19 research outputs found
Report on findings of the A27 Everdingen-Hooipolder case:Added value of asset information in the tender
Full text linkAreaalinformatie is van cruciaal belang bij het nemen van weloverwogen beslissingen in infraprojecten. Actuele, betrouwbare en complete (ABC) areaalinformatie stelt opdrachtnemers in staat om strategieën te ontwikkelen, kosten nauwkeurig in te schatten en risico's beter te beheersen. De A27 Everdingen-Hooipolder aanbesteding biedt een geschikte casus om de toegevoegde waarde van ABC areaalinformatie te onderzoeken. De aanbesteder heeft uitgebreide ABC-toetsen uitgevoerd en gebruik gemaakt van Rijkswaterstaat's Objecttypenbibliotheek (OTL) om de areaalinformatie te structureren. Het onderzoek, uitgevoerd door Ruth Sloot van de Universiteit Twente, biedt inzichten in de voorbereiding en verloop van de tender. Het onderzoekt specifiek het gebruik van areaalgegevens in de ontwikkeling van inschrijvingen en in het inschatten en beprijzen van risico's door gegadigden in de aanbesteding.Over het algemeen wordt er positief teruggekeken op de tender en de toegevoegde waarde die de areaalinformatie heeft gehad. Zowel de aanbesteder als de gegadigden erkennen het belang van areaalgegevens in de tender. Een uniforme structuur, gebaseerd op de OTL, heeft geleid tot een logische vindbaarheid van areaalgegevens en heeft bijgedragen aan een efficiëntere afhandeling van vragen. Bij het ontvangen van een vraag kon gemakkelijk worden gecontroleerd of de informatie was ontvangen en al dan niet was doorgegeven. Dit heeft geleid tot een verbeterde traceerbaarheid van de ontvangen en geleverde informatie. Daarnaast heeft de uitgebreide ABC-toetsen bijgedragen aan een compleet dossier van areaalgegevens, waarbij met name het verstrekken van bewerkbare versies van documenten zeer gewaardeerd werd door de gegadigden.Desondanks zijn er ook verschillende verbeterpunten naar voren gekomen. In de eerste plaats is de actualiteit van de gegevens met betrekking tot de verharding, met name het asfaltdeklaag, een belangrijk aandachtspunt. Actuele gegevens, met name voor kunstwerken en asfalt, werden als essentieel beschouwd om adequaat advies te kunnen geven. Daarnaast ontbraken gegevens over het onderliggende wegennet (OWN), hemelwaterafvoer en verkeerstechnische installaties. Gegadigden waren van mening dat deze ontbrekende informatie van belang was omdat het inzicht gaf in potentiële aandachtspunten, kosten en toekomstig onderhoud.Zonder ABC-areaalinformatie kunnen toekomstige opdrachtnemers geen nauwkeurige inschatting maken van de kosten en risico's van een project. Aan de andere kant, 'alleen' ABC-areaalinformatie is niet voldoende. Uit dit onderzoek blijkt dat de meerwaarde van ABC-areaalgegevens ook afhankelijk is van de inkoopstrategie van een project. Een aanbesteding blijft een competitie waarbij gegadigden logischerwijs de nadruk leggen op het winnen van de aanbesteding. Hierdoor kan het voorkomen dat er geen directe relatie bestaat tussen de inschatting van risico's en de prijsstelling van risico's. Het beprijzen van risico's op basis van de inschattingen van gegadigden, gebaseerd op areaalgegevens, kan leiden tot een hogere inschrijving en dus het verliezen van een tender. Een inkoopstrategie met de juiste prikkels voor het inschatten en beprijzen van risico's is daarom van belang om de meerwaarde van ABC-areaalinformatie te kunnen benutten
Toekomstbestendige infra:Hoe overbruggen we de kloof tussen infraprojecten en assetmanagement?
Full text linkRevealing the project and asset management divide:Why infrastructure agencies struggle with IT transformation
Full text linkAmid aging infrastructures, rapid urbanization, and the impacts of climate change, infrastructure agencies are under pressure to modernize their asset information management to enhance the future provision of infrastructure services. However, transforming the current information technology (IT) landscape presents significant challenges. Drawing from three comprehensive, practice-oriented case studies, this PhD dissertation illuminates what these challenges are and why they arise. It reveals the divide between organizing work in infrastructure projects, on the one hand, and executing asset management, on the other hand. Ultimately, findings from this dissertation can guide infrastructure agencies in designing strategies that fully consider the complexities and magnitude of transforming from project-based organizations to data-driven asset managers
Technology Adoption in Public Client Organisations: Institutional Perspectives from Sweden and the Netherlands
No full textPublic construction clients are slow to adopt new sustainable technologies, which is problematic if public clients want to lead the charge of constructing for the future. This inertia is investigated by studying two cases: Swedish public housing companies and the Dutch public infrastructure agency. By applying an institutional logics framework and comparing the challenges of technology adoption in two different contexts (Sweden vs. the Netherlands, housing vs. infrastructure, small client vs. large client), the findings show how technology adoption is difficult due to uncertainty avoidance and institutionalised norms, values and physical infrastructure that do not support necessary changes needed to adopt new technologies. Also, the organisations struggle to reconcile conflicting logics of cost vs. sustainability, efficiency vs. flexibility, and a short-term project-related corporate logic vs. longterm asset management logic. The paper contributes an understanding of how and why changes that enable technology adoption is limited in public client organisations, and what issues must be addressed for public clients to construct for the future
Technology Adoption in Public Client Organisations:Institutional Perspectives From Sweden and The Netherlands
Full text linkPublic construction clients are slow to adopt new sustainable technologies. This inertia is investigated by studying two cases of public clients: Swedish public housing companies and the Dutch public infrastructure agency. By applying an institutional logics framework and comparing and contrasting the experience of technology adoption in two different geographical contexts and in two different sub-sections of the construction sector (housing vs. infrastructure, small client vs. large client), the findings show how technology adoption is difficult due to uncertainty avoidance and institutionalized norms, values and physical infrastructure that do not support the adoption of new technologies. In addition, the organisations struggle to reconcile conflicting logics of cost vs. sustainability, efficiency vs. flexibility, and a short-term project-related corporate logic vs. long-term asset management logic. The paper contributes an understanding of how and why technology adoption is limited in public client organisations, and what issues must be addressed to construct for the future
Making Sense of Tensions and Equivocalities in Digital Transformation
No full textDigital transformation is a process in which digital technologies play a central role in creating and reinforcing disruptions. Although considerable research has been devoted to potential strategic responses to these disruptions, only limited attention has been paid to the equivocalities that persistently disrupt the digital transformation process. In this paper, we present the results of a three-year longitudinal single-case study on a digital transformation program as it was implemented and revised in a public infrastructure agency. We uncovered three major categories of equivocality – scope, needs, and priorities – that the organization needed to overcome to develop new digital tools and standards. We also revealed that entangled paradoxical tensions explain why such equivocalities emerged. By relating tensions and equivocalities, we contribute to further understanding why change is incremental and sensemaking is slow in digital transformation journeys of public infrastructure agencies
Conflicting dominant logics in the digital transformation of a public, project-oriented organisation
No full textAdvanced digital technologies offer enormous potential for improving the construction, maintenance and management of infrastructure assets. To leverage this potential, public infrastructure agencies must undergo digital transformation. Although considerable research has been devoted to possible strategies for driving the digital transformation of public infrastructure agencies, less attention has been paid to the challenges of managing one. In this paper, we aimed to better understand why public, project-oriented organisations struggle with digital transformation. The paper built on a three-year longitudinal single-case study on a digital transformation programme as it was implemented in a large public infrastructure agency in The Netherlands. Our findings revealed how the digital transformation programme ushered in a pluralistic, competitive environment, in which two formerly segmented logics – a project organising logic and an asset management logic – competed for dominance. The conflict between these logics, in turn, started a process of destabilisation, re-structuration, and finally stabilisation of the organisation. These three phases of change resulted in new beliefs, values, practices and artefacts being dominant, marking a shift in balance between the two logics
Constructing common ground:Sensemaking & sensegiving in public tenders
No full textConstructing common ground between clients and contractors is critical for successful collaboration in construction projects. Previous studies have offered important insights into the technical and managerial determinants that contribute to its creation. Still, very little is known about what clients and contractors actually do to create a common understanding. This paper examines how these actors collaboratively constructed a common understanding of each other’s demands and solutions during the tender of a major highway expansion project in the Netherlands. Our findings revealed cyclic processes consisting of four activities: (1) client sensegiving – influencing contractors toward preferred interpretations of demands and solutions; (2) contractor sensemaking – understanding and interpreting client's demands and preferred solutions; (3) contractor sensegiving – influencing the client toward more favourable conditions; and (4) client sensemaking – understanding and interpreting proposals from the contractors. By identifying these sensemaking and sensegiving practices, this paper offers a unique perspective to studying the informal social processes surrounding the emergence of collaborative relationships in construction. This offered perspective can be used in future research into the dynamics of client-contractor interactions throughout the lifecycle of construction projects
Making sense of equivocality in digital transformation:The case of a Dutch public client
No full textDue to the proliferation of digital technologies, massive volumes of data regarding an infrastructure asset, its current conditions and its construction process are being produced. Public clients must undergo digital transformation to exploit these data to gain more value from civil infrastructures throughout the life cycle. In this paper, we present the results of a two-year longitudinal study on a digital transformation initiative as it was implemented and revised in a Dutch public client organisation. We uncovered three major challenges, which surfaced as equivocalities, that the organisation needed to overcome to progress in its digital transformation. Equivocality in scope of digital innovation, in users and their needs, and in which changes should be prioritised were found to hinder the development and implementation of new digital tools and standards. By exploring how these equivocalities persistently disrupted the organisation’s digital transformation, we take an initial step towards advancing understanding on how digital transformation emerges in construction practice
Information processing capabilities for managing public procurement complexity
No full textAs governments become increasingly reliant on private organizations for the delivery of public goods and services, public clients in the construction sector increasingly depend on effective procurement capabilities to achieve the required performance of civil infrastructures. For effective procurement, we propose that public clients develop information processing capabilities. Specifically, this study aims to identify and describe information processing drivers and mechanisms in PCP. Based on findings following a qualitative case study, we identified and described three drivers of information processing needs and four mechanisms for information processing that public clients respectively experienced and employed when procuring complex performance
