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abstract: The price based marketplace has dominated the construction industry. The majority of owners use price based practices of management (expectation and decision making, control, direction, and inspection.) The price based/management and control paradigm has not worked. Clients have now been moving toward the best value environment (hire contractors who know what they are doing, who preplan, and manage and minimize risk and deviation.) Owners are trying to move from client direction and control to hiring an expert and allowing them to do the quality control/risk management. The movement of environments changes the paradigm for the contractors from a reactive to a proactive, from a bureaucratic/non-accountable to an accountable position, from a relationship based/non-measuring to a measuring entity, and to a contractor who manages and minimizes the risk that they do not control. Years of price based practices have caused poor quality and low performance in the construction industry. This research identifies what is a best value contractor or vendor, what factors make up a best value vendor, and the methodology to transform a vendor to a best value vendor. It will use deductive logic, a case study to confirm the logic and the proposed methodology. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Engineering 2011

abstract: This thesis presents a literature research analyzing the cost overrun of the construction industry worldwide, exploring documented causes for cost overrun, and documented parties responsible for the inefficiency. The analysis looks at a comparison between the metrics of construction projects in different continents and regions. Multiple publication databases were used to look into over 300 papers. It is shown that although construction demands are increasing, cost overrun on these projects is not decreasing at the same rate around the world. This thesis also presents a possible solution to improve cost overrun in the construction industry, through the use of the Best Value Performance Information Procurement System (BV PIPS). This is a system that has been utilized in various countries around the world, and has documented evidence that it may be able to alleviate the overrun occurring in the construction industry. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction 2017

Performance-based contracting (PBC) for roadway maintenance is relatively new among various alternative contracting options available at present and is increasingly drawing more attention from state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and the contracting community. Because performance-based maintenance contracts extend over multiple years (typically 5-7 years) and shift performance risk to contractors, it is critical that contractors be selected based on a form of best-value method rather than on the conventional low-bid method. Currently, highway agencies use various methods for determining the best-value bid based on cost and technical scores. Five best-value bid identification methods that are already in practice by the state transportation agencies in Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, United Kingdom, and New Zealand were used as case studies for this research. These five methods were evaluated in terms of the agency’s willingness to pay for quality and the neutrality of these methods with respect to lowest bid and highest quality. To understand and describe the bid evaluation method, the agency can develop a willingness to pay (WTP) curve. This curve should represent the agency’s needs and budget, reflect their project characteristics, and accommodate associated performance risks. An Excel macro based software tool has been developed that automates these five best-value bid identification methods and also helps customize anyone of these options for any agency.

abstract: ABSTRACT Facility managers have an important job in today's competitive business world by caring for the backbone of the corporation's capital. Maintaining assets and the support efforts cause facility managers to fight an uphill battle to prove the worth of their organizations. This thesis will discuss the important and flexible use of measurement and leadership reports and the benefits of justifying the work required to maintain or upgrade a facility. The task is streamlined by invoking accountability to subject experts. The facility manager must trust in the ability of his or her work force to get the job done. However, with accountability comes increased risk. Even though accountability may not alleviate total control or cease reactionary actions, facility managers can develop key leadership based reports to reassign accountability and measure subject matter experts while simultaneously reducing reactionary actions leading to increased cost. Identifying and reassigning risk that are not controlled to subject matter experts is imperative for effective facility management leadership and allows facility managers to create an accurate and solid facility management plan, supports the organization's succession plan, and allows the organization to focus on key competencies. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Construction 2011

abstract: The overall purpose of this investigation is to examine the differences between the Best Value Approach and Best Value Procurement, and to test if the Best Value Approach can be used for the successful delivery of roofing systems. Best Value Procurement has been run on delivering roofing services for many years. However, in the last three years, it was discovered that Best Value Procurement was not sustainable and filled with risk. To examine if the Best Value Approach can be used for the successful delivery of roofing systems, the researcher identified a client in need of a new 70,000 sq. ft. industrial roof installation at their facility in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. The client willingly agreed to test the Best Value Approach as the project delivery method. The results of the project were documented, and they show that the Best Value Approach can be successfully implemented on an industrial roofing project with high performance results. The Best Value Approach’s advantage over Best Value Procurement is it addresses risk using “level of expertise” and cost to select a vendor. This paper identifies the differences between the methodologies and shows how the Best Value Approach can be an optimal approach for other roofing projects. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction Management 2017

The Governments' promotion and support of Best Value within the Social Housing Sector has been a prime catalyst in the move by Registered Social Landlord's [RSL's] away from the traditional culture of acceptance of the lowest bid towards consideration of both price and quality criteria as a basis for contractor selection. Manifestly this radical change in the way the sector procures its construction services has forced many of its stakeholders to undergo significant cultural and organisational changes within a relatively short period of time, and problems have developed during this transitional period that have affected the efficiency of the best value process. This research traced the root causes of these problems and its overarching aim was to develop an approach which will enable RSL's and their stakeholders to streamline the best value tender analysis procedure thereby allowing tenders to be dealt with effectively and efficiently whilst also creating a transparent and auditable decision making process. The approach has been established using a mixed methods research methodology utilising; case studies, surveys, rational decision analysis and system evaluation. The main output of the research is the development of a support tool known by the acronym OVID-BV which aids the multi objective decision making process. The underlying rationale for the support tool is based on the innovative use of uncertainty in decision making and the functionality of the tool uses a combination of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), multi attribute utility theory (MAUT) and whole life costing (WLC).

abstract: The Vietnam Construction Industry (VCI) has been facing risks that cause delays, budget overrun, and low customer satisfaction that required continuously research efforts to manage them. This research assesses the current conditions of the VCI in terms of performance, common risks, and success factors; and explores the potential of using the Best Value Approach (BVA), an innovative procurement and project management technology, to improve overall VCI performance. VCI risk factors were presented in an analysis of the data collected from a survey that include the 23 common risk factors that cause non-performance in construction projects in developing countries. The factors were consolidated from an extensive literature reviews, and inputs were solicited from 103 construction practitioners in Vietnam. The study reveals the top five risk factors as the bureaucratic administrative system, financial difficulties of owner, slow payment of completed works, poor contractor performance, financial difficulties of contractor. Factor analysis explored the correlations among the risks and yielded four outcomes – Lack of Site and Legal Information, Lack of Capable Managers, Poor Deliverables Quality, and Owner’s Financial Incapability. VCI success factors were revealed from a survey that is adopted from 23 Critical Success Factors (CSFs) related to common construction risks, found through extensive literature reviews, and inputs were solicited from 101 VCI participants. The experts ranked those CSFs with respect to impact to project success. The study reveals the top impactful CSFs such as all project parties clearly understand their responsibilities, more serious consideration during contractor selection stage, test contractors’ experience and competency through successful projects in the past. Factor analysis was conducted to explore the principal success factor groupings and yielded four outcomes – Improving Management Capability, Adequate Pre-Planning, Stakeholders’ Management, and Performance-based Procurement. An analysis from six industry experts determined how current VCI conditions, namely risk and success factors, are related to BVA. Sixteen BVA success principles were identified and ranked based on their perceived impact to project performance by an industry survey with 98 VCI practitioners. The results show high agreement rate with all sixteen BVA principles. The majority of participants agreed that BVA would improve project performance and were interested in learning more about BVA. The results encourage further BVA testing and education in the VCI. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Construction Management 2019

abstract: Commodity contracts are often awarded on the basis of price. A price-based methodology for making such awards fails to consider the suppliers' ability to minimize the risk of non-performance in terms of cost, schedule, or customer satisfaction. Literature suggests that nearly all risk in the delivery of commodities is in the interfacing of nodes within a supply chain. Therefore, commodity suppliers should be selected on the basis of their past performance, ability to identify and minimize risk, and capacity to preplan the delivery of services. Organizations that select commodity suppliers primarily on the basis of price may experience customer dissatisfaction, delayed services, low product quality, or some combination thereof. One area that is often considered a "commodity" is the delivery of furniture services. Arizona State University, on behalf of the Arizona Tri-University Furniture Consortium, approached the researcher and identified concerns with their current furnishing services contract. These concerns included misaligned customer expectations, minimal furniture supplier upfront involvement on large capital construction projects, and manufacturer design expertise was not being utilized during project preplanning. The Universities implemented a best value selection process and risk management structure. The system has resulted in a 9.3 / 10 customer satisfaction rating (24 percent increase over the previous system), for over 1,100 furniture projects totaling $19.3M. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Construction 2012

abstract: Construction Management research has not been successful in changing the practices of the construction industry. The method of receiving grants and the peer review paper system that academics rely on to achieve promotion, does not align to academic researchers becoming experts who can bring change to industry practices. Poor construction industry performance has been documented for the past 25 years in the international construction management field. However, after 25 years of billions of dollars of research investment, the solution remains elusive. Research has shown that very few researchers have a hypothesis, run cycles of research tests in the industry, and result in changing industry practices. The most impactful research identified in this thesis, has led to conclusions that pre-planning is critical, hiring contractors who have expertise will result in better performance, and risk is mitigated when the supply chain partners work together and expertise is utilized at the beginning of projects. The problems with construction non-performance have persisted. Legal contract issues have become more important. Traditional research approaches have not identified the severity and the source of construction non-performance. The problem seems to be as complex as ever. The construction industry practices and the academic research community remain in silos. This research proposes that the problem may be in the traditional construction management research structure and methodology. The research has identified a unique non-traditional research program that has documented over 1700 industry tests, which has resulted in a decrease in client management by up to 79%, contractors adding value by up to 38%, increased customer satisfaction by up to 140%, reduced change order rates as low as -0.6%, and decreased cost of services by up to 31%. The purpose of this thesis is to document the performance of the non-traditional research program around the above identified results. The documentation of such an effort will shed more light on what is required for a sustainable, industry impacting, and academic expert based research program. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction 2014