Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose recommendations and guidelines for the initiation phase of a public–private partnership (PPP), focusing on the electricity sector in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach A literature review allowed gathering international best practices, while brainstorming meetings and document research permitted acquiring data from the Brazilian electricity sector through a multiple case study of 12 projects. By applying benchmarking principles to compare findings, the paper proposes guidelines and recommendations, which culminated in a final framework for implementing PPPs. Findings The created framework structures a series of recommendations with application in PPP projects. Also, the paper gathers worldwide best practices, which could increase the rate of success by avoiding problems throughout the other phases of a PPP project. Research limitations/implications This paper addresses the electricity sector. Due to the singularity of such infrastructure enterprises, it is possible that the framework suggested is not entirely applicable to other enterprises, being a suggestion for future studies to perform an adherent test. Also, validating this framework is not in the scope of this project. Practical implications The use of a framework on PPP implementations brings attention to necessary efforts on previous phases of projects, which can avoid financial and technical problems, improving the reliability of PPPs. Originality/value The application of guidelines and recommendations on the electricity sector has not appeared with such focus in previous studies. The paper provides a practical manner to upgrade the process and suggests a model for implementing PPPs.

Delay is one of the most recurrent problems in the construction industry. It is the cause of major negative consequences on construction projects and it can be the main reason for project failures. Still, there is a need for studies focusing on causes of these delays. The objective of this article is to determine the factors with greatest influence on the backlog of real estate developments, improving the collective list of causes of delays in construction projects. A list of 24 probable causes was assembled and submitted as a survey for 47 professionals in administrative rolls from the building construction sector, more precisely, from private companies. The results were processed utilizing the Relative Importance Index (RII) ranking approach. The outcome shows that the most important delay causes are: rework, poor labor productivity, lack of qualified labor, unqualified labor, and project changes. The results also indicate that there are significant differences of opinion between the professionals of distinct hierarchy positions. The results obtained indicate that there is a transition between the opinions of professionals in different roles regarding the importance of influential factors in the delay of works, according to the managerial level of each group.

This paper aims to quantify the labor productivity improvement reached by the implementation of a masonry wall project design to guide field construction. A masonry wall project design is an instrument of rationalization, developed to specify the layout and steps of a masonry walls execution. The methodology is of quantitative nature and involves a practical case. The work of an enterprise in Goiânia (Brazil) was tracked by the collection of productivity data, firstly of a crew that didn’t have access to a masonry wall project design, and then of a crew that had access to the project. The evaluation of the productivity improvement was processed by means of statistical analysis, such as location and dispersion measures, average and variance, T-test, and F-value. Hypothesis tests were also performed to prove that the changes in productivity were caused by the implementation of the masonry project. The results showed that the project deployment optimized the production process in the field. There was a 26% increase in the team average productivity with access to the project design according to the hypothesis tests. The main contribution of this work is to present the beneficial impact of a masonry wall project design tailored for field construction, which allows a formal and rational approach to a heavily artisanal technique.