Unlock Public Sector Construction Productivity with Proven Strategies - A White Paper
Peter Cholakis
Improve facilities repair, renovation, maintenance, and new build outcomes and reduce costs
Unlock Public Sector Construction Productivity[1] with Proven Strategies?
First, a few important considerations….
No technology is going to deliver a solution for your organization…software is only useful if it is based upon a robust strategy, supported by robust processes, collaborative internal and external teams, and shared common data.
No consultant can solve your problems… Without your internal staff doing the work and growing internal capabilities and knowledge, measurable, lasting productivity gains are unlikely.
Your most value asset is your people and your partners… empower your staff and external partners to solve problems themselves.
The risk of change is high… ?but not implementing fundamental change will result in excessive levels of economic and environmental waste.
This is an opportunity to do something different.?
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Steps to best value construction delivery
1.????Assure your project planning, procurement, and delivery initiatives will have a financial benefit.
2.????Empower an internal champion to own the initiative.
3.????Build a cross functional team with clear responsibilities.
4.????Align requirements to desired outcomes.
5.????Provide adequate governance and continuously improve over time.
Most public sector organizations skip step #1 and rush to procurement and support their efforts with qualitative rationales… “This is the industry leader…”, “We don’t have to pay anything upfront, but…”, “We just need a better technology…” instead of developing and clearly documenting a clear financial benefit and a detailed way of achievement, and thus efforts fail.
Research has shown an average cost saving of 20%+ can be achieved by applying a consistent robust programmatic process throughout all phases, beginning with planning.?
Clear, concise communication from the very beginning among participants, and building a solid foundation in the form of an initial and detailed scope of work (SOW), serve to mitigate the potential for catastrophic project failures down the road. The time and energy invested in developing and deploying a strategic, organization-wide LEAN program-centric process unlocks the door to increasing the overall efficiency avoids issues?during the build phase and beyond.
Putting LEAN planning into action
Here is a proven process to implementing a LEAN process and set all future repair, renovation, maintenance, and new build projects up for success.
1. Audit your current process
A complete view of your current process as it exists is needed to set the stage for optimization and/or complete change. Perform a gap analysis identify areas of weakness. ?Whether you assume to have an effective process in place, and perhaps not everyone is using it effectively, or you know you don’t have a defined consistent, and well communicated process, it’s important to start from an accurate baseline.?
2. Find the right collaboration tools
The only proven method for setting up any project up for success is to get all project participants and stakeholders on the same page as early as possible and having them working towards mutually beneficial outcomes.?The only proven tools available to consistently accomplish these goals are integrated LEAN planning, procurement, and project delivery frameworks.
Examples of these integrated frameworks are integrated project delivery (IPD) for major new construction, and LEAN Job Order Contracting for repair, renovation, maintenance, and new construction with a minor design component.?
A written Operations Manual and/or Execution Guide, as part of the multiple party contact is a core requirement. ?Together, they document all phases, requirements, roles and responsibilities, and workflows for initial planning through procurement, project delivery, and close out.
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All integrated planning, procurement, and project delivery frameworks share several core components. One of these is common data environment (CDE) in which information is clearly A common data environment promotes a shared understanding of terms, definitions, and data sets. ?A locally researched detailed line-item unit price book (UPB) is an example of a common date environment.?A UPB provides a powerful tool for an owner and design-builder to develop and share a detailed scope of work (SOW).?The lack of a well communicated, detailed SOW is the cause of many, is not most construction project failures.?Owners can also use a locally researched UPB to validate contractor and subcontractor quotes and create independent estimate. Lump sum quotes from general contractors and/or subs provide little value with respect to technical or cost visibility yet remain widely used by public organizations.
3. Procurement
Once a sole source of truth is available to all participants and stakeholders via the above, the traditional problems and inefficiencies cause by siloed data sets are virtually eliminated, the process can proceed to the procurement phase.
Integrated LEAN planning, procurement, and project delivery methods also have the benefit of establishing long-term relationships between owners and service providers.?For example, the LEAN Job Order Contractor process simply requires the owner to set up a joint site visit to enable the owner and the design-builder to share information and enable the creation of a detailed cost proposal.?Once the proposal is accepted, the project can begin in a fraction of the time versus traditional methods.
4. Remove manual processes wherever possible
While “process is king”, technology does play a key role.??The role of technology is to simplify processes and help to support lower cost deployment and management of those processes.??In short, technology is best used to embed robust processes.?If the process is “right” and continuously monitored and improved upon, technology enables internal and external teams to maximize efficiency by automating tedious, manual processes and mitigating common errors. ?Delays and errors caused by emails, spreadsheets, or file folders are minimized.
5. Build trust and strengthen relationships
Whether you’re an owner, general contractor, or subcontractor, positive working relationships that are rooted in trust and communication are necessary.?LEAN processes can support development and growth of these relationships. ?
80-90% of projects fail by being late, over budget, or otherwise poorly completed.?Robust LEAN programmatic processes and tools can get that number down to 10% or lower!
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Putting LEAN planning into action with an Enterprise-level Solution
·???????Assure alignment off your internal and external teams
·???????Integrated framework to eliminated siloed processes
·???????Prove current, actional information to enable better decision-making
LEAN Job Order Contracting is now available.?Historically, many Job Order Contracting (JOC) deployments have unfortunately degraded into a simple means of speeding procurement and carry excessive administration costs tied to a percentage of construction costs, LEAN Job Order Contacting is now available to drive best value facilities repair, renovation, maintenance, and new build outcomes.
LEAN Job Order Contracting enables owner and design-builder teams to consistently execute quality repair, renovation, and new builds on-time and on-budget in a mutually beneficial manner and at cost up to ten times lower than other providers, while also improving productivity.
It is important to understand that while each organization and JOC Program is unique, JOC programs must follow core LEAN best practices to that maximize the efforts of internal and external teams and simplify the overall JOC process. ?
Components of LEAN JOC Knowledge-based Job Order Contracting
?[1] By implementing this proven approach, public sector owners have reduced administration costs by 75% and improved achieved 3X productivity gains.