Developing a Prototype of Early Warning System of Delay Risks for Public Projects (EWaSDRiP)

Abstract

Delays may occur during pre-construction or construction phases, or both. The aim of this research is to develop a prototype of an early warning system of delay risks for public projects in pre-construction phase (EWaSDRiP). These delays are attributed to owner, consultant, project characteristics, and external factors. Data was collected through literature review, observations on project reports, interview, and questionnaire surveys with 30 respondents from government client teams, contractors and consultants. The respondents were asked to validate the indicators, and estimate their weight and the degree of accuracy. A 1 to 10 Likert scale reflecting worst to excellent is used to score the state of each of the delay indicators within three zones, i.e. red (scale 1-3), yellow (4-6), green (7-10). The delays in red zone indicates that they pose dangerous threats to the project and must be monitored closely, delays within yellow zone indicate moderate threats to the project, while delays in green zone means that they are unlikely to delay the project. EWaSDRiP gives a visual indication of which zone most delays are distributed. This prototype is potentially beneficial for the owner or government client team to prepare strategic actions for the relevant pre-construction delays accordingly.