Proposed Railway Station Financial Tender

Question: Discuss about theProposed Railway Stationfor Financial Tender. Answer: Introduction Project management is crucial for the formulating a project and performs its functionalities as per as the desired plan and contractors play crucial role in accomplishing the project. Kelly et al. (2014) depicts that time-frame is one of the most important factors that is considered in project planning and contractors are liable to follow every legal and social obligation in accordance with the terms of the project deadline. In this assessment, the project that is considered is the construction of a central railway station that can accommodate 320,000 passengers per day and consists of every facility that is parking facilities, tunnels, commercial space, concourse and bridges. The estimated delivery of the project is decided to be 5 years and is planned to take place in several stages. However, the contractor desired to take extra time of a year for anticipated risks like water leaks in the tunnels. This assessment thus highlights the contractor appointment methods to attain the qual ity of design along with the appointment selection criteria. Moreover, some critical factors will be also discussed that will inform the choice of the procurement strategy for the project which is followed by the basic procurement routes and examination of advance procurement practices suitable for the project. Contractor Appointment Methods There are some of the most common methods according to which contractors will be selected for the mentioned central railway project. There are methods like a direct appointment, Competitive fee bid or financialtender, invited competitive interview, expression of interest along with competitive interview or designed completion, invited design competition and Open design competition (Olanrewaju et al. 2016). However, Fewings et al. (2005) depicts that there are no particular selection criteria in a project and an organization have to formulate their set of customized selection method for selecting effective contractor for accomplishing the desired project. In this case, the selection process started from the direct interview where some personal details will be evaluated. This procedure will be followed by the competitive interview session where some real-life situation will be provided to them so that their capability can be assessed. Lastly, the final candidates who qualify in the sec ond round have to attend the third session of the selection process and this is design competition, where these contractors have to propose construction design so that every requirement for the central railway project can be fulfilled like spacious and ventilated main station hall, commercial space, parking facilities, concourse, and bridges. Appointment Selection Criteria The appointment methods for selecting a contractor for the central railway project is furthermore added to the selection criteria relying upon which the primary selection of the efficient candidate is selected. The appointment selection criteria for these contractors are described below: Criteria Explanation of the criteria Educational Qualification Completion of Higher School in any stream Bachelor's degree in construction management / Diploma in Architect Master's degree in construction management Licensing State contractor's license Experience 4 years of experience as a Civil Engineer 3 years of experience in project management as an assistant contractor Responsibility Implementation and maintenance of the railway project Suggesting optimized solution for the central railway station Effective ideas for a spacious main station hall that is full of natural lights Use of energy efficient equipment like lights and also manage of large openings in the ceilings Table 1: Appointment criteria of the contractor (Source: Created by Author) Critical Factors of Choice of the Procurement Strategy Weisheng et al. (2013) depicts that a client always look for the designers obligations that are well understood by the contractor so that the entire requirement for the construction can be fulfilled. Moreover, contractors have the knowledge regarding the professional indemnity insurance and follow the two-stage tendering procurement. The critical factors for the contractor to assess the surety for the completion of the project successfully will be discussed below: Contractor should match the contractors liability for matching the railway project requirement The contractor should have possessed the ability to suggest alternative ideas for overcoming the damaged project consequence or inadequate design so that the final project can be delivered in time. Adequate professional indemnity insurance should have known by the contractor All the risk factors should be clearly assessed by the contractor do that projects risks can be reduced. Ability to evaluate the extra time and operating cost that is use to complete the railway project Issues to the Procurement Strategy Smith et al. (2016) portrays that the issues are inevitable when some project is taken into consideration and an effective contractor is liable to overcome these issues so that perfect project can be delivered. In this context, the formulation of the central railway project is suffering from some issues that are unavoidable during the construction work. One such problem is the suppliers related issues, who may delay the supply of the raw materials for the completion of the project. The delay of the raw materials diminishes the time for assessing the quality of the materials used in the final product that may result in construction problems like water leakage and other problems. Another issue is that the choice of the clients requirement that cannot be fulfilled every time along with the project planning. Taken for instance, some people do not prefer the choice of 32,000 square metres of commercial space as it consumes some of the railway space that can be used for the sitting purpose for the travelers. The cost issue is also crucial in the project procurement as the rate of raw materials are changing from time to time, which is difficult to evaluate the exact cost that is invested in the railway project. Lastly, the problem that can have occurred in this project is to allocate each risk to the best-placed project member as in these kind projects strong communication must have to be maintained so that every project details should be updated to each project member. Sometimes conflicts arise for a better job opportunity and recognition and internal clash results in a poor exchange of information regarding project details. Analysis of the Basic Procurement Routes The basic purpose of the procurement is to ensure design, construction, operations and maintenance of the project. Morledge and Smith (2013) also depicts that the assessment of the procurement route is to evaluate the teamwork of the delivery team and the integrated project team. There are three procurement routes- historical routes, integrated routes and collaborative routes. Historical routes- Traditional route signifies the contractual relationship between the client and the consultant and the architect, which is, in this case, the government to the contractor for formulating the central railway project. It is a part of the historic route. The government assesses the demand of public of a spacious and well-equipped railway station that can avail platforms for long-distance train and curved glass roof facilitated with a photovoltaic system. This route has the characteristics of competitive tendering appointment strategy, client control for the design process and provision of independent contract administrator and quantity surveyor. Moreover, design and build, construction management, management-contracting, design and manage are some more historical routes. Plantinga and Doree (2016) defines that in design and build routes the client only contacts directly with the contractor which is, in this case, is the government to the contractor and it is the contr actor's liability to choose appropriate design team and supply management team and deliver the final project to the client. In addition to that, construction management route has the potential to save the time of the overall project. In this case, the client can contact the contractor, construction manager, project manager and the client's designer. Integrated routes comprise of Private Public Partnerships (PPP), prime contracting and design and build procurement route. The central rail project is a partnership between the government and the private contractor that emphasizes on the risk factors associated with the project. Taken for instance for the contractor it is crucial to set appropriate power ceiling that supports the photovoltaic system in the glass ceiling (taken from case study). Moreover, the risk for the water arrangements, tunnels and piping addition with the management of the commercial sections so that every requirement of the project can be maintained. Moreover, the risk handled by the contractor is an operational risk for building the concourse and bridges that is one of a kind and is never constructed before. Sebastian et al. (2013) depicts that in this case, it is not possible to predict the risk beforehand as no prior research or experience, in this case, can be attained by the contractor. Moreover, in the design and build procurement strategy, the client liaises with the single point of responsibility and take fewer times for the project completion compared to the traditional procurement routes (Lam et al. 2007). In this case, the contractors may use their own in-housedesigners and appoint their own consultant designers with proper risk assessmentsto complete the railway project. Collaborative routes comprise of partnering strategy that signifies that the maximization of the potential and priority of the client. The partnership also explores opportunities for collaboration and completion of the central railway project. Mamter et al. (2014) stated that this is the best procurement method as this method eliminates duplicated effort and ensures the procurement benefits. Examine Advance Procurement Practices Harris and McCaffer (2013) states that apart from the design and build, construction management, management-contracting, design and manage procurement, there are two more advanced procurement practices- Notation and two-stage tendering. Novation is a part of the design and builds procurement route that signifies the relationship between the client and its professional consultants. Walker (2015) highlighted that the process starts with the initial design contained in the requests for proposals and ends with the final design. In addition to that, novation ensures continuity of design as they themselves develops the design concept for the client and fulfills the entire requirement for the contractor. This diminishes the conflicts between their own design team and the new designers as both of them are recruited or appointed for the same job. Taken for instance, in this context, the government ensures that the contractor they are working with have adequate professional indemnity insurance and follow designers obligations (Klakegg 2013). While on the other hand, the contractor assesses the working progression of the design team for concourse and bridges and the solar ceiling. Moreover, the curved glass roof of the main st ation hall and the spacing between the large openings in the ceilings is accurately measured and formulated according to the architecture plan. Furthermore, the liability of the contractor is to evaluate whether the steel structure of the project and the commercial space is also perfectly included in the project plan. The novation is of two types- switch novation and novation ab initio. Ozorhon (2012) portrays that in both the cases, the final project is transferred directly from the client to the contractor; however, the difference between this two novation is that in the former case it is done by creating two distinct periods while in the latter case it is done using a legal arrangement. The second method for the procurement practices which signifies the method of appointing a contractor for the project in the early stages so that the project planning can be started with expertise from scratch. Doloi (2008) defines that this procedure is classified into two stages- prequalification and negotiation. As mentioned earlier, in this formulation of the railway project this method is used for the selection of the contractor. The primary reason for the selection of this procurement strategy is that the client can choose a suitable contractor on the basis of anticipated competency and best price among other competitors. Most Suitable Route The most suitable that can help in the accomplishing this project is two-stage tendering for selection of the best contractor comprises of Prequalification, where the basic quality of the contractor or tenders is evaluated. This procedure is followed by the first-stage tender, second-stage tender, negotiation and awarding the contractor. In the pre-qualification stage, main contractors are invited to tender. Potts and Ankrah (2014) describes that in the first-stage tender program and method statement is addressed including preliminaries charges, package prices and second-stage tender the price of the package is finally settled. The negotiation has occurred between the client and contractor and then finally they are a reward not only for their great understanding of the project but also for their better quotation price. Moreover, the suitable route for the completion of the project will be the design and the build route as in this case the client only contact with the contractor, which on the other hand worked with their own developed design team and the supply chain team. The benefits regarding this procedure is that the contractors and the design teams work collaboratively and know the project objective that is to construct a metro rail project that can accommodate 320,000 passengers per day. Thus, proper quality products those are suitable for formulating a surface area of about 100 by 150 metres and 32,000 square metres of commercial space. Rajeh et al. (2015) further highlighted that due to the collaborative partnership the railway plan designed by the designer team is synchronized with the suppliers so that the entire project can be accomplished within the estimated time that is 5 years. Potential Benefits of Adopting the Chosen Procurement Route The route that is taken into consideration is the design and builds a route that is supported by the two-stage tendering so that better output can be attained. In this context the benefits of the taken procurement will be discussed. Benefits of Design and Build Route The government only contact with the contractor and not with the design team and hence they cannot interfere the progression of the project. The contractor consults with efficient constructor planner and engineers and thus, firm price and time can be estimated for the overall delivery of the railway project. All the work is accomplished collaboratively; thus, all the moves of one team will be aware of the progression of the other team and as a result, the duplicity of the work can be eliminated (Headley and Griffith 2014). Therefore, compared to the traditional procurement, the entire project will be delivered in lesser time. Consultation with the professional planner results in the cost savings and reduces the claim exposure. The benefits can be gained that design professionals formulate claim for negligent errors and omissions. Risk factors can be assessed quickly by the superior expert team and the contractor intends to overcome those adversities with experience. Utilization of new technologies is one of the benefits that can be attained in this procurement process as contractors always emphasize on their brand recognition and they intends to be updated (Ashworth 2012). Use of modern technology not only helps the project to complete beforehand but it also to ensure their competitive advantage. Benefits of Two-Stage Tendering Qualification of the contractor can be easily evaluated for the handling the entire railway project. Quality design development can be ensured by using this procurement Two-stage tendering is suitable for all Clients, including inexperienced clients. There is a pre-existing relationship between the contractor and the deign team, which helps in the good communication and shared knowledge of the selected contractor (Ndekugri et al. 2013). Better programming and monitoring of the design as the contractor track progress highlighting procurement priorities. Cost optimization is ensured in this procurement along with the low risk of the project. Reference List Ashworth, A., 2012. The impact of building information modelling: transforming construction. Construction Management and Economics, 30(2), pp.183-185. Doloi, H., 2008. 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