Additional Criteria to Maximize the Performance of the Procurement System Delivery Method in Saudi Arabia

Authors: Ahmed A. Alofi (PhD), Dean T. Kashiwagi (PhD), Jacob S. Kashiwagi (PhD)

 

The current Saudi Arabia (SA) procurement system leads to many losses in money and benefits
in projects. The estimated percentage of delayed projects in SA during the past decades is more
than 70% of the total projects. A questionnaire has been developed and carefully designed to
improve the current SA procurement system. The questionnaire was sent out to 1,396 participants,
the SA Council for professional engineers, who work in both private and public sectors. The
participants are interested in the SA procurement and contracts system with experience ranging
from one to more than twenty-five years in common construction sectors. Most of the participants
from both private and public sectors agreed with the survey statements regarding zone price
proposals, contractors’ evaluation, risks, planning, projects’ scope, owners concern and weekly
risks reports (WRR). Based on the survey, a model, called SVIE procurement system, has been
developed in which the most expert contractor is chosen through four phases: submittals &
education, vendor selection, illustration, and execution. The resulting model is easy to implement
by SA government and does not require special skills or a background.
Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Procurement, construction delays, government, case study.