and incentive challenges
-Coordinating and communication between the parties, client and suppliers.

2) Risk Management Course Models and Practice

-Attend seminars and courses in managing risk. It
can be summarized as a process consisting of three stages; 1. Risk identification; i.e. That poten
tial risks are determined; 2. Risk assessment, i.e. where the risks identified are evaluated and
ranked and; 3. Risk response, i.e. identification of the way risks are dealt with (Orsipova, 200
8).

3) Estimating the time and the period to completion

-Uncertainty (Risk) is can be any time of the project. In good planning, those risk can be
avoided by estimating what can happen in the future.

4) Predicting the overall budget beforehand.

-By using Cost Estimation, a QS can estimate the cost of the project. The building can also be
planned and design according to the client’s budget. Therefore, money can be predicted and
overcome the problem (financial problem) pre-construction. The Variation Order will also may
be less as a wise planning to budget is planned.