The abolishment of the tariff of professional fees in the construction industry is a growing international trend since the late 1980s. In recent years, this has become a topical issue among built environment professionals in South Africa following a ruling by the Competition Commission in 2016 that prohibits professional councils from publishing a tariff of fees. The period following the ruling has coincided with a perceived decline in the quality of professional service outputs, which some have attributed to the lowering of fees resulting from market competition. However, this may not necessarily be true, as other factors also influence quality. This research examined the claims through the lens of professionalism theory, which asserts that professionals have a ‘standard-of-care’ obligation that is not dependent on fees. The examination of data across 15 different professional services disciplines in a new universities project demonstrates that market competition led to fee offers that were lower in comparison with the tariff of fees published by built environment professional councils. However, the professionals delivered a high standard of work, which further challenges the claims that lower fees lead to a decline in the quality of professional service outputs.
Many construction projects end up with a wide gap between achieved and expected outcomes, which puts value for money for a project at risk. A root cause of this problem may lie in the development of an appropriate procurement strategy for projects. Wits University in South Africa has used a mixture of innovative procurement and contract strategies to deliver a portfolio of capital projects within 6% of the control budget over a period of 6 years (2008–2013). The research aim was to examine the procurement strategies and project organisation techniques adopted to deliver projects successfully. The strategic procurement approach has been based on the philosophy of collaboration, shared risk and integrated project teams, which is different from the conventional approaches in South Africa. A discussion of strategies including framework agreements, New Engineering Contract (NEC3) options, target cost contracts and early contractor involvement is presented to demonstrate how the use of collaborative procurement methods and integrated supply chains provides a key to deliver successful outcomes and value for money. Organisations intending to adopt similar approaches will require a team of experts to lead a change from traditional procurement cultures to more collaborative and integrated procurement methodologies.
PurposeSeveral researchers in the construction industry have mentioned that quality of tender documents is declining without tangibly assessing quality. Similarly, in practice, no standardised instrument exists to assess tender document quality. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to develop a framework to assess the quality of tender documents produced by built environment professionals in the construction industry. A framework was chosen to address the gaps in theory and practice as it provides a flexible but structured mechanism to assess tender document quality.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology contained three stages, namely: multi-investigator triangulation, a workshop with infrastructure experts and framework development and validation. A consolidated list of key quality indicators was developed following the literature review and multi-investigator triangulation. The indicators were discussed with ten experts in the South African construction industry, who were responsible for validating and providing insight on whether additional indicators were required. This informed development of the framework.FindingsThis paper proposes a framework to assess tender document quality by evaluating six key quality indicators namely: accuracy, clarity, completeness, standardisation, relevance and certainty.Research limitations/implicationsThe framework is limited to the assessment of tender document quality in the construction industry and is suited to the “Design by Employer” contracting strategy. From an academic perspective, this paper provides researchers with a framework to measure and benchmark quality of tender documents in future studies.Practical implicationsThis framework can be used by clients to continuously assess and benchmark quality of tender documents produced by professionals.Originality/valueA comprehensive and standardised approach to assess tender document quality was not available in the construction literature or the construction industry. Therefore, this paper addressed this gap in knowledge, by providing consumers (clients and contractors) of tender documents and researchers a mechanism to assess quality.
Purpose Construction projects require a range of documents (e.g. drawings and specifications) prepared by built environment professionals. In recent years, there has been a perception amongst professionals that quality of documentation has declined. “Low” professional fees were cited as one of the reasons for poor quality documentation. However, most studies on the topic contained inappropriate methodologies. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to develop a conceptual methodology to comprehensively examine the relationship between fees and professional service output quality. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to evaluate the limitations of previous methodologies and identify variables in the relationship between fees and quality of professional service outputs. Findings from the SLR were used to develop a conceptual methodology to investigate the relationship between fees and quality of professional service outputs. Findings Based on a frequency analysis of factors in the construction literature, the three main variables influencing professional service output quality were fees, coordination and amount of time available for project tasks. The SLR and shortcomings in previous studies informed the development of a conceptual methodology to examine the relationship between fees and professional service output quality. Practical implications The conceptual methodology will assist in comprehensively investigating the effect of fees on the quality of professional service outputs. This is particularly relevant in countries where clients procure built environment professional services based on the lowest fee tendered but are concerned about quality. The methodology can establish how and to what extent “low” fees impact on professional service output quality. Industry professionals can also use variables identified in this paper to mitigate quality-related risks when producing professional service outputs. Originality/value This paper adds to the body of knowledge by identifying variables in the relationship between fees and professional service output quality. The identified variables can be monitored and controlled by researchers during future investigations. Additionally, a conceptual methodology was proposed to assist researchers to determine the effect of fees on professional service output quality. The flexibility of the conceptual methodology enables it to comprehensively investigate other key variables (apart from fees) impacting on professional service output quality.
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