Innovative construction procurement at Wits University

Many construction projects end up with a wide gap between achieved and expected outcomes, which puts value for money for a project at risk. A root cause of this problem may lie in the development of an appropriate procurement strategy for projects. Wits University in South Africa has used a mixture of innovative procurement and contract strategies to deliver a portfolio of capital projects within 6% of the control budget over a period of 6 years (2008–2013). The research aim was to examine the procurement strategies and project organisation techniques adopted to deliver projects successfully. The strategic procurement approach has been based on the philosophy of collaboration, shared risk and integrated project teams, which is different from the conventional approaches in South Africa. A discussion of strategies including framework agreements, New Engineering Contract (NEC3) options, target cost contracts and early contractor involvement is presented to demonstrate how the use of collaborative procurement methods and integrated supply chains provides a key to deliver successful outcomes and value for money. Organisations intending to adopt similar approaches will require a team of experts to lead a change from traditional procurement cultures to more collaborative and integrated procurement methodologies.