A case study and evaluation of a technological delivery system: Construction management in Saudi Arabia

This dissertation examines the performance of the present construction contracting and management system in Saudi Arabia. The objective of this research is to study the government contracting system as a method for producing new buildings and other integrated facilities. The general hypothesis of the research study is that the construction contracting and management technological delivery system (t.d.s.) has not been successful. The study's goal is to gain an understanding of these constraints of government policies and other inputs, system processes, institutional structures, outputs and their relationship to other aspects of the system which have contributed to the failure. The study introduces seven specific hypotheses to investigate and identify constraints and to develop strategies to remove or reduce these constraints. The study is conducted by application of an available social process model, termed a technological delivery system. The model is used as a conceptual device to outline the complex processes by which technical knowledge is employed to achieve desired outputs, in this case to produce buildings, civil engineering works and industrial plants. The model was especially useful in analyzing the ensemble of practices and institutions which are integrated by the governmental construction contracting and management system. The dissertation is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter is an introduction designed to present a background to the significance and purpose of the research. Chapter II describes the concept of the t.d.s. model, and the method upon which this study will use it. Chapter III reviews the Regulations Governing Bids for Government Procurements, Sales and Leases (Tender Regulations). A government engineering department was selected for a case study to investigate the implementation of the Tender Regulations. In Chapters IV and V a number of construction contracting systems are presented and evaluated. The criteria employed for evaluating these systems includes such factors as time, cost, quality and owner control. The cycle of a construction project is examined in its three stages: planning, design and construction. Chapter VI provides an analysis and evaluation of the construction management t.d.s. performance. And finally, Chapter VII includes the conclusion and the recommendations of the study. The primary data for this research study was taken from the following sources: (1) the daily activities of a government engineering department; (2) interviews with government officials, construction managers, architects/engineers, and contractors in Saudi Arabia and the United States; (3) government documents, Ministry of Planning reports and publications regarding the construction industry; and (4) literature (books, articles, and seminars) in the field of construction management. Finding: the data examined in this research study confirmed the central hypotheses of the author. By applying the aforementioned criteria, it was found that the present contracting system is rigid, time-consuming, expensive and provides the owner with little or no control. The study recommends the use of the construction management approach on all large and complex projects. In conjunction with construction management, phased construction, contract packaging, systems building and the project management system have proven to be advantageous.