Contract Administration Guidelines for Effectively and Efficiently Applying Different Delay Analysis Techniques under World Bank–Funded Projects

Abstract

Because of the current unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, it is expected that the World Bank will fund many projects in the region to restore and build the affected and aged infrastructure systems. One of the main characteristics of construction projects, in general, and under the current circumstances in the Middle East and North Africa, in specific, is that they are subject to a wide range of risks causing delays beyond the planned completion dates. Because the World Bank Contract (WB Contract) has its own procedures that cover the submission of schedules, updating programs, and submission of claims for extension of time; some delay analysis techniques would fit to be applied to such contracts, whereas others would not. Under these interrelated conditions, it is crucial for U.S. contractors to appropriately utilize delay analysis techniques that will enable them to study and assess the associated impact to the project schedules and consequently submit well-substantiated claims for extension of time. This paper presents contract administration guidelines for appropriately applying the different delay analysis techniques to the World Bank–funded projects. To this end, the authors (1) conducted a comparative analysis of the different delay analysis techniques; (2) studied and presented the application of each technique to the WB Contract; and consequently, (3) recommended contract administration guidelines for the use of the different techniques. This study should allow U.S. contractors to manage construction delays under the World Bank–funded projects in an optimized manner that recovers communication, encourages cooperation, shares risks, improves quality, decreases costs, minimizes waste, maximizes efficiency, and mitigates conflicts, claims, and disputes.