ABSTRACT
Construction procurement and management systems should be re-engineered to meet emerging realities. Such realities include the perceived dissipation of technical and managerial resources in the many checks and cross-checks in adversarial scenarios, as well as the challenges and opportunities arising from the internationalisation of the construction industry. For example, the increasing needs for Joint Ventures in megaprojects, and multi-functional consortia in BOT type ventures, heightens the criticality of appropriate choices of synergistic partners.
The problems and potential of ‘partnering’ are examined. A proposal is also made to extend the ‘partnering’ concept to ‘technology exchange’ between Joint Venture partners with strengths in different components of technology, each of which is needed to achieve the desired results in a give scenario, for example in developing countries.
Knowledge generated by coordinated cooperative research, for example through organisations such as CIB, should lead to recommendations for improved procurement, and managerial systems in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary construction scenarios. However, re-engineered relationships need to be fostered from the outset, beginning with revised agendas in teaching and training construction personnel who should now be expected to function more effectively in such multi-dimensional scenarios.
