Partnership in public projects
Let’s talk about public projects!
SERIES ARTICLE
By Stanisław Gasik
Warsaw, Poland
Introduction
Construction projects typically take seven years: one year to do the technical design, two years for construction and four years for litigation (Manley et al., 2007).
Can this template schedule be changed?
Some examples of collaboration
During the construction of Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5, one of the columns was found to be deflected from the vertical above the standard, and further construction would have created serious risks. Under the traditional approach, the contractor company would have been sued for poor performance of its work, perhaps the contract with it would have been broken. A tender would have been held for the next subcontractor. Construction would have been delayed for many months. But the project manager invited the heads of the project’s key teams and subcontractors together and said: guys, I have a problem. Help me solve it. And they solved it; construction continued fairly smoothly (The Economist, 2004).
For the Wandoo project of Offshore Oil Platform near Dampier, Australia, the initial duration estimate was 36 months. The project budget was AUD 275 million. The contractor reduced the schedule to 25 months. A renowned consulting company estimated the probability of delivering the project in the shorter schedule as 0.8%. The project manager invested about AUD 1 million in training of partner-oriented, cooperative behavior. And they succeeded. The project manager said that if he would have known about the effect of this training, he would have invested 2 millions (Care, 2015).
The examples described were of project management behaviors derived from their experiences. But they can already be defined at the level of the contract between the main stakeholders. In the construction of the National Museum of Australia, the parties involved signed a contract (National Museum of Australia Acton Peninsula Alliance), which included provisions defining collaborative ways of implementing the project. As a result of this approach, the National Museum of Australia opened ahead of schedule; the budget was less than expected by about AUD 30 million (Hauck et al., 2004).
Unpredictable situations in projects
During the construction of the National Stadium in Warsaw, it was noticed that the designed electrical installation could not supply the amount of energy needed for the proper functioning of the lighting system. The European Championships, for which the stadium was being built, had a set date that could not be changed.
In the course of implementing IT projects for government institutions (and others), changes in the law sometimes occur, which, if not taken into account, would render the system useless.
In the subway line construction project, the contractor encountered a watercourse not described in the documentation received from the client (a self-government institution). Further work was not possible without altering the course of this watercourse and properly securing it.
If the products and terms of the contract are clearly defined, then the contractor in each of these situations could refuse to perform additional work and hold the client responsible for it. The further course of the project would depend on negotiations between the parties. Another option is to jointly solve problems that arise on an ongoing basis and continue the work. In projects, virtually permanently problems of a smaller caliber arise, which can either give rise to disputes between the parties to the contract or can be resolved jointly by the parties involved.
“In this article, we will discuss methods of project contracting and execution that lead to collaboration — examples provided at the beginning — and preparing project participants to handle unpredictable situations in the project — examples described above — in order to achieve mutual success by all parties involved.”
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Editor’s note: This article series is related to the management of public programs and projects, those organized, financed and managed by governments and public officials. The author, Dr. Stanisław Gasik, is the author of the book “Projects, Government, and Public Policy”, recently published by CRC Press / Taylor and Francis Group. That book and these articles are based on Dr. Gasik’s research into governmental project management around the world over the last decade. Stanisław is well-known and respected by PMWJ editors; we welcome and support his efforts to share knowledge that can help governments worldwide achieve their most important initiatives.
How to cite this paper: Gasik, S. (2024). Competing or working together for common success? Partnership in public projects, Let’s talk about public projects, series article, PM World Journal, Volume XIII, Issue VIII, August. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pmwj144-Aug2024-Gasik-Partnership-in-public-projects.pdf
About the Author
Stanisław Gasik, PhD, PMP
Warsaw, Poland
Dr. Stanisław Gasik, PMP is a project management expert. He graduated from the University of Warsaw, Poland, with M. Sc. in mathematics and Ph. D. in organization sciences (with a specialty in project management). Stanisław has over 30 years of experience in project management, consulting, teaching, and implementing PM organizational solutions. His professional and research interests include project knowledge management, portfolio management, and project management maturity. He is the author of the only holistic model of project knowledge management spanning from the individual to the global level.
Since 2013, his main professional focus has been on public projects. He was an expert in project management at the Governmental Accountability Office, an institution of the US Congress. He is the author of “Projects, Government, and Public Policy,” a book that systematizes knowledge about government activities in the area of project management.
He was a significant contributor to PMI’s PMBOK® Guide and PMI Standard for Program Management and contributed to other PMI standards. He has lectured at global PMI and IPMA congresses and other international conferences.
His web page is www.gpm3.eu.
To view other works by Dr. Gasik, please visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/stanislaw-gasik-phd-pmp/
