Project management in the public sector of Saudi Arabia, problems and solutions

This research aims at providing a detailed study of project management in the public sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through a serious endeavour to study impediments and negative impacts that affect such projects and through the provision of proposals that contribute to the development and enhancement of performance of these projects. The research first provides detailed information on such projects in respect of their various phases, applicable laws and regulations, building procurement systems applied, types of tenders used and types of contracts that are adopted. Thereafter, the research determines through a survey of public sector projects the extent of use and application of building procurement systems, types of tenders and contracts. The research results show that most of these projects suffer extensive delays in execution beyond the scheduled period. This research then goes on to shed light on impediments to public sector projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, causes of such impediments and their probable effects, This is accompanied by an overview of real-life examples represented in three case studies of three different projects that were previously executed. The case study examples are aimed at giving this study more realism and credibility. The research then concludes, through another survey, that project managers at public sector projects in the Kingdom suffer a discrepancy in their management capabilities resulting from negligence on the part of their departments in this important factor of project success. The Research thereafter gives proposals that contribute to the development and enhancement in performance of public sector projects through the following: Proposals that contribute to development of management abilities of the public sector's project managers; proposals that contribute to development of systems that govern the performance of public sector projects.