Organizational Implementation of Best Value Project Delivery: Impact of Value-Based Procurement, Preplanning, and Risk Management

Authors: Brian Lines (Arizona State University), (MS), and Kenneth T. Sullivan (Arizona State University), (PhD, MBA), Brian Stone (Western Illinois University) (PhD, MBA)

 

Many buyer organizations have attempted to implement new project delivery methods to increase
performance on their contracting processes. Yet implementing new business practices can be
difficult to accomplish successfully. An action research methodology was utilized to present a
longitudinal case study of the University of Alberta’s implementation of the Best Value Business
Model (BVBM). A key research objective was to document and present observations of the
change management principles utilized during the implementation of organizational change at a
large public organization. Other research objectives included quantification of project-level and
organizational-level success indicators that reflect the progress of change implementation. Results
are analyzed after more than two years of implementation of the BVBM on ten separate contracts.
Direct cost savings on these projects as a result of the BVBM has been documented to be as much
as $16 million when considering savings below budget and conducting comparisons against
traditional project delivery methodologies. Other success factors include low rates of vendor and
contractor change orders and high satisfaction among owner project managers with regards to the
performance of contracted service providers. Contributions of this research include documentation
how theoretical change management principles have been applied within an action research setting
as well as the identification and documentation of success indicators for project- and
organizational-level implementation of new project delivery methods.

 

Keywords: best value, change management, preplanning, project delivery, risk management.RT ABSTRACT and Keywords. Paragraph and “Keywords” section should have a space in between. Keywords are separated by commas; always add a Period at the end.