Construction partnering is a type of
business partnering
Business partnering is the development of successful, long term, strategic relationships between customers and suppliers, based on achieving best practice and sustainable competitive advantage. In the business partner model, HR professionals work c ...
used in the
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
and
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...
industry. Partnering is intended to assist project teams with setting goals, resolving disputes and improving project outcomes. The construction partnering team is made up of the project’s owner (client), the consulting engineers and/or architects, the contractor(s) and other key project stakeholders. Construction partnering has been used both in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
and elsewhere since the early 1980s as a methodology to reduce litigation and improve productivity.
Objective
The objective of construction partnering is to reduce project costs and schedules, eliminate change orders and claims, and improve communication by developing mutually agreed upon project and partnership success goals and by monitoring the achievement of these goals for the duration of the project. The construction partnering team will also develop an agreed upon process for resolving disputes should they arise, called a dispute resolution ladder.
History
Litigation in the construction industry exploded in the 1980s. Settling disputes in court added time, cost and energy to projects. Partnering was developed as a response to this problem.
In 1987, the
Construction Industry Institute
The Construction Industry Institute (CII), based at The University of Texas at Austin, is a non-profit consortium of more than 130 owner, engineering-contractor, and supplier firms from both the public and private arenas. The group aims to enhanc ...
(CII) at
The University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
formed a task force to explore a process to address the issues that brought the people involved in construction projects to litigation. The task force’s objectives were to examine the risks and benefits of partnering, to provide guidelines on the process and to define the relationship between partnering and the construction contract. Their results were published in January 1991 entitled, “In Search of Partnering Excellence.”
The
(Corps) was part of the CII task force. In the late 1980s the Corps used the partnering process on two of their construction projects with great success. As a result, the Corps established a partnering program in 1991. They developed a pamphlet which described the partnering process, the reasons for using it, and the potential benefits of partnering the Corps had experienced in using the process.
The
(AGC) endorsed partnering in January 1991. AGC’s president announced that one of AGC’s objectives for the year was building construction quality through partnering.
[Associated General Contractors of America, “Partnering: Changing Attitudes in Construction,” Washington DC, AGC Publication #1225, October 1995.] They later developed an annual award, the Marvin M. Black Award, to honor the AGC contractor(s) involved in the year’s most collaborative project.
In the past 30 years, partnering has grown. Twenty-four of the 50 state transportation programs have adopted Partnering as an important process to improve outcomes. Several state transportation departments (including
Caltrans
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). Caltrans is headquartered in Sacrame ...
,
Maryland SHA, ODOT,
ADOT
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT, pronounced "A-Dot") is an Arizona state government agency charged with facilitating mobility within the state. In addition to managing the state's highway system, the agency is also involved with p ...
and others) now require a partnering process by specification.
Awards
Construction partnering has been embraced by the construction industry to such an extent that organizations have started offering awards to the top partnered projects. The current awards available are:
*AGC’s Marvin M. Black Partnering Competition (https://web.archive.org/web/20141013112037/http://www.agc.org/cs/about_agc/recognition_programs/marvin_m_black_partnering_awards)
*AGC’s Excellence in Partnering Award (https://web.archive.org/web/20141015013431/http://www.agc-ca.org/about.aspx?id=60)
*Arizona Transportation’s Partnering Excellence Awards https://www.azdot.gov/business/programs-and-partnerships/partnering/2013-arizona-transportation-partnering-excellence-awards
*Caltrans’ Excellence in Partnering (http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/construc/partnering.php)
*International Partnering Institute’s Annual Partnering Awards http://partneringinstitute.org/awards/
*Kansas Department of Transportation’s KCA/KDOT Partnering Awards http://www.ksdot.org/bureaus/divoperat/partnering/awards.asp
*Nevada Department of Transportation’s Excellence in Partnering Awards https://web.archive.org/web/20141022055048/http://www.nevadadot.com/Doing_Business/Partnering_Program.aspx
*Ohio DOT’s Don Conway Partnering Award (http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ConstructionMgt/Pages/Partnering.aspx)
References
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Construction industry