Evaluation of Consultant Performance

Done byAbdullah Abuzaid Humod Al-Shammari Mohammed Al-Qahtani Mohammed Al-Saheel

CEM-520

Done for

Dr. Sadi Assaf

Sun. 3/6/2007

الرحيم الرحمن الله بسم

Outline Introduction Objectives Literature Review Research Methodology Comparison Between Saudi’s and

Joint venture’s Engineers Responses Results Conclusion & Recommendations

Introduction

Title of the Study : Evaluation of Consultant Performance Full Name of Student : Mohammed Fouad Abdulwahab Major :Construction Engineering and Management Date Of Degree :JUNE 2006

The objective of this paper to identify the main criteria used to evaluate the engineering consultant performance in Saudi Arabia's construction process

The evaluation of the consultant’s performance is essential to the success of a consulting assignment especially when today’s construction projects are

becoming more sophisticated, large-scale, and risky.

Consulting engineering services and responsibilities are poorly understood. (Maxwell, 1982)

performance measurement is a debatable subject.

Delays, rework , variations, and contributing to increases in project time and cost, for both owner and contractors are result of poor engineering consultant performance

Continue Introduction

evaluation of the performance level for engineering consultant depends on a lot of criteria such as:

Quality of feasibility study report Quality of design Accuracy of cost estimate Administration of contractSupervision of contractorProject schedule control

Continue Introduction

Objectives

1. To identify the main criteria used to evaluate the engineering consultant performance in Saudi Arabia's construction process.

2. To determine the weight importance of each criteria on the engineering consultant performance evaluation.

3. To provide recommendations for improvement of the overall engineering consultant performance in Saudi Arabia's construction industry, using the result of the evaluation survey and available evaluation forms used worldwide.

Significance of the Study

This research will be a base for future studies in this field in Saudi Arabia. Also, this research will show what criteria might be taken into consideration while the process of the consultant performance evaluation and the weight importance of each criterion

LITRATURE REVIEW THE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT

PERFORMANCE MODELS

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

COSULTANT PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

CONSULTANT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION CRITERIA

PRACTICAL USAGE OF PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

DEFENITION OF ENGINEERING CONSULTANT

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CONSULTANT

SERVICES OFFERED BY ENGINEERING CONSULTANT FIRMS

THE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT

Engineering Consultant is defined By (Al-Basher, 1998):

as a professional who mainly has two mixed capabilities of practical professional experience and those of a business person who is applying his knowledge in rendering the professional services to the clients in return for money

DEFENITION OF ENGINEERING CONSULTANT

Providing professional architectural or engineering expertise

Performing prior studies.

Performing the most complex and advanced A/E work.

Maintaining continual.

High-level contacts with public and private officials.

Project management.

Defining drawings and design calculations required for works.

Making independent decisions on a continual basis.

Managing project budgets and approving the disbursement of funds.

Feasibility studies

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CONSULTANT

For project success

The client must:

1. Make basic firm decisions during the initial briefing period.

2. Make every effort to understand what he is being told and what his initial decisions mean.

3. Realize that the pre-costing of building is not an exact science.

4. Be closely involved during design stage and make further decisions as design develop.

5. Approve the cost plan at the end of design stage with a full understanding of what he is approving.

For project success

The owner should:

1. Clearly state his requirements

2. Furnish the A/E with full legal, utility, and physical information about the building site.

3. Enter with the A/E into a formal detailed agreement stating all conditions relating to the project.

4. Give full attention and consideration to documents prepared and presented by the consultant.

For project success

The Consultant Contract should clearly indicate:

1. The proposal leading to the contract2. Requirements for local associates (including names and

participation of local associates/sub-associates/subcontractors)3. Identification of Lending Agency, Borrower/ Client, and

Consultant's key personnel4. Scope of work5. Terms of reference6. Required standards of performance7. Time constraints8. Costs9. General and specific conditions10.Schedules and budget11.Material and services to be supplied by the Borrower/Client12.End products to be supplied by the consultant.

A good design:

1. Meets the basic owner's requirements.

2. Is functional, aesthetically pleasing information about the building site.

3. Is cost effective to acquire, own and operate.

4. Is well coordinated and readily biddable.

SERVICES OFFERED BY ENGINEERING CONSULTANT FIRMS

• Pre investment studies.

• Detailed engineering and design.

• Project implementation.

• Special services.

PERFORMANCE MODELS

As Vroom (1964) suggested :

The effects of motivation on performance are dependent on the level of ability of the worker, and the rela tionship of ability to performance is dependent on the motivation of the worker.

Performance = ζ (ability) x (motivation).

As Porter and Lawler (1968) suggested :

Two additional variables to effort that affect task achievement ability and role perceptions.

Performance = ζ (effort) x (ability) x (role perception).

Four variables Influence The Level of Worker Performance:

1. The worker's motivation as evidenced by the worker's effort.

2. The degree to which the worker possesses the requisite job specified knowledge and skills.

3. The degree to which the worker possesses the requisite innate mental and physical abilities.

4. The effectiveness of management in organizing the work and providing the necessary resources.

PERFORMANCE MODELS

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The objectives of performance evaluation are :

1. To improve the quality of professional services.

2. Improvement of performance on the specific project assignment

3. Achievement of better results and increased efficiency for the money invested

4. Records of performance for the purpose of qualifying consultants for future assignments

COSULTANT PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

Performance levels are represented by descriptive conditions for the qualitative measures.

Measures for evaluating A/E consultants' deliverables and work processes were developed

PRACTICAL USAGE OF PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The purposes of The Consultant’s Performance Evaluation:

1. monitor and control

2. Incentive and sanction.

3. Pre-selection

4. Technical assessment

5. Bid evaluation.

CONSULTANT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION CRITERIA

CRITERIA RELATED TO VARIOUS PROJECT STAGES:

1- Feasibility 4- Construction

2- Design 5- Post Construction

3- Bidding

CRITERIA RELATED TO GENERAL PERFORMANCE:

1-Resources 3- Relationship

2- Programming 4- Other Consultant Capabilities

The criteria were classified into two broad categories:

LIST OF CONSULTANT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION CRITERIA

No.

Stage / Capability consultant performance evaluation criteria

1 Feasibility Appreciation of background information

Quality of recommendation

Availability of innovative ideas

Accuracy of cost estimate

Quality of report

2 Design Compliance to client’s requirements

Compliance to legislative requirements

Identification of client’s requirements and project objectives

Quality of design

Availability of innovative and alternative solutions

Approach to cost-effectiveness

Quality of drawings

Accuracy of cost estimate

No. Stage / Capability consultant performance evaluation criteria

3 Bidding Quality of bid documents

Bid assessment

Quality of report on returned bids

4 Construction Recruitment, supervision and administration of site staff

Administration of contract

Supervision of contractor

Handling of claims

Financial control of contract

5 Post construction Quality of as-built drawings and records

Maintenance inspection and drawing up list of defects

Settlement of outstanding claims

Settlement of final account

6 Cons.General Resources Input of key personnel in the project

Adequacy of professional input of key personnel

LIST OF CONSULTANT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION CRITERIA

No. Stage / Capability consultant performance evaluation criteria

7 Cons. Programming Adequacy of schedule reporting

Quality of program and progress report

Program monitoring and control

8 Cons. Relationship Relationship with the client

Relationship with the contractor

Relationship with other consultants

9 Other Cons Capabilities Achievement of objectives and targets

Responding quickly to the request and instructions of client

Problem solving/avoidance ability

General management skills

Quality management

Safety management

Environmental management

LIST OF CONSULTANT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION CRITERIA

The research methodology is distributed into the following phases of research program as shown in the following flowchart:

LITERATURE REVIEW

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION CRITERIA

PILOT SURVEY AND FINAL QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

DATA FROM FULL SCALE SURVEY

STATISTICAL DATA ANALYSIS

MAJOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

Research Methodology

The five most important consultant performance evaluation criteria identified by owners are listed below:

Problem solving/avoidance ability Appreciation of background information Compliance to client’s requirements Recruitment, supervision and administration of

site staff Quality of design

According to the ranking by Owners' Criteria Evaluation, the most important criterion was problem solving/avoidance ability.

This may reflect that owners need to avoid any problems which may occur during construction.

However, there are also some criteria ranked that have a relation with other owners' personal issues, such as their requirements and consultant background information.

The correlation coefficient measures the extent to which two variables are linearly related to each other. In this research, correlation is used to represent the degree of agreement or disagreement between the different respondents’ categories (Consultants, Owners, and Contractors).

( Γ ) = 12/)1(

)(

2

1

2

nn

RRK

ii

Comparison Between Saudi’s and Joint venture’s Engineers Responses

Saudi's organizations respondents are listed below:

1. Quality of design2. Recruitment, supervision and administration of

site staff3. Appreciation of background information4. Compliance to client’s requirements5. Supervision of contractor

Joint venture's organizations respondents are listed below:

1. Compliance to client’s requirements2. Quality of bid documents3. Quality of design4. Supervision of contractor5. Safety management

Those differences may be come as the two organization types, Saudi and joint venture, are different in their skeleton and targets. Also, the mixture of joint venture organizations employee may has an important role in their opinions.

There is a big difference between the two groups opinion about (Safety management) criterion. The joint venture's respondents evaluated it as the fifth important evaluation criteria while the Saudi's organizations' respondents evaluated it as the twenty fifth criterions.

CONCLUSION

According to consultants' perspective, the arrangement of project stages as per their weighted importance is:

1. Construction stage2. Design stage3. Bidding stage4. Post construction stage5. Feasibility stage

According to owners' representatives' perspective, the arrangement of project stages as per their weighted importance is:

1. Design stage2. Construction stage3. Bidding stage4. Post construction stage5. Feasibility stage

According to contractors' perspective, the arrangement of project stages as per their weighted importance is:

1. Design stage2. Construction stage3. Bidding stage4. Post construction stage5. Feasibility stage

According to overall respondents' perspective, the arrangement of project stages as per their weighted importance is:

1. Design stage2. Construction stage3. Bidding stage4. Post construction stage5. Feasibility stage

The five most important consultant performance evaluation criteria identified by all respondents (Consultants, Owners, and Contractors) were:

1. Quality of design (Design Stage).2. Compliance to client’s requirements (Design Stage).3. Quality of bid documents (working drawings, BOQ. etc.)

(Bidding Stage).4. Recruitment, supervision and administration of site staff

(Construction Stage).5. Supervision of contractor (Construction Stage).

The five most important consultant performance evaluation criteria identified by contractors were:

1. Quality of design(Design Stage).2. Compliance to client’s requirements

(Design Stage).3. Quality of bid documents (Bidding Stage).4. Quality of drawings (Design Stage).5. Supervision of contractor (Construction

Stage).

The five least important consultant performance evaluation criteria identified by all respondents (Consultants, Owners, and Contractors) were:

1. Availability of innovative ideas (Feasibility Stage)2. Environmental management (Other Consultant

Capabilities)3. Relationship with other consultants (Consultant

Relationship)4. Approach to cost-effectiveness (Design Stage)5. Relationship with the contractor (Consultant

Relationship)

RECOMMENDATIONS Consultant characteristics have to be studied

carefully from the owners’ side before awarding a contract and starting the project stages.

As Quality of Design is the most important consultant performance evaluation criteria, consultants should improve their capabilities in design and its quality issues.

Before project construction, careful and proper review of project design by all parties in the construction industry can improve overall consultant performance.

Consultants need to carefully consider their clients' requirements when they design the project to ensure that it meets their requirements and objectives.

Training courses are very important issues to improve the consultant performance.

Responsibilities of the consultant should be clearly understood by owners and other parties during all project stage.

Consultancy organization should invest in development, training, and acquire requirements needed for design improvement and quality supervision.

Thank you