Less true still is the Treasury's assertion that there is "no bias in favour of any particular procurement route".
After intensive debates, the German authorities decided that the procurement route for the applications of organic photovoltaics had too many uncertainties.
"This phase includes establishing best value for money for the taxpayer and will conclude in March 2016, at which point a decision will be made as to the best procurement route".
The study shows that in addition to design review processes, other factors such as procurement route selection (i.e. contract methods such as design and construct), and effective communication of design parameters between the stakeholders, are all essential to realise the goals and objectives of constructability in infrastructure engineering and project management.
The main causes of the slippage were delays in designing a challenging project that was to be delivered against a tight timetable using an unusual procurement route.
Traditional procurement routes would have entailed the production and interpretation of drawings and design details at all discipline interfaces before fabrication; an approach that was unfeasible given the constraints.
Asset-management techniques able to take account of the full range of factors in less stable environments require to link contributory variables including: dynamic user-needs analyses, life-cycle analysis, national design specifications, building codes, prefabrication opportunities, procurement routes, and project management tools towards re-build/retro-fitting.
In actual fact they perform various roles including managing the costs and finances of a project, calculating quantities eg. how many bricks will be needed for a house, advising clients on procurement routes and deciding which contractor does a particular project once tender documentation is received.
"Building relationships initially through procurement could prove a route in for academic activities including research, consultancy and student placements," said Petford of the move.
This focus follows the asset life-cycle management and attempts to integrate the management of eight stages (i.e., route design, construction, procurement, acceptance and installation, handover, operation, maintenance, and disposition) and certain functions (i.e., finance, contract, procurement, maintenance, project management, and technical management).
The G-Cloud framework has been under development for more than two years, with the aim of providing a route for the easy procurement of IT services on a 'pay as you go' basis.
