Partnering for engineering construction projects

M.Phil.Procurement, design and construction of an engineering or building project is a process that involves the broadest range of engineering and construction skills. There are risks throughout that can lead to a strategy that cannot succeed in terms of time, cost effectiveness, quality and profitability. There are also various contracting approaches employed in both building and engineering construction projects. Each has its own advantages, disadvantages, degree of flexibility, incentives and allocation of risks. A risk profile leads to important aspects considered in selecting a suitable contracting strategy for a construction project. The risk considered includes among others the design and functionality, variations, errors and/or omissions, budget overruns, price fluctuations, project timing, change in quantities, design and construction defects, etc (Morton and Jagger, 1995). In South Africa's tradition, the responsibilities of design and construction of projects have been separated, where the contractors undertake to provide the works in accordance with employer's and/or employer's agent's design and specifications. Disadvantages of this strategy include among others the fact that the design and specifications may not suit the construction process in terms of time cost savings. More than often this approach results in an adversarial relationship between the professional team and the contractor, and between professional team members. Globally, especially in developed countries, projects were executed using design and build strategy (Construction world, April 2006). This is an arrangement whereby the contractor assumes the responsibility of producing the design and the works. Recently the construction industry has been experiencing an unprecedented high level of economic growth both locally and in the global arena. In an attempt by construction stakeholders to redefine the approach to contracting to facilitate delivery, partnering evolved to bring all parties together to form common goals, to integrate design and construction into a collaborative working by involving contractors at an earlier stage, to set up mechanisms to resolve disputes and to share the risk and rewards of projects (Gould and Joyce, 2003)