The Delay Factors in EPC Contracts in Viet Nam: Case study of Uong bi Thermal Power Plant

Delay in any construction project is inevitable. In construction stage of the project, anticipating many factors that cause delay is one of the important works of the project manager. Therefore, project managers should give solutions for these before the construction starts. However in Vietnam, sometimes both owners and consultants do not care about this, which is why many construction projects are delayed.

In particular, all thermal power plants, fertilizer plants and other projects executed by EPC contractors were delayed by usually 1 to 2 years.

Even though various studies have been considered to know the causes of delays, still, seldom discuss about the common and general causes of delay in construction projects. Thus, comprehensive study on these delays is essential. Since the problems are rather contextual, the study needs to focus on specific causes of delays. Mr. Tran Van Trung made a case study to find out the main factors causing delay and affecting other aspects in Thermal Power plants in Vietnam at all stages of projects.

The objectives of his study were to (1) identify major delays in Thermal Power Plants in Vietnam; (2) identify the major cause (reasons) of delays in Thermal Power Plants in Vietnam; and (3) recommend strategies for improving project delivery based on the finding from the study.

Conclusion

Delay in the construction industry is a serious problem in general and in all the coal-fired Thermal Power plant in Vietnam in particular. The project which was investigated in this study exhibits a delay like in all power plants in Vietnam. Therefore, the results of the research provided a framework for project managers who can better understand the dynamics of project management and taking efforts to reduce incidences of delay.

By administering and analyzing factors affecting the project, this research has identified problems related to delays during construction phase. From these results, once again, it is noted that most causes of delay of the project related to Consultant Company of owner who set up F/S and surveyed site conditions before, and Fishner Company as A/E of owner. Furthermore, subcontractor as PM caused delay in the highest impact, since the quality of its equipment was not reliable and the quantity was not asynchronous in delivery.

In this study, twelve major factors were analyzed to find out the causes, impacts and solutions of delay problems during the construction stage. Although these problems may be unprejudiced or subjective reasons, they were also originated from carelessness in the implementation, management or supervision. Then, this research had deeply analyzed other factors that also affect schedule for each case and summarized some reasons behind these delays, and proposed some recommendations belowwhich might enable to develop the main contractor organization to achieve one of the major goals in power plants which the on time completion.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

In construction industry, a project is known to be successful when it meets three fundamental criteria such as finishing on time within the budget, the prescribed quality requirements such as satisfying customer’s demand and adapt safety in operation stage. Unfortunately, all of Thermal Power Plants built in Viet Nam had problems of project management leading to their delay. Investigating these problems has become project manager’s indispensable demand.

In general, the problems involved with project delays are solvable. In making effort to solve these problems, the critical factors influencing negatively on construction duration need to be discovered. Hence, it is very important to establish a systematical approach that will be used as a tool for the investigation.

This report will assess and analyze twelve factors causing the delay problems in Uong Bi Thermal Power Plant was executed in the North of Viet Nam. The qualitative method, basically is based on the principle of assessing the risk level of factors impacting negatively on the progress of the project, and it is conducted to fulfill the objective of the study.

Finally, some solutions dealing with project delay problems in construction executing stages are proposed.

Effectiveness Of Feasibility Study Analysis In Apartment Building Project

The construction projects present a unique situation where each project has different situation and parties. One of the important stages involved in a construction project is the preparation of the feasibility study. Feasibility study is conducted during the formulation phase of Project Cycle. This verifies whether the proposed project is well founded, and is likely to meet the needs of its intended target groups/beneficiaries. The study should design the project in full operational detail, taking account of all policies, and technical, economic, financial, institutional, management, environmental, socio-cultural, and gender-related aspects.

Construction is a complex field, costly and risky. In recent years, the construction industry in Vietnam is having a good reputation of rapid development. However, many large projects invested by private investors are still facing incorrect cash flow, missing indirect cost, less profitable or cost overruns, and feasibility study is not suitable according to economic environment.

To minimize these problems, client needs to improve their skills and abilities in dealing with project Financial Feasibility Study. Recessions and poor economic times have put pressure on the average company for better using effectiveness tools in this stage.

Mr. Truong Ngoc Dung made a case study about the Twenty Six Storey Apartment projects which was invested by Company ABC. The objectives of his study were to: (1) conduct an exploratory study on the factors and process used in financial feasibility study; (2) develop a framework for an effective financial feasibility for Apartment Building Project; and (3) conduct a case study to validate the effectiveness of the framework

Conclusions

The case in this report describes a practical implementation of the Feasibility Study stages in Apartment Building Project of Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particularly, and obviously revealed the factors which can seriously affect the success of the project. In fact, Vietnam at present has enormous efforts to overcome policy and reduce the cumbersome procedures in investment, but investors still face a lot of problems (Financial Feasibility Study) which occur during project implementation.

In conclusion, the report may not only offer the effective method to make Feasibility Study in the first stages of project implementation, but also clear description that the major factors may affect the efficiency budget projects, that most projects in Vietnam are all experiencing: the problem of cost overrun, bankrupt and project costs incurred up compared to initial estimates.

Recommendations for further study

- This research was concentrated on finance like estimated cost, revenue and how to analyse project financial. However, other influence factors such as local politics, public relationship and strategy of the owners did not mention.

- It is recommended to make a Feasibility Study at difference stages such as design stage, construction stage and after operation and transfer stage for the main purpose of improving the projects later.

- Sensitivity Analysis is also needed to recognize the priority factors after calculating financial factors for the Apartment Building project. These factors are of big concern and have the ways to manage it.

- Mores projects have to be studied in order to get a better result and it is highly recommended to investigate the effectiveness of each strategy by quantitative data.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

The Real Estate investment is one of the most dynamic, risky and challenging businesses because of their implementing time is very long with huge investment capital and various participating components. Furthermore, this field has poor skills for making Feasibility Study, with many major projects failing to finish on time and cost targets.

Feasibility Study of construction project used to get the alternatives of optimal land use that give the highest profits. Feasibility study analysis also gives information about value of investment and the benefits that investors will get. Define return of investment can be seen from feasibility study. Commonly, Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Benefit/Cost (B/C) are the values that used by investor to consider this project is feasible or not.

The purpose of this study to identify effectiveness methods, main major estimated factors that will be occurs in this stage. To effectively making the financial feasibility study in construction project, it is necessary for oriented path to identify important factors, then provide a suitable tool to measure their effects in each stage of Financial Feasibility Study life cycle and suggest the effective solution methods as minimized/maximized, shared, or accepted.

Design Management in Design-Build Project Base on Design Team of Contractor Perspective

The Design – Build method has many advantages, contractors have to manage some new factors that are not their responsibilities based on the traditional project approach such as design duty, quality of design, design management issues and even authorities approval.

After the contract is awarded, main contractor or design-builder have to established design team promptly and set some roles for each design member as well as define obviously the project scope. Therefore communication, coordination and collaboration between the design teams are significant key leads to project success.

On the other hand, design team also take care authorities submission – a sensitive point which affect project schedule – concurrent with design development progress. Design management had to deal with both tasks in tight schedule, construction permission deadline pressure and balance between main contractor requirements and the owner needs.

Experience was also an issue that design management had to deal with. In order to save design fee, main contractor normally tended to hire design teams whose competence was just enough to develop the preliminary design that provided by the owner. Meanwhile experience of design team who could find out mistakes from the owner concept as well as control changes at initial project phase was underestimated.

These above factors may be due to some inherent problems that contractors and owners have to deal with in Design-Build process. Therefore, Mr. Nguyen Cao Bao Luat made a study to investigate the following issues:

- Coordination and communication between parties
- Lack of time and inexperience design team
- Level of concept and preliminary design which conducted by owner
- Change order and extra work orders
- Design error

The objectives of his study were to: (1) identify design management problem in D-B projects base on architectural design perspective; (2) investigate the nature of problems in order to find causes and solution; and (3) propose a system how to manage design: coordination, interaction for design-build project.

Conclusions

Lessons Learned from JCV Project case study

According to project final report document which done by both contactor and the owner at JCV project, the essential lessons that they learned are as follows:

1. Design-Build team should be carefully chosen in term of experience by the owner;
2. Involved parties should be prepared carefully to deliver the project;
3. Preliminary design which done by the owner should be enough information and specification of performance should be priority;
4. The owner should leave design guidelines "loose," because design-build team will work creatively under performance criteria; and
5. Communications among the involved parties should be opened and maintained particular between design team and the owner.

Summary of lessons learned form case study based on design team perspective


Some keys to success for design – build project in particular for design management

1. The owner and design-build team should create a collaborative environment for working at the beginning of the project. Good communication among key team members and understanding between designer and builder are keys leading to project success.

2. The owner should select and work with the pre-qualified design-build team who has previous experience with similar project types is the essential core. The design-build team experience helps the owner study geographic location and commit that design-build team have ability to deliver a good design and quality of construction are key factors.

3. The owner should make sure that the level of designer team and construction team are meeting the requirement organization of the project, because at equal level, communication will be effective in term of team performance.

4. Take the contractor/construction team into the project as soon as possible to review the concept as well as technical drawing. The contractor should be expected to participate in the preliminary design.

5. The owner should use a concept design to work with the design-builder team to develop a preliminary design. Make design decisions early starting with the Customer Concept Document, Request for Proposal and Concept Design.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Design and build is a method of project delivery in which the design and construction phases of a project are combined into the contract, usually awards on either a low bid or best-value basic.

In design-build, the A/E firm and construction contractor have an incentive to become and integrated team that works concurrently on the design and construction phase of different segments of a project, with the potential to expedite delivery and better control product quality and cost.

However, design-build has a few drawbacks, as well.

• The system's short-cut design process. Some steps are reduced
• Owner has their own conceptual planning and schematic design which may not be done by professional A/E firm. The level of preliminary design will impact cost and quality in design development stage and construction stage also.
• The builder is also the designer, it is only natural to expect that the designs will gravitate to technologies most preferable (read profitable) to the builder.
• Inherent checks and balances between design and construction teams no longer independent.

Even though Design–Build (DB) arrangements have several advantages, project contractors are still studying and improving it. This may be due to some inherent problems that both contractors and owners have to face in their D-B projects. This study investigates the problems and difficulties that design team of contractor deal with and how can help the contractor overcome these problems though design management.

Owner’s Involvement in Preliminary Stage of Real Estate Development Project Case Study in Vietnam

What is the main involvement of owner in managing real estate projects while hiring outside consultants during the preliminary stage and how they can manage and monitor these design consultants effectively to achieve the best quality for their projects. It is important to explore the roles and the responsibilities of owner involving decision making in every stage of project development with outsourcing strategy.

Mr. Truong Thai Binh made a case study to design a guideline for owners who do not have enough experience and in-house resource to develop property. His study was carried out to increase a better understanding of owners’ roles and responsibility in developing construction projects.

The objectives of his study were: (1) identify project life cycle and real estate project development procedure, particularly for real estate projects in Vietnam; (2) based on project life cycle, investigating the involvement of owner in every stage of project development, especially in Design phase; and propose recommendation for improvement of project management guideline for managing, controlling and monitoring.

Conclusion

Role and Responsibilities of Owners

A successful project begins with the owner. In general, the broad responsibilities of the owner on construction projects include two major factors that contribute to a quality project. The first is the development of complete and realistic requirement and objectives for the project. By communication and coordination, the second factor is to provide a thorough understanding to other team members of the role and responsibilities of the owner. Besides that, the owner is also responsible for providing adequate financing for the entire project and making prompt payment to team members.

Owner also plays an important role of making a decision in every step of the projects development, particularly in preliminary phase. The key indicators for the owner to consider before making any decision in every step of preliminary phase are given in the table below:

Recommendation

Recommendations are suggested based on the case study and the literature review.

a) The most common causes of the construction problems were the lack of coordination and insufficient drawings. Solution for these problems is the involvement of the Owner and Design Professional at the design and development phase. Their participation will reduce the risks as they help all parties to understand the actual requirements and minimize conflicts between parties to achieve better designs.
In order to reduce the conflicts in the construction project, it is recommended to have a good communication channels among the Owner and other parties to establish a good coordination.

b) To assure the quality management in the design phase of construction projects, the Owner should have a good training program for his/her employees. Training on the job is a good method to help employees become more professional.

Reasonable investment in the design staff will have good effects on the creativity in the Owner project management. The most appropriate skilled, experienced staff should be selected for each project.

c) The Owner should ask for the help of Architect or Designer in formulating the final brief. By working closely with them, the Owners should also help to establish a valuable dialogue and ensure that the Owners have a clear understanding about creative references, functional needs, roles and responsibilities.

The Owners should never be afraid to change their minds at this formative stage of the project. Design briefs often evolve so that the final brief is quite different to the original brief. The important thing is to get it right at this stage because design changes later in the project have the potential to undermine the integrity of the overall design, delay the project and add to the cost.

The Owners empower the Architect or Designer to do what they do best with the potential to deliver a project quite literally beyond the Owners’ comprehension. This can be considered as the pre design phase.

d) It is important to integrate design quality in the overall quality of the project – procurement process, leadership, project team and continuous improvement. Good design will:

- Make a positive addition to the location, the environment and the community;
- Add value and reduce whole-life costs;
- Create built environments that are safe to construct and safe to use;
- Create flexible, durable, sustainable and ecologically sound environments for the community;
- Minimize waste of materials, energy and pollution both in construction and in use;
- Be attractive and healthy for users and the public;
- Contribute to construction that is quick, safe and efficient;
- Produce facilities that are easy and cost effective to manage, clean and maintain.
[Source: Better Public Buildings]

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

ABSTRACT

Today, with more than 86 million people, Vietnam is one of the potential real estate markets in Southeast Asia. For such reason, there is a great need for professional project management skill, particularly for owners and investors in Vietnam. Therefore the subject of this study is to identify the owner’s roles in managing his projects. This owner organization is established in 2002 and has been working as property investor for almost 7 years. The organization is located in Ho Chi Minh City. The managers are those who do not have enough experience and acknowledgment in real estate and, particularly in construction industry. Important part of this study is to develop a brief guideline to identify the roles and responsibilities of the owner in project investment and management.

Owner’s Project Life Cycle Approach: A Case Study of Rubber Plantation Projects of Vietnam Rubber Company

In recent years, Vietnam Rubber Company (VRC) has invested big capital for expanding rubber plantations and upgrading rubber processing facilities both domestic and outside the country. For VRC, the concept and practice of owner’s project life cycle have been used in rubber plantation projects. Nevertheless, VRC has not built a type of project life cycle appropriating with its specific characteristics; therefore, some projects meet with serious difficulties during performance.

According to internal audit and situation report, VRC’s oversea rubber projects show many problems especially in cost and schedule on the project management in construction during 2007-2010 such as:
- Cost overrunning or over budget;
- Projects are prone to delay;
- Project quality uncontrolled;
- Project scope creep.

Also according to this report, VRC recognize the bad results in Cambodia are created by many reasons; however, poor management of the project life cycle is one of the reasons bring about serious consequences including the followings:

- No establishing a framework of project life cycle;

- Project proposals and business cases and project selecting process in the first phase were carried out incautiously have impacted to all remain phases of the project life cycle;

- Some projects do not have a strong project management team;

- Inadequate delegation from VRC’s head quarter and the project organization is not properly;

- Lack of managerial skills and competencies as well as the internal capacities of the owner

VRC considered that poor management of the project life cycle caused negative impact to the projects. They are the critical problems which VRC and other related parties to Cambodia projects need to consider cautiously.

Mr. Do Huu Phuoc made a research to study Vietnam Rubber Company’s project life cycle approach, analyze situation and develop a framework of project life cycle of a rubber plantation project and guideline to possibly ensure the projects deliver on time, on budget and to the level of quality expected.

Conclusion

All projects have certain characteristics in common which only last for some time.

Projects can be managed using a common set of project management processes. In fact, a similar set of project management processes can be utilized regardless of the type of project. All projects should be well-defined and well-planned, and all projects should manage the scope, risk, quality, status, etc. Although every project is unique, the lifecycle model typically is not. The general lifecycle model that an organization use will probably be similar to one that has been used dozens or hundreds of times in other organizations. There is no reason to reinvent everything for a project. It just takes longer and contains more inherent risk. The better approach is to utilize a standard set of lifecycle processes, techniques and templates.

The project life cycle of VRC’s projects may progress through four phases:

- The first phase of a project is the initiation phase.

- The second phase, the project enters the detailed planning phase.

- The third phase involves implementing the plans created during the project planning phase.

- The final phase involves completing the work, closing out the project.

Conclusion for VRC’s project life cycle approach

There is no single best approach in organizing project management throughout a project's life cycle. All organizational approaches have advantages and disadvantages, depending on the knowledge of the owner in project management as well as the type, size and location of the project. It is important for VRC to be aware of the approach which is most appropriate and beneficial for a particular project. In making choices, VRC should be concerned with the life cycle costs of planted rubber trees, constructed facilities rather than simply the initial costs.

Saving small amounts of money during construction may not be worthwhile if the result is much larger than the operating costs; or not meeting satisfactorily the functional requirements for the new facility or the objective is not align with the scope. Thus, generally a project or particularly a rubber plantation project wants to finish successfully it must be very concerned all the phase of the project life cycle.

Recommendations

With so many ongoing projects like situation at present, VRC may encounter difficulty for all projects to get adequate support, or even the attention of top managements. The particular common problems when trying to manage multiple projects concurrently may be:

a.There is no time for summary experience, so the mistakes from a project can repeat to all projects.

b. Delays in one project may drag other projects because of common resource needs or technological dependencies;

c. The inefficient use of corporate resources results in hills and valleys of resource utilization;

d. There are unwholesome competitions between project teams to get support, or the attention of top managements.

VRC should consider a temporary stopping with the current projects to review all the problems happening. The lessons learn from projects should be analyzed, reviewed and documented for future projects and any other projects will be performed by VRC in Cambodia or other countries in the future.

This study had concentrated on owner’s approach in managing project life cycle to an agriculture project. However, there are many aspects relating to the project management. Further studies should be carried out to find out the approach of owner for agriculture project management.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Project life cycle is an approach that links the phases, which can lead to significant results required for completing a project. As the owner has the most authority in enforcing the implementation of constructability, the owners' awareness of the benefit of the project life cycle is the most important. Project owners must be aware that the decisions that are made in the stages of projects are difficult and costly to change once construction begins.

Owners should recognize that there is no single best approach in organizing project management throughout a project's life cycle. All organizational approaches have advantages and disadvantages, depending on the knowledge of the owner in project management as well as the type, size and location of the project. It is important for the owner to be aware of the approach which is most appropriate and beneficial for a particular project. In making choices, owners should be concerned with the life cycle costs of constructed facilities rather than simply the initial construction costs. Saving small amounts of money during construction may not be worthwhile if the result is much larger operating costs or not meeting the functional requirements for the new facility satisfactorily.

However, the traditional approach to project life cycle limits their option for involving in the phases of the project. The general lifecycle model that an organization use will probably be similar to one that has been used dozens or hundreds of times at other organizations. There is no reason to reinvent everything for your own project. It just takes longer and contains more inherent risk. The better approach is to utilize a standard set of lifecycle processes, techniques and templates which to be used in the same industry.

Delay in Planning, Design and Construction: A Case Study of Residential Development Project in Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam’s construction industry is now suffering from many problems regarding design to operation especially in residential and complex building. These problems include:

1. Coordination between Architect and Structural designer
2. Communication difference between architect and owner regarding the structure
3. Lack of government permit
4. The contractor’s method of construction did not comply with local building standard therefore accident happened
5. Project delay due to owner’s return payment to contractor which is not stipulated in the contract
6. Dispute between project construction management group and main contractor or between main-contractor and sub-contractor about claim, variation order, quality, delay of schedule, and coordination with other contractor
7. Difficulty of taking over from contractor to project management group because the standard is not clear or was not met general standard
8. When PCMG handed over the project to client but the client has financial difficulty
9. Rework
10. Resolving complains from client about service quality and the method of managing the project

Mr. Nguyen Hung Cuong made a case study which objectives were to: (1) study delay in planning, design, construction; (2) find out to solve and prevent problems in each stage; and (3) propose project life cycle strategy in how to develop residential complex.

Conclusions

The project life cycle would be successful if in each phase of the construction phase project, the management had clear plan and had coordinated with all contractors to resolve the problems at an early stage.

The project will be completed on time if clients are pleased and satisfied with the quality and safety. In case of project delay, propositions based on theoretical and recommended practices including guidance from the PMI’s PMBOK guide can be presented in order to solve the problem. Besides, some useful tools were considered and suggested to use as the aids for the project managers to improve control management in the project.

However, this case has limited information because some companies in Vietnam can not provide full information to students.

Recommendations

In order to avoid problems on project delay from concept design to operation which was actually happened in The Manor phase II project, the following steps are recommended:

• PCMG have to get Government permit first together with concept design before construction and have to control the plan well. The plan monitoring is very crucial for project management.

• Owner should estimate the project expenditure and should have a board in order to double check the project phase by phase.

• Project Construction Management Group has to undergo an organizational training in order for them to know the use of the process to accomplish the project and to learn the contract condition.

• Documents control for project is very important. All the site instruction should make the process for resolving and return it to contractor soonest, with the process that all the scope of work will be completed on time.

• In case of ISO certified company, Project Manager should give feedback to the company Quality Manager to add in personality test forms together with Job Application Assessment Procedures forms. That will save Project Manager’s time whenever there is new job applicant coming to job site for an interview.

• PCMG have to request contractors to submit the schedule of material delivery in order to double check it. PCMG can also check and give the project schedule to contractor for site instruction.

• The contractors should make a report of human resource to PCMG in order to inform if that manpower is enough to finish the scope of work and if the project can be completed on time.

• Relation division and contractors should always have the plan to solve the method problems.

• The weekly meeting is very important for PCMG and contractor. All problems will be resolved during that meeting and since relation division have limited time to return the request to contractors for information.

• All contractors must provide safety policy to PCMG to reduce accidents on site.

• Delays caused by taking over and claim of payment during construction which is the bigger problem between contractors and the Owner.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

The planning process in project lifecycle is one case study in the Project Management Institute’s A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. In the case study of Project management is established planning process in project lifecycle is very importance therefore this is really a tough challenge and time-consuming task to any project manager.

The drawing up the plan from concept design to operation project that it suggested management must have large line of vision also experience .The planning process will be evaluated clear that must link everything from the owner, design, contractor. This final project report focuses on construction project as lifecycle project needs who’s have responsibility to design planning process to be clear within knowledge. Though a case study of residential and complex project in Ho Chi Minh City, many problems that we can saw which cause project interruption will be investigate and analyzed. A lot of solutions be proposed which base on the knowledge will be discussed to help project management in order to improve skill in the project.

Owner’s Organization Project Management Maturity: A Case Study of Petrolimex Saigon

Construction owners nowadays are facing two general problems which are the lack of the modern project management knowledge and the lack of a system of procedures and instructions for continuously measuring, evaluating the performance of project and project staff; collecting, storing lesson learned and making convenient access for project staff; and planning and implementing the improvements.

Mr. Le Quang Khanh made a case study which objectives were to: (1) assess the organization project management maturity of an stated owned enterprise on the role of project owner, analyze what it has and what it has not in comparison with the modern project management theory; and (2) propose recommendations for project management improvement.

Conclusion

This study has demonstrated an intensive exploration into the current status of an owner construction project management system. Each management process has been described, assessed, analyzed basing on the definitions, requirements of modern project management processes established by PMI in PMBOK Guide (2008) and OPM3(2003).

The assessment has found that, although the assessed company applied nearly all processes of project management, the maturity level of these processes in the company are still rather low. Company is at the first steps of project management maturity ladders. Reference to OPM3 (PMI, 2003), the Company project management maturity level is at about the standardization stage as shown in the figure below. There are many process need to be standardized, many procedures, guidelines need to be established in order to help the company improve its project management maturity, develop the company competence.
Following are some main problems of the company in project management system:

1. Many processes are not standardized: performed basing only on the experience, practice; there are no standard documented procedures, instructions/guidelines to conduct. Many useful tools and techniques are not applied during project management processes because of the lack of the modern project management knowledge in project staff.

2. The planning processes are not well implemented. There is no specific project management plan, project scope, or project quality plan for each project. The project control and execution activities of project team members are almost unplanned, basing on experience.

3. There are no standards, procedures, no formal performance system to measure, evaluate the degree of success and failure of each process, phase or project, the performance of project team members. Therefore there is no steady foundation to plan for project management performance improvements.

4. There is a formal process for assessing, auditing the existing procedures, instructions and suggesting, implementing improvements (included in ISO9001 quality system). However, because of the limit of the staff knowledge and skill about the modern project management, there are not many effective improvements as expected.

5. There are no procedures or instructions about collecting information of the contractors/suppliers, the project issues, lessons learned…to keep in a convenient place (like project management office) for analyzing and using in future project management. Therefore, there is also no formal historical information and lessons learned knowledge databases system. All the project records, after the project completion, are kept in the store.

Recommendations

1. For the assessed company and other state owned companies in general on the role of owner:

- There should be more training on modern construction project management for the company staff. The training content include (but are not limited to) the knowledge/skills of project management for individual, for organization; the experience in organizing and managing a project management organization, the existing effective systems of construction management procedures and instruction of international project management groups. The staff need to be trained are: the top management for having far more vision, more correct evaluation about the importance and effectiveness of building a standard project management system; the middle management and the project team member to be more effective in managing projects and composing the necessary procedures and instructions;

- Company should pay more attention on the planning processes; make all the management plans before carry out management activities.

- Company should improve the formal system of procedures and instructions to standardize all the project management processes in the company. The guidelines about the applied range of each process are also needed. This help to keep the consistency of quality and increase the effectiveness of management processes.

- Company should improve and increase the effectiveness of ISO9001 assessing and auditing processes by using the competent auditors who are professional in construction project management, training the project staff to be good and innovative self-auditors.

- Company should establish and apply the formal standards, tools, guidelines for measuring, evaluating the success, failure of project goals in order to collect experience and lessons learned for future investments.

- Company should build a small project management office/center where the project management staff can easily access to the historical information and lessons learned of all past projects; refer to the modern project management tools and techniques. And besides, Company should build the procedure, instruction for collecting, storing those data. These works will be very useful for the future project management of the project staff, especially the new comers.

2. For further study

Further study needs to be carried out to have more comprehensive assessment of state owned project management organizations and give more detailed recommendations for competency development of this type of project management organization.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

Nowadays, the increase of world population, the development of technology and the globalization of competition are day by day giving construction industry the increasingly requirements both for the quantity and the quality of construction projects. Hence, many organizations and the individuals involved in construction industry are paying more concern in studying and applying the modern project management knowledge/skill into project management process.

To be successful in managing projects, not only contractors but also the owners need to be competent in project management.

This case study will assess the degree to which an owner-a state owned company, apply the project management processes and give the recommendations for improvements.