Project Delivery
- Publication no: AP-R630-20
- ISBN: 978-1-922382-13-9
- Published: 26 August 2020
- PDF (free) Download
Austroads commissioned this study to investigate the current challenges and issues affecting the delivery of transport infrastructure projects and the consequential impacts on value for money, timeliness of delivery, agency and political reputation. This study focuses on ‘smaller scale’ transport infrastructure projects (between $1 million and $100 million).
Two central themes have emerged from the research – firstly, to optimise project delivery there should be increased time and resources allocated to the early stages of a project (in areas such as planning, scoping, consultation, design, investigations and pre-works), and secondly, when project delivery is accelerated (due to emergency or other considerations) this reduces the available time for project planning and early works, often to the detriment of quality or budget.
- Summary
- 1. Approach
- 1.1 Objective
- 1.2 Scope
- 1.3 Issues identified by the Austroads Project Delivery Task Force
- 1.4 Research methodology
- 1.4.1 Interviews with industry experts
- 1.4.2 Online survey
- 2. Consultation themes
- 2.1 Observations
- 2.2 Effort upfront would improve project delivery
- 2.2.1 Online survey results
- 2.2.2 Literature review
- 2.3 Risk should not be allocated to those unable to price or manage it
- 2.3.1 Online survey results
- 2.3.2 Literature review
- 2.4 Acceleration comes at a premium
- 2.4.1 Online survey results
- 2.4.2 Literature review
- 2.5 A visible, reliable, sustainable pipeline of projects
- 2.5.1 Online survey results
- 2.5.2 Literature review
- 2.6 Design quality
- 2.6.1 Online survey results
- 2.6.2 Literature review
- 2.7 Resourcing is always a challenge
- 2.7.1 Online survey results
- 2.7.2 Literature review
- 2.8 Low bids are not always sustainable
- 2.9 Service relocations are a big issue
- 2.10 Build smarter – prioritize constructability
- 2.11 Leveraging technology and improving systems
- 3. Alignment with Task Force brief
- 3.1 Observations
- 3.1.1 Disputes are less likely where there are ‘strong relationships, robust tender documents and the
- courage to not select under-bidders’
- 3.1.2 Every contract model has its merits
- 3.1 Observations
- 4. Opportunities to improve delivery
- 4.1 Recommended actions for consideration in the short term (the next two years):
- 4.2 Recommended actions for consideration in the medium term (two - five years):
- 4.3 Recommended actions for consideration in the longer term (five years plus):
- References
- Appendix A Literature review
- A.1 Project scope, design and business case preparation
- A.1.1 Scope
- A.1.2 Quality of design
- A.1.3 Business case development
- A.2 Project selection and prioritisation
- A.2.1 Premature project announcements
- A.2.2 Investment not linked to need
- A.2.3 Lack of long-term perspective
- A.3 Integrated and coordinated approach
- A.3.1 Coordination between agencies and jurisdictions
- A.3.2 Coordination between delivery phases
- A.4 Skills and resourcing
- A.4.1 Provider (supply) side
- A.4.2 Client (demand) side
- A.5 Post-completion reviews
- A.6 Other factors influencing project delivery
- A.6.1 Project management and governance
- A.6.2 Contractual models and risk transfer
- A.1 Project scope, design and business case preparation
- Appendix B Online survey
- B.1 Approach
- B.2 Respondents
- B.2.1 Industry segment
- B.2.2 Years of experience
- B.2.3 Location
- B.2.4 Size of construction projects
- B.3 Preferred actions
- B.4 Improvement areas
- B.4.1 Improvement area A: Managing contracts and avoiding disputes
- B.4.2 Improvement area B: Managing risks
- B.4.3 Improvement area C: Co-ordinate planning and working to a longer-term horizon
- B.4.4 Improvement area D: Collaborate to adopt new technologies and innovations
- B.4.5 Improvement area E: Quality of pre-work design and scoping/ business case
- B.5 Detailed responses (free text)