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The longer the contract period, the higher the chance that major changes will arise. Thus a greater reliance on the established relationships is needed to maintain the contractual bond in PPP project. Relationship Management (RM) can therefore be expected to be even more valuable in the PPP context. This paper, aims to investigate current perceptions and experiences of RM in PPP projects and more importantly, to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for RM in PPP projects. By means of an empirical questionnaire survey geared towards PPP practitioners with direct hands-on experience, the opinions were solicited, analysed and compared in relation to potential PPP RM success factors. The survey findings indicate that industry practitioners currently lack a consistent understanding of concepts and applications of RM, given that it is relatively new in PPP. However, they do think that RM is very important to improve the present performance of PPPs. Future PPP business opportunities can also be increased by effective RM. The top four CSFs for RM are found to be commitment of senior executives, defining the objectives, integration of the different divisions and a multidisciplinary team. However, the relative importance presently assigned for each of the above factors is insufficient, and commitment from senior management is perceived as the most difficult factor to improve.

Purpose -Delays and cost overruns are evidently frequent problems in the construction industries of many developed and developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to assess factors leading to time overruns (delays) and cost overruns in construction projects in the Gaza Strip. Since there appear to be additional special contributors to delays here, the relative perceptions of contractors, consultants and owners are compared, based on a listing of causal factors derived from previous studies elsewhere, together with other factors arising from special conditions in the Gaza Strip. Design/methodology/approach -A survey of a randomly selected samples yielded responses from 66 contractors, 27 consultants, and 31 owners. The survey included 110 delay factors/causes which were grouped into 12 major groups. The same survey also included 42 cost overrun factors. The level of importance of the delays and cost overrun factors were measured and ranked by their importance indexes, according to the perspectives of contractors, consultants, and owners. Findings -There seems to be a general agreement between contractors, consultants and owners regarding causes of delays and cost overruns. The main four causes of time delays included strikes and border closures, material-related factors, lack of materials in markets, and delays in materials delivery to the site. Additionally, the main three causes for cost overruns included price fluctuations of construction materials, contractor delays in material and equipment delivery, and inflation. Originality/value -The outcome of this paper will assist owners, contractors, and consultants in understanding the reasons for delays and cost overruns, thus eliminating or minimizing these causes. This could be achieved by better management of the projects and by finding new methods for storing the critical materials from the beginning of the project. Furthermore, the local government is advised to initiate legislation to overcome problems arising from monopolies in the supply of construction materials.

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