Purpose Road construction projects are one of the strategic industries in each country and their construction and development requires spending huge funds. Regarding the increased demand and resource constraints; a technique which reduces costs by maintaining and improving the functioning is of great importance for the authorities of each country. Value engineering is a comprehensive and coherent means based on innovation and team work which, in addition to maintaining the quality and improving the project function, reduces its cost and is not limited to the design and construction phase; however, it includes exploitation and maintenance as well. This study aims to present a practical model for the implementation and application of value engineering process in a construction project located in a special region (in terms of tourism, positioning in an economic growth path, and the East-West strategic axis of the region). In this regard, after reviewing the advisor's design, considering the interests of the project stakeholders, reviewing design criteria and assessment methods and with the use of value engineering techniques, a new option was presented which led to a significant reduction in costs and time and an increase of quality, safety, and environmental factors. Finally, including initial costs, repair, maintenance, income and expenses, the relative value index of this option, compared to the advisor's option, increased from 0.9 to 3.5. Based on the increased need for development of roads in the country, exploiting this model in similar projects can significantly improve the project value and the effectiveness of investments. Design/methodology/approach This research project was selected with regard to the extremely high credit of the project and its potential in terms of Value Engineering implementation. In this study, technical and financial information were first collected after forming a value engineering team including a value engineering expert who was responsible for coordinating the work, some representatives of the employer, designer, executor, and budget estimator. In functional analysis phase with the use of FAST graph, advantageous, costly, and risky functions were identified. In the creativity phase, ideas related to selected functions were created and investigated and developed in the evaluation phase. Finally, calculating the value index, two variants with higher value index than the baseline plan, were proposed and implemented. Findings Since the determining criteria of designing and implementation of road construction projects including increased safety, reduced travel time, user satisfaction, ease of implementation, cost of construction and maintenance and so on are almost similar in most projects, using this study results and implementing its practical framework in other construction projects can be beneficial. These parameters lead to an increase in quality, value, and safety of the project. With regard to done steps and resulted incomes, this essay can be known as a practical and theoretical model to promote the value of crucial projects especially in developing countries. Research limitations/implications Sanandaj-Hamedan road with the length 176km connects central provinces of Iran. This study is regarding the first part of this route. Based on the specific topography of the region and the existing road limitations, selecting a good variance with all the features of an ideal road from geometric, economic, and safety aspects is a difficult task. Originality/value Employers and project sponsors are always looking for products with greater value and lower cost; therefore, present a practical model for the implementation and application of value engineering process in a construction project and providing a similar work experience can encourage the use of value engineering techniques and significantly improve the project value and the effectiveness of investments.
Transferring all or some parts of the engineering activities or supply of goods to third persons or companies is one of the adopted methods that transfer a significant part of the likely risks to the concerned side. Outsourcing activities are followed by many benefits, such as reducing overhead and operational costs, increasing efficiency, reducing risk, and so on; however, if this is not done carefully, not only is no benefit gained, but also new risks are imposed on the organization. Considering that waste of time and cost diversions of projects stem from the selection of inappropriate contractors, risk assessment is important in outsourcing. Using a risk-oriented approach based on software toward outsourcing, the present study aims to identify and rate the factors affecting the selection of contractors and to finally provide a method to evaluate and select the proper way for the selection of contractors. This method is not just based on the lowest price, but it also includes several factors that influence the selection of contractors, which is achieved by applying the Expert Choice software. At first, the most important risk factors in the selection of contractors were identified according to the conducted research. Then, the factors that had the greatest risk potential for achieving the project goals were chosen from among them. The opinions of experts were obtained in the next phase to determine the importance of various factors in the process of contractor selection, which was achieved by the distribution of a questionnaire. Subsequently, the most important factors chosen by the experts were specified, and their relationship with the contractor’s risk management was found.
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