Training Need Assessment Key Informant In-Depth Interview

Study Feedback Thursday June 4, 2020 (Zoom Meeting)

Training 1. Construction Contract Administration

 The module should be prepared in detail and must be supported by scientific
studies.
 We settle issues in agreement and understanding rather than following legal
procedures.
 Knowledge gap is one of the major challenges in contract administration.
 The administration should look all parties equally.
 All parties have problems regarding contract administration.
 All parties have a shortage of human resource in preparing and implementing
contract administration. For example, the client should prepare the site before
announcing the tender. There are cases in which the contractor is unable to
access the site after signing the contract. As we know rainy seasons is also a
problem to many projects.
 It is observed that contractors do not assign appropriate logistics to the
project.
 The assigned experts are unable to follow the success of the project because
of shortage of logistics.
 Even if the law says that payments should be effective within 28 days, it may
take a year to get the payment of completed project.
 There are a good number of projects which started the project without
completing the design. They assume that it would be refined through time.
Some of them give specification to materials that cannot be find in the market.
The preparation regarding quantity is sometimes less and more at other times.
 It is fair to involve a company both in preparation of design and in supervision
of the project.
 A contractor wants to win a project and consequently by proposing least price
he wins the project. The problem arises when the real work starts. As a result
of this, quality, time and the already stated specifications will be
compromised. Finally, the project fails.
 Public entity task should be clearly defined.

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Training Need Assessment Key Informant In-Depth Interview
Study Feedback Thursday June 4, 2020 (Zoom Meeting)

Training 2. Construction Claims Management and Alternative Dispute

Resolution Mechanisms
 International companies are claiming in different issues and are successful.
National companies focus mainly on time extension.
 There is no expert in claim management. The experts on this area did not have
appropriate education. But they have experience.
 Damaged or lost property of the contractor is never claimed by national
companies. This leads them to bankruptcy. This is due to shortage of experts
in this area.
 There is an example of a project which costed 130 Milion ETB, some six years
ago. The design of the project was changed and took four additional months
since there is no claim expert on the consultant side, the issue was not
claimed.
 There is a problem in higher education institutions curriculum construction law
courses should be given to the students to the standard. Giving one or two
courses for Master program does not allow us to produce an expert in the
area.
 There are bylaws that are not included in general condition but appear in the
civil code.
 As a result of the disagreement between the contractor and consultant, the
client is unable to receive the completed project.
 Consultants usually employ claim experts on a part time basis. This forces the
consultant to employ another staff whenever a need arises. This may cause
unnecessary time delay.
 Typically the system does not take appropriate action to address
accountability
 It is observed that parties did not know their rights and obligations. If there is
a stakeholder meeting, it will give an opportunity for all parties to contribute
their shares for the success of the project.
 Many of us do not communicate properly to the concerned officials about the
progress of the project.

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Training Need Assessment Key Informant In-Depth Interview
Study Feedback Thursday June 4, 2020 (Zoom Meeting)

Training 3. Planning for Construction Project Management

 There is a big gap in planning from inception to completion. International
companies have rich experience in planning.
 In general, we failed in planning. We do not have to think about a project
unless we have a feasible plan. Every project should have a master work
schedule accompanied by feasible action plans.
 Instead of planning, our country projects are going with business as usual. The
problem arises from shortage of human resources and experience.
 Every project should have a detailed achievable plan.
 Ethical problems also have an impact in planning.
 One of the problems of planning is financial issues.
 Consultants and contractors do not work in cooperation. There is a belief that
the consultant have an upper hand in the project than the contractor. Every
party should be responsible in completing the project as per the project plan.

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Training Need Assessment Key Informant In-Depth Interview
Study Feedback Thursday June 4, 2020 (Zoom Meeting)

Training 4. Leadership and Construction Company Management

 Leadership and management are completely different concepts.
 As per our observation, every national and international company does not
have an expert in leadership. It is a well known fact that leaders sometimes do
not follow the usual routine rule.
 It would be better leadership experts be assigned in offices and sites.
Moreover, we suggest ICT to be used whenever necessary.
 Higher academic institutions should give emphasis in leadership area courses
in their curriculum.

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Training Need Assessment Key Informant In-Depth Interview
Study Feedback Thursday June 4, 2020 (Zoom Meeting)

Training 5. Construction Procurement Management

 Root of the problem in construction procurement is the concept of least
bidders. It changed the whole system of the construction industry.
 There is a possibility to consider other issues instead of least bidder. We have
to think about maintenance cost and also demolishing cost as well.
 It is observed that companies prefer to continue the project with punishment
instead of taking legal actions.
 If a company meets the must meet criteria, it is assumed enough to provide
acceptable services.
 Besides government institutions, individual are also now currently using the
ideas of least bidders.
 There is no procurement document which considers all equally. As an example
consider PPA. This document only applies to government institutions not to
public enterprises.
 There are consultants who have their own contractors.
 When we consider public buildings, regions have their own purchasing
agencies. When they prepare the legal documents, there are a lot of loop
holes which leads to unnecessary ups and downs.
 Most of the time the procurement procedures are inefficient. This is due to
shortage of appropriate human resources the procurement department.

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Training Need Assessment Key Informant In-Depth Interview
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Training 6. Value Management in Construction Projects

 Using value management, one can finish a project with optimized financial
resources having equal or better performance.
 Use ICT and BIM to optimize results.
 A problem in letter of credit elongates the project life span. Material scarcity
also has an impact in the delay of the project. Moreover, it will have an impact
on the cost.
 Developing countries have a difficulty in getting quality materials within a
given period of time. This leads to an increase in cost.
 Many project contractors will go to bankruptcy unless there is a price
adjustment.
 It may be difficult to implement value engineering in our country context.

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