Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Applied Engineering and Technology Management

First Advisor

Ellingson, Lee

Abstract

Department of transportation (DOT) projects in the U.S. are plagued by issues resulting from poor contract administration performance. Literature reveals that there are unanswered questions related to contract administration practices and performance. Some of the most pronounced issues include construction disputes and litigation, failure rate of contractors, contractor misconduct and false claims, and the ability to staff projects properly. This study investigated the relationship between contract administration practices and contract administration performance of general contractors on federal and state DOT projects in the U.S. The overall research question addressed in this study was: "Is there a relationship between contract administration practices and contract administration performance of general contractors on federal and state DOT projects in the U.S.?" Data for this study was obtained from 20 state DOTs, and comprised of 86 samples. Based on the research question, the study's hypotheses were derived from the literature, and a quantitative correlational research design method was used to investigate the relationship between the dependent variable (contract administration performance) and the independent variables (management attitude towards contract risks, contract provisions for mitigating contract risks, stability of scope definition, contract administration infrastructure, resource allocation strategy, and competency of contract administrators). The first key finding was that a significant correlation existed between contract administration performance and resource allocation strategy. The second key finding from the study was that the average cycle time from discovery to execution of change order was two (2) months, and this can be used as the baseline for evaluating performance level. The third key finding from the study was that on average the practices in the questionnaire were applicable to more than 84 percent of the respondents, which confirms that the practices do apply to most state DOTs, and can be streamlined by each state DOT for performance evaluation. The study's findings showed that there was no significant positive correlation between contract administration performance and management attitude towards contract risks, contract provisions for mitigating contract risks, stability of scope definition, contract administration infrastructure, and competency of contract administrators. A predictive model was not developed because an investigation using regression analysis revealed that the collected data were not suitable for development of a predictive model. The collected data for this study shows patterns that support only one of the six hypothesized relationships and further study was recommended. Using power analysis, the sample size for this study was calculated to be 100 samples; however, only 66 of 86 collected samples met the requirements for use in inferential statistical analysis. It is expected that with a larger sample size, the variant scenarios and patterns will become evident, and a statistical analysis could confirm the relationships and a predictive model could be developed.

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