| Abstract | On the benefit of development of communication tools/channels and information technology such as e-books, websites, etc., knowledge on various procurement methods in construction has nowadays been available to any of entities like owners, consultant and contractors. These knowledge are being instantly shared from west to east over the seas and vice versa, as letting them become more knowledgeable procurement strategic organizations. Under the circumstances, owners can refer to pros and cons, lesson learned and issues/problems of emerging procurement methods as alternatives to traditional ones such as DBB and DB forms of contract. The problem is, however, that, regardless of the procurement method progression, owners are still uncertain about what method to adopt for a given construction project to achieve success and what process to follow for selection of the method. In this research, the researcher focuses on the highway projects with international financial aids under the Bureau of International Highways Cooperation (BOIHC) within the Department of Highways (DOH), Thailand, and attempts to promote new guideline of procurement method selection for their future projects.
Methodology consists of three steps. The first step is questionnaire survey to find out procurement method’s experience of the stakeholders in Thai highway construction. Respondents’ last 5-year experiences on procurement methods were analyzed to find out its respective frequencies and patterns. The respondents and interviewees were vice presidents, managing directors, civil engineers in charge of tendering from 19 different highway construction companies and 5 different highway engineering firms. The second step is expert interview to identify the applied procurement method selection under the current system of BOIHC. Several meetings were conducted with staffs from BOIHC and international financial institutions as well as a project manager from the engineering firm currently working with BOIHC so as to comprehend their project approval process, organization structure, procurement method selection criteria and so forth. As a result of analyses from the first two steps, a guideline to select the appropriate different procurement methods for their future internationally-funded highway projects was proposed along with new process framework including the criteria to be considered during each sub-phase of procurement phase.
Use of this new guideline can be helpful to not only BOIHC but also other owners who have no in-house process asset for procurement method selection and no experience to adopt procurement methods differently considering different project characteristics. This will guide them in understanding the systematic approach to procurement method selection and developing their own guideline by following the same research methodology and adjusting the framework based upon the owner’s nature.
Keywords: Procurement method, Selection, Contract, Highway, FIDIC, Form of Contract, Contract Price, Tendering Method, Evaluation Method, Department of Highways, Thailand |