Naif Al Azmi, Ghaleb Sweis, Rateb J. Sweis, Farouq Sammour
In recent years, several construction-related services incorporating Blockchain-enabled smart contracts have emerged. Blockchain-enabled smart contracts have the potential to modify the structure of all accessible networks in the near future. The purpose of this study is to explore individuals understanding of smart contracts in Saudi Arabia, identify potential advantages, and assess actors' readiness to implement smart contracts technology in ready-mixed concrete (RMC) plants. Data was acquired by questionnaires distributed to employees from Saudi Arabia's RMC plants companies. Additionally, confirmatory interviews were conducted out to areas of expertise. The study's findings revealed a low level of smart contract knowledge within Saudi Arabia’s RMC plants sector. The readiness to implement smart contracts is extremely low. According to the findings, smart contracts can improve supply chain management and supply chain finance efficiency, but not in the current circumstances in Saudi Arabia owing to insufficient digitization.
Onsite assembly is a critical stage for modular construction. Its success or failure depends on accurate information sharing among numerous stakeholders who, unfortunately, often possess unsynchronized information. Owing to its decentralized consensus mechanism, blockchain has the potential to improve information-sharing accuracy on construction sites. However, little research has documented how this can be done. Adopting a design science research (DSR) method, this study aimed to explore the use of blockchain technology to improve information-sharing accuracy in the onsite assembly of modular construction (OAMC). First, an OAMC business process analysis was conducted to understand the issues leading to information sharing, in particular its accuracy. Then, a blockchain-based conceptual model was developed. Its components, such as membership registration, information sharing-request, ordering service, consensus mechanism, and distributed storage, were described. Finally, a prototype system was developed and validated in a mock-up OAMC. The results show that the prototype system can improve the accuracy of information sharing in OAMC by allowing project participants to endorse information about the modules and their assembly through the blockchain’s consensus mechanism. This study explores and implements blockchain technology in a specific construction area. It can serve as a valuable reference for future endeavors in harnessing the power of blockchain technology, particularly for mobilizing information endorsement mechanisms for various value-added applications.
Antonio Andreoni, Kenneth Creamer, Mariana Mazzucato, Grové Steyn
Abstract Green transition is a ‘wicked’ problem in that it is complex, systemic, interconnected, and urgent. In this paper we advance a ‘mission-oriented’ approach to reconceptualize energy megaprojects within a systemic, cross-sectoral, and challenge-driven policy framework for energy transition. This approach is operationalized through a discussion of project-level policy instruments including directional public finance, public procurement, and several types of conditionality. These instruments are geared towards shaping markets and industrial supply chains for green transition, and managing risks and rewards associated with energy megaprojects. We also look at the opportunities offered by a more decentralized energy system and the importance of building up state capacity and green coalitions supporting energy transition. We discuss this mission-oriented approach through a deep dive on the South African experience of energy megaprojects with a focus on the restructuring of its public utility, Eskom, as well as opportunities for sustainable industrialization.
This research aims to develop a multicriteria decision matrix (MCDM) for project management practitioners, which will support blockchain type selection, evaluate blockchain platforms, and plan blockchain systems. The MCDM is substantiated through a case study, which includes a questionnaire and an illustrative example pertinent to the construction industry. It was discovered in this study that consortium blockchain is superior in dealing with the characteristics of projects, and Hyperledger Fabric is chosen as the best applicable platform. In planning a blockchain-based project management system, project management practitioners should consider user requirements such as network participants, principal transactions, communication channels, and smart contracts.
Alessandra Corneli, Francesco Spegni, Marco Alvise Bragadin, Massimo Vaccarini
Construction management can be grouped into two different levels: strategic early planning, that provides the baseline for project monitoring, and \nshort time initiatives, based on objectives and selforganization from actors who are involved in on-site processes. This is currently managed through the \nrepresentation of many separate processes and this does not eliminate the inefficiencies that arise at the level of synchronization of the individual tasks \nperformed by different organizations. Efficiency in construction management implies to take into consideration choreographies because they better \nreflect synchronization of different organizations management processes. On the other hand, smart contracts linked to single task execution assure both promptness and irreversible tracking at single task level. The actual execution of processes depends both on what happens and on the information that flows between the subjects who actually carry out processes asynchronous to each other, so the only possibility to synchronize them is information. This research describes a framework for \napplying BPMN choreographies to construction site processes in order to better model processes and integrate them with smart contracts. Every single activity in the baseline can be modelled as a choreography at a lower level. On the other hand, process performance monitoring can be performed thanks to blockchain tasks notarization. Concrete casting quality assessment process has been chosen as use case. A BPMN choreography has been defined for this purpose and blockchain \napplication for accomplished tasks and information notarization has been developed and tested on a construction site.
From the economic value and contribution point of view to gross domestic product (GDP), it is highly important to find efficiency through new technology and digital tools as modern practices in the New Zealand construction industry. This requires coordinated efforts and greater alignment in using technology and information technology (IT) infrastructure provisions in complex and smart construction projects and operations. However, construction projects experience indicates delays as a recurring issue that requires constant assessing of these delays’ causes and impact. Many delay analysis methods and causal factors are being recognized, but none has considered whether information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure such as software and smart platforms affect these delay causes and events. This paper aims to identify and rank the causes of delay, which happened through using software and ICT platforms in smart and complex construction projects in New Zealand. Initially, the delay causes were classified, and 15 executed smart construction projects were identified and studied. The projects were selected based on purposive sampling from the different contracting organizations. Accordingly, the project managers and engineers involved participated in a survey on the actual delay causes in these projects. This study utilized the correlation coefficient and ranking of relative importance index (RII) to prioritize the causes of delay. The result presented a list of 20 factors in three classes of design/engineering (DE), client (CL), and contractor (CO). The results revealed that issues such as retrieving information, gathering and screening real-time data on the site, and lack of multicommunication channels between parties and stages (pre- and postconstruction) could be significant causes of delay in smart projects with the expansion of smart tools and techniques in construction. Meanwhile, consents and ethics can potentially become another potential cause of delay, which requires further attention.
Distributed Ledger Technology can benefit the severe and chronic issues in the planning and execution of complex projects. However, while the general potential is recognized, there is little rigorous discussion of the pathway to benefits or detailed description of architectures to realize them. Here, we start by discussing the severity and causes of the problem. We then present an architecture designed to ameliorate them. Project networks are temporally constrained DAGs; new value is created at project milestones corresponding to the DAG vertices. Building on these characteristics, we describe an architecture for collaborative planning and execution with smart contracts at milestones and tokens backed by project created assets.
Agustín Moya-Colorado, Nina León-Bolaños, José Luis Yagüe Blanco
Project management is an autonomous discipline that is applied to a huge diversity of activity sectors and that has evolved enormously over the last decades. International Development Cooperation has incorporated some of this discipline’s tools into its professional practice, but many gaps remain. This article analyzes donor agencies’ project management approaches in their funding mechanisms for projects implemented by non-governmental organizations. As case study, we look at the Spanish decentralized donor agencies (Spanish autonomous communities). The analysis uses the PM2 project management methodology of the European Commission, as comparison framework, to assess and systematize the documentation, requirements, and project management tools that non-governmental organizations need to use and fulfill as a condition to access these donors’ project funding mechanisms. The analysis shows coincidence across donors in the priority given to project management areas linked to the iron triangle (scope, cost, and time) while other areas are mainly left unattended. The analysis also identifies industry-specific elements of interest (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) that need to be incorporated into project management practice in this field. The use of PM2 as benchmark provides a clear vision of the project management areas that donors could address to better support their non-governmental organization-implemented projects.
Contracts are the currency of commerce. Insight into the future of commerce is likely to be gained through the application of smart contracts. The improvements in technology and the direction of travel for the collaborative agenda seem to coalescence around the concept of the smart contract. Lawyers and legal academics have become increasingly aware of the challenges and potential of smart contracts in recent years. The key characteristics of smart contracts is it in digital form and is embedded as code in hardware and software. The performance of the contract and the release of payments and other actions are enabled by technology and rules-based operations. The smart contract process can be described thus: the operative inserts the brick in the wall. The key characteristic of smart contracts is the coding of legal terms and processes into software.
Affected by factors such as cost, the financial constraints faced by the supply chain are becoming more and more severe. This paper constructs a financing and pricing decision-making model for the construction supply chain under capital constraints, and uses Stackelberg game theory to analyze and obtain the best financing and pricing strategy for the construction supply chain under the internal and external financing modes. The study found that when centralized decision-making is adopted, there is a profit distribution model that makes the profits obtained by construction developers and contractors greater than the profits obtained in decentralized decision-making; the internal financing model of the construction supply chain is better than external financing, and can enable the construction supply chain get higher profits.
The construction industry has long been plagued with late and nonpayments. Despite the desired benefits of payment automation and today’s increased access to digitized progress data, too often payment applications still rely on inefficient workflows and documents that are time-consuming to prepare, review, approve, and execute. This paper argues that current payment applications, even if computerized, cannot support reliable automation of progress payments due to their reliance on centralized control mechanisms and lack of guaranteed execution. The paper examines why blockchain-based and decentralized smart contracts can address these limitations. It explores the conceptual underpinning for the design of an automated payment system and investigates the role of smart contracts in enabling reliable and autonomous conditioning of cash flow on product flow status. To illustrate these points, a use case is presented for smart contract-based progress payments in the context of unmanned aerial vehicle-based progress monitoring. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges facing blockchain-based payment automation and the broader implications for dispute resolution and construction law informatics, namely zero-trust computing and the creation of an auditable single source of truth for projects.
Sulafa Badi, Edward G. Ochieng, Mohamed Nasaj, Maria Papadaki
This study aims to identify the factors that influence the adoption of smart contracts in the UK construction sector. A deductive questionnaire-based approach informed by the technology-organisation-environment (TOE) model is adopted. The framework is comprised of twelve independent variables and one dependent variable of smart contracts use intention. Ten hypotheses are developed to statistically test the causal relationships between the eleven variables of the research model. The study adopts a convenience sampling approach, with the population of interest being primarily drawn from among UK construction practitioners. The results generated from linear regression analysis suggest that the following four factors have a significant influence on the adoption of smart contracts: supply chain pressure, competitive pressure, top management support, and observability. The descriptive statistics obtained also offer a greater understanding of the perceptions and attitudes towards smart contracts across the UK construction sector. The results demonstrate the usefulness of a perception-based model that utilises the TOE framework to assess facets that influence the adoption of smart contracts. The study contributes to innovation diffusion studies in construction project management and supports “early adopters” at the footfall of the technology’s diffusion curve.
Qian Chen, Daniel Hall, Bryan T. Adey, Carl T. Haas
Purpose Managing stakeholders' reciprocal interdependencies is always a challenging issue. Stakeholders need to find out different ways to communicate information and coordinate material flows during the supply chain processes. Many recent studies have advanced construction supply chain coordination from multiple perspectives. However, the field still lacks a comprehensive analysis to summarize existing research, to explicitly identify all the possible enablers for coordination and to investigate how the enablers can be carried out at the supply chain interfaces. To fill the gap, this study aims to conduct a systematic review in order to examine the relevant literature. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review process was conducted to identify and synthesize relevant publications (published in the past 20 years) concerning the coordination of construction supply chain functions. These publications were coded to link main research findings with specific enabler categories. In addition, how these enablers can be used at the interfaces across supply chain processes was reviewed with an in-depth analysis of reciprocal communications between stakeholders at design-to-production, production-to-logistics and production-to-site-assembly phases. Findings The coordination enablers were classified into three categories: (1) contractual enablers (including subtopics on relational contracts and incentive models), (2) procedural enablers (including subtopics on multiagent knowledge sharing systems and the last planner system) and (3) technological enablers (including subtopics on linked databases for design coordination, design for manufacturing software platforms and automated monitoring technologies). It was found that interfacing different functions requires a certain level of integration of stakeholders for quick response and feedback processes. The integration of novel contractual forms with digital technologies, such as smart contracts, however, was not adequately addressed in the state of the art. Research limitations/implications The scope of the systematic review is limited to the static analysis of selected publications. Longitudinal studies should be further included to sharpen the inductions of enablers considering organizational changes and process dynamics in construction projects. Practical implications Different enablers for coordination were summarized in a concise manner, which provides researchers and project stakeholders with a reinforced understanding of various ways to manage reciprocal interdependencies at different supply chain interfaces. Originality/value This study constitutes an important input for research on the construction supply chain by illuminating the thematic topic of coordination from inductively developed review processes, which included a holistic framing of the emerging coordination enablers and their use across supply chain functions. Consequently, it closes some identified knowledge gaps and offers additional insights to improve the supply chain performance of construction projects.
Giulia Pattini, Giuseppe Martino Di Giuda, Lavinia Chiara Tagliabue
The proposed research aims at illustrating how Blockchain technology can support the contract execution optimizing and assuring a transparent information flow during the phases of the construction process. The traditional approach, chased in the industry, is indeed more hierarchical than networked, resulting in a high fragmentation of contracts and the break of companies in numerous tiers. This context prevents effective collaboration, hindering the achievement of the project objectives. The recent digital transition, guided by Building Information Modeling (BIM), has promised the creation of a shared environment for the information created and exchanged during the entire process, in favor of collaboration and reduction of critical issues typical related to the sector. Despite the initial promises, the use of BIM has shown problems related to trust and transparency of information, not encouraging participants to collaborate in meeting common goals. For these reasons, the study aims to investigate the potential of Blockchain technology in the management of the information flow to ensure transparency and stability of the process. The research proposes four frameworks showing how Blockchain can be integrated with the construction contract to support the execution of each phase, highlighting the improvement of information sharing, traceability of each activity or service and support for collaboration.
Construction contracts are always regarded as complex and voluminous documents that make it harder to extract required information, preventing its smooth functioning. Due to the recent technological advancements, automated and smart contracts can be considered as an alternative to the traditional contract documents that manage its provisions, obligations and clauses by itself. Since the adoption of smart contracts, which can only be performed with the whole participation of involved stakeholders, is limited in the construction industry, this study aims to investigate the stakeholder-associated drivers to implementing smart contracts. For this purpose, a framework based on fuzzy technique for order of preference by the similarityto-ideal-solution (TOPSIS) is developed consisting of eighteen drivers to be prioritized. A number of eighteen experts, who have adequate experience in both construction industry and contract administration, contributed to this study. The results indicate that (i) simple layout to read, (ii) reduction in risks of clients, (iii) clarity in responsibility and risk allocation, (iv) easy to comprehend from various stakeholders, and (v) conflict, claim and dispute reduction were the top five drivers to implement smart contracts. The findings imply that other than its own advantages, the reasons to seek the adoption of smart contracts are mainly the deficiencies of the traditional contract documents. The findings of this study are expected to assist research and development departments of the firms seeking to implement smart contract, while addressing the gap in the literature in this context.
Rob Vluggen, Cees J. Gelderman, Janjaap Semeijn, Marc van Pelt
Public agencies feel the need to advance sustainability and use procurement as an instrument to do so. Many studies focused on internal forces, explaining the limited success of sustainable public procurement. This study focused on how external forces are able to hold municipalities accountable for sustainable procurement. Three mid-sized Dutch municipalities were investigated through an extensive document study and 34 semi-structured interviews. The results show minor legal pressure to enforce sustainable procurement. National legislation, guidelines and principles are considered non-binding, due to a lack of penalties in the case of non-compliance. Real pressure stems from lobbying by branch organizations and political pressure initiated by citizens. In contrast with the New Public Management principles, municipalities appear to place more emphasis on legal and financial accountability, in contrast to performance accountability. Accountants mainly focus on legitimacy and the finance department only monitors spending within budget. The hybrid organization of the procurement function seems to impede sustainability development. Only the larger projects are subject to sustainability requirements, set by centralized purchasing departments. Smaller projects, responsible for 2/3 of the total spend are managed by decentralized groups, remaining under the radar of sustainability policies.
Samad M. E. Sepasgozar, Reyhaneh Karimi, Sara Shirowzhan, Mohammad Mojtahedi · 6 authors
Delay is one of the main challenges of construction projects, and there is still much to overcome in order to reach near zero delay in all construction projects. This project aims to conduct a systematic critical review including a bibliography analysis on delay literature in construction. The main questions consider what has been learnt from a decade investigating delay causes and effects in the construction literature and what factors have been missed in the literature. This paper also presents a new and challenging question regarding how digital tools and associated technologies may prevent any delay in construction projects, which can change the research direction from delay investigations to identifying prevention factors. The paper identifies the delay dataset, including 493 papers investigating delay in construction, and establishes a specific dataset of papers focusing on delay effects and causes (DEC), including 94 selected papers covering different factors examined in over 29 countries such as Iran, India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Cambodia, Oman, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, the US, the UK, and Egypt. In addition, the paper identifies 30 critical factors with the frequency of occurrences over three times in the DEC dataset and computes their medians of ranking. This paper also discusses digital tools and methods that can be used for delay analysis and preventions, including MS Project, Oracle Primavera P6, and Open Plan by Deltek. The paper discusses the project schedule delay analysis from project management methodology perspectives. It also discusses the current method’s limitations and future directions, which are based on the identification of the deficiency areas. In total, four overlooked factors are identified and suggested, including faulty data analysis, unmatched structure of the research questionnaires with new knowledge and standards [e.g., Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)], overlooked effects of digital technologies [e.g., Digital twin, Navisworks, Building Information Model (BIM), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)], and ignored job-site technologies. In addition, the paper presents the DEC model for future studies, including four main key factors. These factors are resources (e.g., project budgets, labour, material, equipment, and digital tool), project context, stakeholders performance (e.g., owner/client, consultant/designer, contractor, vendor/supplier), and external factors (e.g., ground condition, site location, regulation, natural disaster), which may significantly affect delay prevention and should be concurrently considered in the future delay investigations, since they may be required for designing an effective mitigation strategy when these proof points are identified. This would significantly help to utilise digital systems to prevent time overruns in different construction contexts.
This chapter shows what happens when the severe restrictions on the range of projects to be appraised are relaxed. It considers the case for large projects, public goods projects or projects with relevant environmental effects as well as for investments financed out of fixed expenditure allocations. Since all these departures from manuals involve a different view of the relation between project and plans, the chapter addresses the links between appraisals and economic planning or between shadow prices and decentralized prices. The range of projects whose appraisal is considered by the manuals of the 1970s is limited by a simplified version of the planning procedures. The departures from the Little and Mirrlees, UNIDO, Mishan, and Squire and Van der Tak manuals seem to correspond to the desire to avoid this neglect of relevant areas of public intervention. The large project, public goods, non-optimal financing and private investments appraisal issues show the objective complications of such departures from the current guidelines.
Algan Tezel, Eleni Papadonikolaki, İbrahim Yitmen, Per Hilletofth
Blockchain, a peer-to-peer controlled, distributed database structure, has the potential to profoundly affect \nthe current business transactions in the construction industry through smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, and \nreliable asset tracking. The construction industry has often been criticized for being slow in embracing \nemerging technologies and not effectively diffusing those technologies through its supply chains. Often, the \nextensive fragmentation, traditional procurement structures, destructive competition, lack of collaboration \nand transparency, low-profit margins and human resources are shown as the main culprits for this. As \nBlockchain makes its presence felt strongly in many other industries like finance and banking, this paper \ninvestigates how to prepare construction supply chains for Blockchain technology through an explorative \nanalysis. Empirical data for the study were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 subject \nexperts and focus groups. Alongside presenting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses opportunities, threats) \nanalysis, the paper exhibits the requirements for and steps toward a construction supply structure facilitated \nby Blockchain.