SB – Procurement
Procurement
The procurement methods allow the client to achieve his demanded project within a reasonable scale of time and in an way affordable to him. Th aim of getting the right procurement for a project is to obtain a good balance between Time (which represents the speed or certainty of completion date), Quality (the functionality and performance of the building) and Cost (the price level or cost certainty). In order to widen the possibilities various types of procurement methods can be taken in consideration.
In order for contractors and clients to be able to meet agreement points, various forms of procurements can be adopted:
• ‘Traditional’ procurement; (Consultants, including architects are appointed for design, cost control and contract administration, contractor is responsible for carrying out the Works, including work by sub- contractors and suppliers.) This form of procurement sees the design and construction stages separate from each other, where documentation is needed before any contractor can be appointed.Therefore it is suitable for all kinds of clients, including inexperienced ones, for complex projects, where the time and costs predictability is high. However it is not recommended for fast-track projects. The risks this form of procurement involves are lower, due to the slower time the process take (design-bid-build process) and the control over quality of construction would be supervised by the consultant, or architects. However thanks to this procurement method it is easier to assess and estimate the costs and the quality of the development with higher precision.
• Design and Build methods; ( The main contractor is responsible for undertaking both the design and construction work for an agreed lump- sum price. Features//Design responsibilities, Time responsibilities) this form of procurement has its costs and a certain speed in favour to the client, however, due to the fact that the contractor would be in full control of the design process, the risk of losing quality during the construction process might be higher, as neither the client or the consultant would be in control of the design process.
• Management contracting / Construction management; (The client appoints a team and management contractor (or architect for small works) whose responsibility is to directly manage the project on behalf of the client. This form of procurement is suitable for fast track projects, complex buildings or a developing brief and less suitable for inexperienced clients, clients who pass the responsibilities to the contractor . This procurement method might presents cost, and quality risks, however a higher chance of speed might be the positive point, however, it would not be a garant until almost work completion. The contract, drafted by the client, without the supervision of a solicitor or a consultant could present costs risks for the client.
the other minor forms of procurement are the public-private partnership (where the private finance initiative (PFI) creates a Public-private partnership (PPPs) by founding public benefit projects with a private capital) and Partnering method.
each procurement is affected by the scale of the project as well as its typology, the larger and complex the project is the more time, costs or quality could be compromised as a less accurate estimation would be carried out for both time and costs.
Moreover if a type of procurement allows the client to save in costs, most likely, the quality of the construction would be lower, whether the quality would need to be a major priority, times would be longer, and whether time is a necessity, quality would decrease. If the time would need to be shorter the costs would increase. The good compromise between the three would be an adequate budget to allow a decent quality, and a reasonable amount of time to be invested for the constructions.
these various forms of procurement can benefit or not-benefit the client according to the complexity of the project, in this case, which aimed at reeveloping the existing site in order to provide commercial spaces as well as the new construction of an attached development which would have hosted sustainable residential units. Such proposition was enhanced by the architects S.B. in order to finance the project demanded by the client, in this way diminishing the economic output of this last one. The contract was estimated to GBP 4.5 Millions, and the development completed in 4 years thanks to the RIBA plan of work covering phases F to L. The project was mainly supervised by the architects: Sergison Bates, who appointed a planning supervisor (Smith Turner), structural engineers (Price & Mayers), Environmental engineer (Max Fordham) a Graphic designer (JANE) and a contractor (Roof Ltd) . As the contractor appointed sub contractors for the finishings and woodworks (used in the stairways and external corridors of the residential part of the building) therefore the type of procurement method used for this project was most certainly a Standard one.
Engagement
The relationships and processes of engagement between client, architect and contractors are set according to the type of procurement, in a Standard procurement, the relationship between the client and the architect is direct, however the architect appoints the contractor who will not be in direct touch with the client. In Design and build methods the approach is similar, however the contractor, having full responsibility over the project (usually at a fixed price) would need to execute the project (established by the client and the consultant or architect) according to the design, Changes made by the client during design can be expensive, because they affect the whole of the Design-Build contract, rather than just the design team costs.
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