Early contractor involvement in dutch infrastructure development: Initial experiences with parallel procedures for planning and procurement

Abstract

Netherlands, the procurement procedure for infrastructure does not start until the public decision-making procedure is fully completed. In the new procurement strategy, early contractor involvement is applied by carrying out the procurement procedure and the public planning procedure simultaneously. This article explores the first experiences and lessons learned with early contractor involvement in four Dutch infrastructure projects. It can be concluded that the new strategy adds value in terms of time gains, improved project control and more innovative solutions. However, to optimize early contractor involvement, the differences between the competitive procurement procedures and the open, cooperative public planning procedures need to be bridged.

Public–private Interaction in Contracting: Governance Strategies in the Competitive Dialogue of Dutch Infrastructure Projects

“…In the investigated CDs, legal complexity is increased by the introduction of integral contracts and parallel execution of public planning procedures and tender procedures (see Lenferink et al . ). As a response, there is a strong presence of legal experts from public and private parties in the dialogue.…”

“…It could enable private parties to gain a better understanding of public needs and proposed contracts, and also result in public authorities receiving more creative and innovative, better grounded, and constructible bids (Lenferink et al . ).…”

Early contractor involvement approaches in public project procurement

“…Figure 1 illustrates the three contract forms and how the five models of ECI can be mapped onto three of the identified four project life cycles phases. The main goals of ECI are to facilitate innovation, improve project control and reduce time to completion (Lenferink et al, 2012;Van Valkenburg et al, 2008;Mosey, 2009).…”

“…(Ciribini et al, 2016), (Williams et al, 2013) Integrated Project Insurancean alternative form of insurance providing single cover for the construction project team as a whole. (Ciribini et al, 2016), (Connaughton and Weller, 2013) Opening for alternative tendersthe client, ( Lenferink et al, 2012), (Hoezen, 2012), (Kolman, 2014), (Lenferink et al, 2013), (Marique, 2013), (European Parliament, 2014) Best value procurement (BVP) -It is an award method to procure contractor with the best expertise to complete the task. (Hoezen, 2012), (Kashiwagi, 2016) Negotiated procedure -Procurement procedure like competitive dialogue but can be applied in simpler public projects.…”

“…(Hoezen, 2012), (Kashiwagi, 2016) Negotiated procedure -Procurement procedure like competitive dialogue but can be applied in simpler public projects. (Van Valkenburg et al, 2008), (Lenferink et al, 2012), (Hoezen, 2012), (European Parliament, 2014) Partneringa long-term commitment between the client and contractor for the (Rahman and Alhassan, 2012), (Walker and Lloyd-Walker, 2012), (Lahdenperä, purposes of achieving specific business objectives.…”