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This research describes an investigation into developing closer working relationships through project partnering in order to reduce the occurrence of adversarial practices commonly found between main contractors and subcontractors. A literature review was undertaken that identified two main types of partnering: project partnering; and strategic partnering. One of the main differences between the two types of partnering were identified as being their durations: short term (project partnering); and long term (strategic partnering). It was concluded that the published literature had the following limitations: primarily applicable to the Australian and US construction industries; models and processes identified did not have an adequate practical content; and limited application to the main contractor - SC relationship. After completion of the literature review a research methodology was developed, allowing an alternative approach to project partnering to be developed. The research methodology enabled information to be obtained from both the collaborating contractors personnel and SC personnel. The approach to project partnering was named 'semi project partnering' as it contained an element of SC competition. The approach was implemented on a live commercial project during the preconstruction tendering and estimating stages. The semi project partnering approach utilised both the knowledge gained from the literature review and the conclusions from the empirical research. The approach was validated by the collaborating company's personnel. Further validation of the achievements of the approach took place by interviewing personnel from both the collaborating company and subcontractors. The main outcomes from the research are: identification of what a main contractor's employees want from their dealings with subcontractors; recognition of what subcontractors want from their dealings with main contractors; a comparison of the collaborating companies performance compared to that of its competitors; and a semi project partnering approach that provides: a reduction in the occurrence of adversarial practices used between main contractors and subcontractors; and earlier involvement of subcontractors within the building process promoting mutual understanding.

Tendering process is central to national government in South Africa. The goods and services bought by national government in South Africa represent a large amount of public money, and it is very important that national government put in place measure to manage how these goods and services are acquired. In the main government acquire goods and services through tender system and the focus of the study was tendering process in national government in South Africa. The amount of public resources that national government uses in the tendering process is huge and is approximately over 20% of GDP, which has direct implication for service delivery and job creation as well as redressing past discrimination by empowering designated groups of peoples to receive preference in tendering. South Africa is one of the countries with the highest level of corruption rate in the world, of which tender fraud and corruption play a major part. Considering that, the reform of tendering process in national government is therefore inevitable and has to take place. The primary objective of this study is to analyse national government tender system, and identify the tendering problems facing South African national departments. The study further made practical recommendations to National Government, National Treasury, and all the relevant stakeholders relating to the management of tendering process. Data from 355 questionnaires completed by participants, represented 45 national department was collected and analysed. This study found that national government is facing major challenges in managing of tendering process, and these challenges relates to implementation and adoption of the code of best practice. The most important conclusions drawn from the study are: * The department complies with all the above legislation and keep the rules as stipulated in the legislation; * There is a need to issue a single national legislative framework in terms of section 76(4)(c) of the PFMA to guide uniformity in tendering process; * The tendering legislations and its associated regulations are complex and may make it difficult to implement correctly; * The department follow all tendering process generic steps at all times; * The current evaluation system is not a good system and is biased towards the lowest price bidders; * The current tendering practices in government are outdated and inefficient; * Tender practitioners are not adequately trained in the application of the tender process and its associated regulations; * The departments did not keep a detailed and consistent documentation of all events of the whole tendering procedure at all times; * The current tendering practices do not conform to internationally accepted best practices; * The department’s tendering function is not carried out in a cost–effective way; and * The current tendering system is fair, encourages competition, and has integrity. Practical recommendations are suggested to ensure the effective management of tendering process in national government. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Tendering process is central to national government in South Africa. The goods and services bought by national government in South Africa represent a large amount of public money, and it is very important that national government put in place measure to manage how these goods and services are acquired. In the main government acquire goods and services through tender system and the focus of the study was tendering process in national government in South Africa. The amount of public resources that national government uses in the tendering process is huge and is approximately over 20% of GDP, which has direct implication for service delivery and job creation as well as redressing past discrimination by empowering designated groups of peoples to receive preference in tendering. South Africa is one of the countries with the highest level of corruption rate in the world, of which tender fraud and corruption play a major part. Considering that, the reform of tendering process in national government is therefore inevitable and has to take place. The primary objective of this study is to analyse national government tender system, and identify the tendering problems facing South African national departments. The study further made practical recommendations to National Government, National Treasury, and all the relevant stakeholders relating to the management of tendering process. Data from 355 questionnaires completed by participants, represented 45 national department was collected and analysed. This study found that national government is facing major challenges in managing of tendering process, and these challenges relates to implementation and adoption of the code of best practice. The most important conclusions drawn from the study are: * The department complies with all the above legislation and keep the rules as stipulated in the legislation; * There is a need to issue a single national legislative framework in terms of section 76(4)(c) of the PFMA to guide uniformity in tendering process; * The tendering legislations and its associated regulations are complex and may make it difficult to implement correctly; * The department follow all tendering process generic steps at all times; * The current evaluation system is not a good system and is biased towards the lowest price bidders; * The current tendering practices in government are outdated and inefficient; * Tender practitioners are not adequately trained in the application of the tender process and its associated regulations; * The departments did not keep a detailed and consistent documentation of all events of the whole tendering procedure at all times; * The current tendering practices do not conform to internationally accepted best practices; * The department’s tendering function is not carried out in a cost–effective way; and * The current tendering system is fair, encourages competition, and has integrity. Practical recommendations are suggested to ensure the effective management of tendering process in national government. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The principal aim of this thesis is to establish the extent of the impact of the introduction of CCT on the changing role of the local authority leisure professional. CCT was introduced into the management of local authority leisure facilities in phased stages between January lst 1992 and January 1st 1993, following the publication of the Parliamentary Order (Competition in Sports and Leisure Facilities, November 1989). As a policy it was one of a series of measures implemented by the Government in the 1980s and early 1990s to reduce the power of local authorities and reform the processes, systems and structures of these institutions. Change initiated at this structural level, stimulated change at the operational and individual levels of the policy process and it is at this individual or `agency' level that this thesis is most concerned. The empirical work undertaken to identify the impact of CCT at the agency level was based on 26 in-depth qualitative surveys administered on local authority leisure professionals who had worked in leisure services between the mid 1980s and 1998. At the individual level, the research considered in detail the role of the leisure professional as s/he was both a participant and spectator in the implementation of CCT. Individual officers' responses to the implementation were mediated by factors such as training, background, previous work experiences and the contextual local authority situation within which they found themselves. The findings demonstrate that the dominant values in the institutional environments within which leisure professionals operated, changed significantly with CCT as `goal governance' and `competitive individualism' came to the fore. Within this often aggressive and competitive environment, the implementation of CCT resulted in staffing restructuring and realignment of responsibilities and there was severe pressure to achieve the policy requirements. Relationships between colleagues became strained and some elements of leisure provision suffered as a result. Terms and conditions of employment deteriorated and many staff became de-motivated and disillusioned. However, in some instances CCT was seen as beneficial as it gave officers opportunities for career enhancement, it led to the development of generic leisure managers and heightened the profile of the leisure professional. Thus, CCT had a huge impact on local authority leisure professionals, as it imposed significant constraints and inhibitions on officers in their working relationships and environment. However, it also enabled some officers to advance within the leisure management industry and benefit from improved employment opportunities and heightened status. CCT as a policy both constrained and enabled leisure professionals. It was at the individual level that these constraining and enabling effects were most felt although previous research has given scant recognition to the human resource implication of CCT implementation through statistical analyses of outcomes. This research, however, recognises that one should use statistics `for support rather than illumination" (Lang as quoted in Cohen, 1960) and in so doing underlines the importance of the `bottom up' approach to policy analysis where the emphasis is on the role of the individual in the policy process.

The railway system is often considered to be an industry where a monopoly occurs “naturally”, which can explain the public ownership and the use of regulations. However, railways in Europe have been subject to reforms during the last three decades. The use of tendering has increased, which is a way of introducing competition for the market in absence of competition within the market. Still, contracting out services previously produced in-house places a heavy burden on the client, where contract design and its incentive structures can be decisive for the outcome of the reform. This dissertation provides empirical evidence on costs and incentives in a publicly owned monopoly that is subject to reforms, namely the provision of railway maintenance in Sweden. Essay 1 estimates the effect of exposing rail infrastructure maintenance to competitive tendering. The results show that this reform reduced maintenance costs in Sweden by around 11 per cent over the period 1999-2011, without any associated fall in the available measures of quality. Essay 2 estimates the relative cost efficiency between and within maintenance regions in Sweden. The results indicate considerable efficiency gaps together with economies of scale not being fully exploited. Essay 3 analyses the effect of incentive structures in railway maintenance contracts. An increase in the power of the incentive scheme reduces the number of infrastructure failures according to the results. In addition, the estimated effect of the performance incentive schemes suggests that more effort towards preventing train delays is made at the expense of preventing other failures. Essay 4 comprises an estimation of marginal costs of rail maintenance. The static model produces slightly lower marginal costs compared to previous estimates on Swedish data. The results from the dynamic model show that an increase in maintenance costs in year t - 1 predicts an increase in maintenance costs in year t. Indeed, there is an intertemporal effect that depends on the performed maintenance activities (governed by the contract design).

Stora infrastrukturprojekt kännetecknas ofta av osäkerheter och att många arbetsmoment och tekniker både är komplexa och icke-rutinmässiga. Som svar på komplexiteten och osäkerheterna blir entreprenadformen totalentreprenad allt mer förekommande inom anläggnings- och infrastruktursektorn. I totalentreprenader ansvarar entreprenören för projekteringen men på grund av komplexiteten på projekten saknar entreprenören ofta den nödvändiga kunskapen för att genomföra projekteringen och således behöver en eller flera externa projektörer upphandlas. Detta anses vara en av de främsta fördelarna med entreprenadformen då den främjar ett ökat kunskapsutbyte mellan projektörer och entreprenörer vilket, i teorin, bör leda till en optimering av resultatet gällande både projekteringen och produktionen. I anbudsskedet för totalentreprenader ska entreprenören, utifrån översiktliga funktionsbeskrivningar, projektera och prissätta projektet. Ett problem med anbudsprojektering för totalentreprenader är att konsultkostnaderna betalas av totalentreprenören och om entreprenören inte bli tilldelad entreprenaden är kostnaden för projekteringen förlorade pengar. Anbudsprojekteringen blir således en balansgång för entreprenören att projektera i tillräcklig utsträckning för att identifiera kostnadseffektiva lösningar samtidigt som projekteringskostnaderna hålls nere. Tidigare studier om upphandling av anläggningsprojekt har främst fokuserat på entreprenadupphandling medan det finns begränsat med forskning kring upphandling av konsulter. Syftet med studien har således varit att undersöka hur arbetet med upphandling och genomförandet av anbudsprojektering vid totalentreprenader för anläggningsprojekt sker i dagsläget. Med studien avsågs det även att kartlägga vilka som anses vara de största utmaningar som finns i arbetet med upphandling och genomförande av anbudsprojektering för totalentreprenader. Utifrån de identifierade utmaningarna var målet sedan att fram rekommendationer som byggföretag skulle kunna använda sig av för att förbättra arbetet med att anbudsprojektering. För att besvara studiens forskningsfrågor samt uppfylla studiens syfte och mål har studien genomförts med hjälp av en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi där fokus har varit att skapa djupare förståelse för problemområdet. Insamling av data för studien har primärt genomförts genom två olika insamlingsmetoder, en litteraturstudie och en intervjustudie. Intervjustudien är den huvudsakliga datainsamlingen i studien och består av totalt tio stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer, tre stycken med projektörer och sju stycken med entreprenörer. Genom att intervjua både projektörer och entreprenörer erhålls möjligheten att analysera processen och jämföra åsikterna mellan de inblandade parterna. Studien visar att anbudsprojektering är en komplex process som kännetecknas av osäkerheter och tidspress där de inblandade parterna saknar erfarenhet och kunskap för att kunna bedriva ett effektivt arbete. Studien visar även att valet av upphandlingsstrategi både har stor påverkan på resultatet av projekteringen samt en direkt påverkan på hur genomförandet av anbudsprojekteringen måste utföras. Entreprenörer är vana vid traditionell, kontrollfokuserad projektledning med fokus på tid och pengar medan anbudsprocessen, som är kantad av osäkerheter och tidspress, kräver ett utvecklat projektledarskap med fokus på samarbete, explorativt lärande och anpassning. / Large projects in the infrastructure sector are characterized by the fact that many work steps and techniques are both complex and non-routine. In response to the complexity and uncertainties, design-build contracts are becoming more and more common in the infrastructure sector. In design-build contracts, the contractor is responsible for the design, however, due to the complexity of the projects, the contractor often lacks the necessary knowledge to carry out the design and thus an external consultant needs to be procured. The advantage of design-build contracts is that it promotes an increased exchange of knowledge between the consultants and contractors, which, potentially, should be able to optimize both the design process and the production in order to respond to the complexity of the projects. In the tendering stage of design-build contracts, the contractor have to, based on general descriptions, design and calculate a price for the project. A major problem with the tendering design for design-build contracts is that the consulting costs are paid by the contractor and if the contractor is not awarded the contract for the project, the cost of the design is considered as lost money. The contractor must therefore choose between designing the project in detail or keeping down the costs of the design work. Previous studies on procurement of infrastructure projects have mainly focused on procurement of the contractor, while the focus on consulting procurement is more unusual. The aim with this study was to investigate how the contractors should work with procurement of design in the tendering stage of design-build contracts in order to create a basis for a successful project. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the work with procurement and implementation of tendering design for design-build contracts for infrastructure projects currently looks like. The study also intends to identify the biggest challenges that exist in the work with procurement and implementation of design in the tendering stage of design-build contracts.  In order to answer the study's purpose and aim, the study has been carried out with a qualitative research strategy where the focus has been on creating a deeper understanding of the problem. The data collection for the study was primarily carried out through two different methods, a literature study and an interview study. The interview study is the main data collection and consists of a total of ten semi-structured interviews, three with consultants and seven with contractors. By interviewing both consultants and contractors, the opportunity to analyse the process and compare the opinions between the parties involved is obtained. The study shows that routines and methods for procurement, assignment specification and project management of design in the tendering stage of design-built contracts are inadequate. The tendering stage in design-build contracts is a complex process where the parties lack experience and knowledge. It also appears in the study that the contractor would need to implement alternative working methods in order to be able to lead this process. Contractors are used to traditional, control-focused project management with a focus on time and money, whilst the tendering process, which is fraught with uncertainties and time pressure, requires a flexibility-focused project leadership with a focus on collaboration, exploratory learning and adaptation.

The post-1994 South African government has introduced multiple initiatives, programmes and passed various legislations which were aimed at assisting previously disadvantaged individuals to participate in the mainstream economy. These interventions by government are aimed at advancing mass participation in the economy by all groups of the society. Because of the laws during the apartheid regime, blacks in particular found themselves excluded in business opportunities and thus prohibiting them to actively participate in the economy. This study was therefore aimed at considering the impact made by BEE procurement policy on the BEE entrepreneurial activities in Fezile Dabi District. Fezile District is one of the four District Municipalities within the Free State province. The study aims to assess the impact of procurement policy as one of the elements towards BEE entrepreneurship activities. The study used both literature review as well as the empirical study to come to the conclusions revealed in the last chapter. The empirical study which was conducted using the questionnaires surveys over the four local municipalities within the District revealed that small business owners agree and believe that the BEE procurement policies introduced by government are very good instruments to enable them to enter the business sector and participate actively in the economy. However the challenge acknowledged by the small businesses is that despite this good legislation the implementation at the Fezile Dabi District is not properly executed. Lack of transparency and favouritism in awarding contracts and tenders were revealed as the biggest challenges facing the District. Practical recommendations were made to address these challenges and improving the system. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The post-1994 South African government has introduced multiple initiatives, programmes and passed various legislations which were aimed at assisting previously disadvantaged individuals to participate in the mainstream economy. These interventions by government are aimed at advancing mass participation in the economy by all groups of the society. Because of the laws during the apartheid regime, blacks in particular found themselves excluded in business opportunities and thus prohibiting them to actively participate in the economy. This study was therefore aimed at considering the impact made by BEE procurement policy on the BEE entrepreneurial activities in Fezile Dabi District. Fezile District is one of the four District Municipalities within the Free State province. The study aims to assess the impact of procurement policy as one of the elements towards BEE entrepreneurship activities. The study used both literature review as well as the empirical study to come to the conclusions revealed in the last chapter. The empirical study which was conducted using the questionnaires surveys over the four local municipalities within the District revealed that small business owners agree and believe that the BEE procurement policies introduced by government are very good instruments to enable them to enter the business sector and participate actively in the economy. However the challenge acknowledged by the small businesses is that despite this good legislation the implementation at the Fezile Dabi District is not properly executed. Lack of transparency and favouritism in awarding contracts and tenders were revealed as the biggest challenges facing the District. Practical recommendations were made to address these challenges and improving the system. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015