Public sector client-private sector project: Transferring the state construction administration into private hands

Due to the decreasing public budget, the Bremen state construction and building administration is undergoing serious changes. Efforts made, for more than 10 years, to tighten design and construction processes by implementation of information technology have not shown the intended results. It had to be admitted that the construction authorities had not yet structured all data necessary for the whole life cycle of buildings in a way which was suitable for IT use. The IT systems do not fulfil the requirements of continuous data documentation during the life cycle of buildings and construction. Finally, it was realized that the bureaucratic organization of the building authorities will not satisfactorily support efficiency. Those findings were the motives not only for joining the eLSEwise project (Garas & Hunter (1999) Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management) but, even more importantly, for the intended privatization of the construction administration in Bremen and other German States.