As mentioned in the above section, the public sector construction industry faces problems and challenges due to loss of information at building handover. Hadley (2012) pointed out that the NIST estimated yearly losses of $15.8 billion from information- related issues in projects. These losses were experienced as direct results of inadequate interoperability between project data and the information systems used in the asset lifecycle, particularly between design, construction, handover, and the systems used to support asset operations. Many experts agree that the loss is usually due to poorly managed information handover and can exceed one per cent of the total project expenses. For instance, a $1 billion project could avoid a cost of more than $10 million (Hadley, 2012). However, including the accurate forms of the suitable information is a serious challenge.
According to the qualitative and quantitative finding, there is a general agreement that there are many challenges in building handover in the KSA public sector construction industry. These challenges were varied from changing order and rework, complexity, lack of transparency, short of shared trust, society not involved, time of operations training, lack of knowledge and experience, lack of communication, lack of use of technology, accelerated completion, lack of protocol or framework in place for life cycle data management, maintenance manuals and keys, and unclear responsibilities. In
153 relation to the changing order and rework factor, about half of the interviewee respondents mentioned this factor when they talked about challenges. In this regard, Mitchell (2012) pointed out that changing orders always occur; even with the best preparation, changes will happen. However, his advice is to accept it, know it, and ensure to keep it at a minimum.
According to the dominant view from the literature, increasing complexity might be an important reason in the failure and success of projects (Brady and Davies, 2014; Meier, 2008; Williams, 2005; Flyvbjerg et al., 2003). However, according to Kujala et al. (2014), there is little empirical research on how these complexity characteristics affect specific management processes. Findings about this factor revealed that the majority of respondents affirm that the constructed facilities are becoming more complex and complexity is considered one of the main challenges in construction projects. However, the results also demonstrate that the key challenges are over-specification, such as over planning and changes of design during construction.
Some interviewees also mentioned absenteeism of labour and excessive overtime as a consequence to late payment. However, improving procurement can be achieved through improving the skills of the client; thus, the cost of public sector construction will be reduced (Baldry, 2012).
Governments should offer a leadership academy for major project leaders; however, changing performance in the public sector cannot be underestimated. A shift of cultural norms is also necessary for public sector clients if they want to develop sustainable behavioural improvement, and the government must be committed to the necessary support and resources to make this happen (Ibid).
In relation to the lack of transparency, and according to the respondents of this study, the lack of transparency and accessibility of project data for all project team electronically is considered a significant challenge that affects the building handover. In this regard, the respondents mentioned that the lack of transparency and accessibility of project data for all plan groups electronically are not disclosed. However, through
154 transparency, the transaction costs may be reduced in the public sector construction industry (Schapper et al, 2006). Other challenges to handover practices in the public sector construction industry include unclear responsibilities of project team. Finding about this factor revealed that unclear responsibilities are a substantial challenge to effective building handover practices, as the responsibilities of various project team members are unclear. Mutual trust and capability to use the data across the design/building team is required. When it is unclear who is responsible for what area of a project or task, conflict can occur. This result agrees with Xianzhi (2014), who mentions that the full understanding of what necessity be done and who must take the consequences of responsibility through project designing and maintaining the function structure and the relationship between duties and authority can overcome the difficulties and problems caused by the confusion and unclear responsibility and start to establish harmonious working environment (Xianzhi, 2014).
In this respect, the finding shows that the most of the respondents thought that the owner has the biggest influence on building information handover process, while some believe that the contractor has the most influence on building information handover. A few of the respondents thought that the designer is the most responsible for building information. With regards to societies’ involvement, the finding of qualitative data reveals that the most significant challenge to effective building handover practices in the KSA public sector construction industry are societies not being involved in choice of building systems. Project implementers should know that societies involvement always make expectations, and failing to meet these expectations might cause disappointments and even project failure. Hence, the societies should be involved when it is relevant, and they should receive continuous feedback. Respondents also identified various other challenges, such as not enough time for operations training, inappropriate quality assurance method, over-specification (over planned), shared trust, capability to use the information across the project design/construction team, and not enough time to understand requirements during the operations and maintenance stage of the facility.
The quantitative outcomes showed high agreement regarding the most significant challenge to effective building handover practices in the KSA public sector construction
155 industry. These challenges were: societies not involved, lack of mutual trust, inappropriate quality assurance method, lack of transparency and accessibility of project data for all project team electronically, not enough time for operations training, responsibilities of various project team members are unclear, maintenance manuals and keys are often missing, and ability of using the information across the project design/construction team. Figurer 6.1 summarizes the Challenges that face building handover practices in the KSA public sector.
Figure 6.1: Challenges to effective building handover practices in the KSA public sector construction industry
6.5 Theme 2: Realisation of the Importance of the project data at the Handover