Public procurement of engineering services: Governance and control mechanisms
2021 (English)In: Proceedings of the 37th Annual ARCOM Conference, ARCOM 2021, Association of Researchers in Construction Management , 2021, p. 470-479Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Prior research has emphasized the importance of the early phases in construction projects. However, procuring engineering services for early phases is considered complex due to the high uncertainties and the information asymmetry favouring the service provider. This study explores public procurement of engineering services in the Swedish infrastructure sector, focusing on governance and control mechanisms. The purpose is to investigate the choice of governance and control mechanisms in engineering contracts from two perspectives, the public client's and the service providers. The findings are based on interviews with managers from the Swedish Transport Administration as well as from different engineering consulting companies. Findings indicate that the respondents from both sides seem to describe other choices and combinations of reward system and performance evaluation, compared to previous studies. This could be explained by the fact that the engineering contracts are less formalized than construction contracts in Sweden. This study shows that there are situations when clients have an information advantage in relation to their service suppliers and in-depth knowledge of the tasks procured, which affects the development of procurement strategies.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Association of Researchers in Construction Management , 2021. p. 470-479
Keywords [en]
Engineering services, Governance mechanisms, Public procurement, Construction projects, Control mechanism, Engineering contracts, Engineering service, Information asymmetry, Service provider, Swedishs, Uncertainty
National Category
Construction Management
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-313151Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85118430037OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-313151DiVA, id: diva2:1665309
Conference
37th Annual Association of Researchers in Construction Management Conference, ARCOM 2021, Virtual, Glasgow, 6-7 September 2021
Note
QC 20220607
2022-06-072022-06-072023-03-02Bibliographically approved