Traditional Procurement is too Slow

This paper reports on an exploratory interview survey of construction project participants aimed at identifying the reasons for the decrease in use of the traditional, lump-sum, procurement system in Malaysia. The results show that most people believe it is too slow. This appears to be in part due to the contiguous nature of the various phase and stages of the process and especially the separation of the design and construction phases. The delays caused by disputes between the various parties are also seen as a contributory factor - the most prominent cause being the frequency of variations, with design and scope changes being a particular source of discontent. It is concluded that an up scaling of the whole of the time related reward/penalty system may be the most appropriate measure for the practice in future.