An Evaluation of Pre-Tender Documentation of Public Building Projects in Kenya: A Case Study of Building Projects in the Economic Stimulus Programme

Abstract

Construction teams play a critical role and are at the core in the process of project delivery in the construction industry. This thesis explored the Ministry of Public Works (MoPW) Construction team roles in the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) social infrastructure project implementation. Currently, Construction design teams’ performance at the Ministry of Public Works remains inefficient contributing to poor project performance of ESP. Documentation of projects is rarely on schedule, tender process frequently flawed, and poor quality work delivered by contractors under the supervision of MoPW design team. Poor performance, process of constituting and composition of a design teams, leadership, communication, co-operation between departments/team members and the client experience are some of the contributing factors. The main objective of the study was to evaluate pre-tender documentation by MoPW construction teams, using ESP infrastructure projects as a case study. The specific objectives of the study were: (i) to describe the adequacy of the documentation done by the MoPW construction teams; (ii) to establish the effectiveness of the construction team in the pre-contract documentation process; and (iii) to formulate a framework for improving pre-tender documentation in public building projects. Data collection was done through observation, interviews and questionnaires. Additionally, various post-contract reports were reviewed to reveal the weaknesses found in the project documentation. The population of the study was 1883 projects – i.e. seven (7) ESP projects across two hundred and sixty-nine (269) districts in Kenya. The districts were grouped into 3 categories – urban districts, peri-urban district and rural districts – and a sample of 3 project types purposefully selected from each category. Therefore, data was collected from nine (9) specific projects across the country. Data analysis was done using frequencies and percentages. It was observed that pre-tender documentation in the ESPs was very inadequate. Particularly, bills of quantities and site analysis reports, which are crucial to project performance, were found to have always been missing in the ESP projects investigated. Additionally, effectiveness of the construction teams in the process of pre-tender documentation was low, and was determined by their level of consultation of the local communities before choice and design of the ESP projects. From the findings, a framework for improving pre-tender documentation was formulated, in terms of in-put factor into the documentation process and a check-list of the pre-tender document records necessary for best results. It is recommended that the government of Kenya adopts the pre-tender documentation framework developed in this study. Key words: Documentation, design team, project performance, effective design team,