ABSTRACT
Construction process affects the quality of a transportation infrastructure, the development of communities, and the same sustainability of the built environment. Acceptance procedures and regulations are in place, but the resulting quality is sometimes unsatisfactory. This calls for a careful analysis. Based on the above, this study aims at focusing on the key mechanisms and factors that may affect this process and at providing a useful algorithm. The problem has been modelled as a function of one dependent factor, i.e., the profit, and five independent factors, i.e., contract price, pay adjustment, construction costs, bribery, and inefficiency. Each factor has been deeply analyzed, considering main causes of contractor mismanagement, the costs related to a road infrastructure (construction, maintenance and rehabilitation), the methods for deriving penalties, and possible differences emerging from different classes of methods (i.e., empirical and statistical). Results highlight that there are no rational and legal justifications for having unsatisfactory quality of works. The only reasons refer to maliciously and/or inefficiency-related mismanagement, which implies unacceptable buyer’s risks, and a paradigm shift towards inconsistency between contractor and citizens’ targets. The model here set up is original and can benefit researchers, practitioners, and agencies in assessing the main causes of poor quality works and in setting up effective countermeasures.
