Improved reliability in planning large-scale infrastructure project delivery through Alliancing

Abstract

PurposePrice reliability for complex and highly complicated infrastructure projects is problematic. Traditional project delivery approaches generally fail in achieving targeted end cost reliability. However, integrated project delivery (and particularly Alliancing), develop a far more reliable and robust project delivery plan and outturn time-cost targets. This paper aims to explore why this may be the case.Design/methodology/approachThis case study investigated the project design, planning, cost/time estimation approach and how risk/uncertainty was dealt with. Five senior project delivery experts from an organisation that delivers multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects in Australia were interviewed. These five experts collectively had 100+ cross-disciplinary experience years delivering complex infrastructure projects.FindingsAlliancing adopts a radically different approach to project design, time/cost planning and risk assessment and management to traditional project delivery approaches. Key findings explain how the project alliance agreement designs-in processes that maximises team integration and collaboration. Analysis concludes that design thinking is used to craft and shape collaborative behaviours and project governance. Additionally, including project owner and facilities operator representatives in the project team adds valuable insights, expertise and knowledge contributing to planning reliability.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is exploratory and focussed on complex infrastructure projects so findings cannot be generalised.Practical implicationsWe unpack Alliancing processes that develop the target outturn cost plan, comprising a holistic and realistic plan to design a project to meet expected project outcomes. This case study may serve as an exemplar for complex project delivery.Social implicationsThis paper illustrates how Alliancing more effectively delivers best value than traditional procurement approaches through its TOC-TAE processes.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the scant existing academic literature analysing these processes. Its novel contribution is explaining how Alliancing treats unexpected events that in traditional delivery forms trigger expensive and time-energy-wasting disputation. This case study may serve as an exemplar for complex project delivery.

Research on Collaborative Mechanisms of Railway EPC Project Design and Construction from the Perspective of Social Network Analysis

“…Sanchez-Silva [29] examined the advantages of introducing flexibility in design and construction using airport design and extension as an example. Walker et al [30] developed a delivery strategy for a complicated project using an infrastructure project in Australia as an example to optimize cooperation. In a case study in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Rosok et al [31] found that collaborative decision making in XFN projects has additional complexity and requires the governance of uncertainty.…”

Hundreds of Years of Pain, With Minimal Gain: Capital Project Cost Overruns, the Past, Present, and Optimistic Future

“…In fact, Love and Ika [84] and Love et al [94] show that cost overruns do not vary between non-BIM and BIM-enabled projects. Further, with the increasing use of Alliances and Two-Stage Management Contracting, we have seen projects procured using these delivery methods less susceptible to cost overruns [51], [84]. Indeed, a collaborative team that jointly prepares the target outturn cost estimate and works collectively to meet it often helps improve a project's cost performance.…”

“…Worldwide, governments sought ways to improve the delivery of their capital assets and, in so doing, initiated reforms to their policies and practices as a consequence [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. As part of these larger analyses, scope and design changes, the form of procurement method (i.e., separation of design and construction activities), poor project management, ineffective project teams, and the economic, institutional, and political environment have been repeatedly identified as key contributors to cost overruns [6], [17], [27], [47][48][49][50][51]. Let us briefly consider each of these issues in turn.…”

“…Thus, the way a project is managed can influence estimation error and the degree of cost overrun that is incurred. Therefore, there exists a vast body of research on the managerial issues needed to deliver projects successfully, how teams can work more cooperatively, and the types of leadership required to ensure their realization [51], [54], [58][59][60]. The importance of using relational procurement methods (e.g., involving contractors early in the design process) was also identified as a way to help engender and facilitate effective project management and collaboration between parties so that constructability and accuracy of cost estimates could be improved [61].…”

Humanising complex projects through design thinking and its effects

“…In the three most relevant project studies journals (IJPM, PMJ, IJMPB), only two papers focused on Design Thinking in the context of projects have been published (Ben Mahmoud-Jouini et al, 2016;Hölzle & Rhinow, 2019). Another (Walker et al, 2022) shows that design thinking can shape collaborative behaviours and project governance. The central idea of this essay is that Design Thinking has much more to offer to projects, project scholars and project practitioners both from a phenomenological perspective (i.e., the planning and delivering of projects, particularly complex projects) and a field of study perspective (i.e., the studying of projects by project scholars).…”