Controlling cost in construction projects is an essential issue. This study investigates the most critical problems that cause weakness in cost control in Iraqi construction projects. The quantitative technique was used by conducting a survey directed to professionals who work on construction projects. One hundred and sixty-four questionnaire forms were distributed to private sector companies, government companies, and government institutions, and the responses were subjected to the required statistical analysis. The results indicate that the most influential factors are the weakness in keeping up with the use of modern concepts, methods, and technologies, the delay in receiving the amounts due for work done from the owner, fluctuations in market prices, the lack of knowledge and the inefficient use of currently available tools and technology, and the security situation in the country. The results indicate that the Iraqi construction projects suffer from weakness in cost control, which causes them to stop or delay their delivery, and this needs serious and quick solutions. One of the most important solutions is the adoption of modern technologies and their inclusion in the construction sector and the development of special systems for managing costs that are appropriate to the Iraqi construction environment.

The cost of pile foundations is part of the super structure cost, and it became necessary to reduce this cost by studying the pile types then decision-making in the selection of the optimal pile type in terms of cost and time of production and quality .So The main objective of this study is to solve the time–cost–quality trade-off (TCQT) problem by finding an optimal pile type with the target of "minimizing" cost and time while "maximizing" quality. There are many types In the world of piles but  in this paper, the researcher proposed five pile types, one of them is not a traditional, and   developed a model for the problem and then employed particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, as one of evolutionary algorithms with the help of (Mat lab software), as a tool for decision making problem about choosing the best alternative of the traded piles, and proposes a multi objective optimization model, which aims to optimize the time, cost and quality of the pile types, and assist in selecting the most appropriate pile types. The researcher selected 10 of senior engineers to conduct interviews with them.  And prepared some questions for interviews and open questionnaire. The individuals are selected from private and state sectors each one have 10 years or more experience in pile foundations work. From personal interviews and field survey the research has shown that most of the experts, engineers are not fully aware of new soft wear techniques to helps them in choosing alternatives, despite their belief in the usefulness of using modern technology and software. The Problem is multi objective optimization problem, so after running the PSO algorithm it is usual to have more than one optimal solution, for five proposed pile types, finally the researcher  evaluated and  discussed the output results and  found out that pre-high tension spun (PHC)pile type was the optimal pile type.

Construction is a complex activity performed in an almost uncontrolled environment. Although, in theory, projects can be well planned in advance, there is a possibility that unexpected events and crises will disrupt these plans, which will affect the progress of projects. Construction companies can be easily affected by crises because the initial investment costs are very high in construction projects, which may lead to huge financial damages. One of the most prominent crises that Iraq faced was the financial crisis in 2014, which had a significant impact on various activities and the construction industry. This research aims to explore the most important causes of the economic crises in Iraq in general, investigate the impact of this crisis on the construction industry in Iraq particularly, explore the most important factors that contributed to the aggravation of the crisis in this area. Finally, explore the most important strategies adopted by higher authorities and construction companies during the economic recession that followed the crisis to mitigate its impact. One hundred fifty-one closed questionnaires were distributed for this purpose. The results showed that financial and administrative corruption is one of the most important causes of crises with (RII) 0.93. Also, 82% of the respondents answered that the projects had increased their duration significantly so that it was difficult to set a date for their completion due to the insolvency or inability of the Iraqi state to pay the financial dues to the contractors. This insolvency negatively impacted the construction industry during the crisis with RII (0.832).

Construction is a complicated process that takes place in an almost uncontrollable environment. Although projects can be carefully planned in advance in principle, there is a chance that unforeseen events and crises can disrupt these plans, affecting project development. Because the initial investment expenditures in construction projects are so large, they may be quickly influenced by crises, resulting in significant financial losses. The 2014 financial crisis was one of the most prominent crises that Iraq faced, which significantly impacted various activities in general and the construction industry in particular. Despite the importance of crisis management systems, the researchers found a great lack of local studies looking at crisis management, specifically in the basic stages chosen for its development, which are before, during, and after a crisis. Therefore, an effective crisis management system has been developed consisting of 20 critical success factors with devising 59 actions that can be taken for each proposed criterion for each of the three stages of crisis.

With the fast increase in technological development and society's needs, using Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) as a solution to tackle problems faced during a project's life cycle in different engineering fields gains interest. The use of artificial intelligence gave new opportunities to deal with problems faced during the optimization of unknown or known solutions and methods. Even more, the application of optimized solutions can be developed or modified by using different optimization approaches and methods. This paper proposes a model for the project selection process for non-profit organizations that have a limited budget and social factors strictly related to the selection process. This method is based on MCDM and takes into consideration criterion weights and experts' evaluation of projects according to the selection criteria using the hygiene method consisting of two stages, fuzzy logic, and TOPSIS.