Development of an Expert System Tool for the Selection of Procurement System in Large-Scale Construction Projects (ESCONPROCS)

Abstract

The human knowledge of a specific domain is dissipated either in books and journals or exists in the minds of few human experts. Expert system technology, which is of late becoming an important tool, uses the power of the human brain to store knowledge electronically so that information regarding decision-making can easily be accessed at anywhere and at any time. More often than not most decisions in the industry are based on just subjective decisions. But since each project is different from the other, there is the need to integrate heuristic approach in other to arrive at better decisions. Therefore the system, ESCONPROCS (Expert system for construction procurement selection) which is an expert system tool was developed based on extensive literature review of the available procurement systems as well as clients' priorities and other external factors that influence the selection of an appropriate procurement system. An expert survey was conducted and their responses were used to provide a recommendation for the rules. The system, ESCONPROCS is developed to assist decision-maker (client) reaches a more informed decision on procurement system selection and contracting.

Critical Success Factors for Sustainable Construction Project Management

“…1-Project's Location [6][7][8] 2-Project's Size [8,9] 3-Clear and realistic goals/objectives [10,11] 4-Project's adequate funds/resources [12][13][14] 5-Effective procurement and tendering methods [15][16][17][18][19] II. Business-and Work-Environment-Related Factors 6-Economical environment [20,21] 7-Social environment [22][23][24] 8-Political environment [9,16,25] 9-Statutory approvals environment [26,27] III.…”

“…Contractor-Related Factors 29-Contractor financial strength [16,54] 30-Contractor's technical capacity [16,54] 31-Effective subcontractor coordination [55,56] 32-Effective allocation and control of manpower [13,24] 33-Availability of experienced managers & skillful workforce [31,57] VII. Project-Manager-Related Factors 34-Project manager's experience [57][58][59] 35-Project manager skills [34,57,59] 36-Coordination between all participants [34,37,48] 37-Commitment to meet quality, cost, and time objectives [16,28,32,46] 38-Project manager's early and continued involvement in project [10,18,34] 39-Project manager's adaptability to changes in project plan [57,59] 40-Project manager's ability to delegate authority [57,59] A questionnaire was developed based on the CSFs gathered and the CSFs are evaluated by professionals in the construction industry. By this way, significant success factors were captured through RII and AHP.…”

Elaboration of an Expert System for Sizing, Designing and Verifying Flexible Pavements

“…A database manager of rules is a construction and maintenance software of rules specific to each type of problem. A generalized inference engine can reason with any rule database [10]. Thus, the task of creating an expert system is reduced to the building of its own rule database.…”

A Literature Study On E-Procurement Technologies And Method Selection In Construction Projects

“…Overall, the literature review provides an overview of the different procurement methods and their implications for construction projects, setting the stage for the subsequent research methodology and findings. Solomon et al (2018) Provides an overview of previous studies and models developed for the selection of procurement systems in construction projects. It discusses various factors influencing the selection of procurement systems, such as project size, complexity, client's requirements, risk allocation, and financing ability.…”