AJCEB - Volume 5, Issue 1 - 2005

Publication:

Australian Journal of Construction Economics and Building

Paper title:

Capitalising experimental knowledge for guiding construction procurement selection

Authors:

S. Thomas Ng, Chris D. T. Luu and R. Martin Skitmore
Department of Civil Engineering
The University of Hong Kong

Abstract:

Capitalising useful knowledge for construction procurement selection (CPS) decisions would provide a valuable asset to client orgnaisations, as the successful / unsuccessful experience would help decision-makers avoid the reoccurrence of similar errors and ensure the most suitable procurement system is employed for a construction project. As a result, there is a need to examine the potential for developing a knowledge management model to capture and reuse experimental knowledge to guide CPS decisions.

This paper begins by identifying a suitable approach fir managing CPS knowledge.  This is followed by a discussion of the knowledge required for CPS decision support.  A prototype knowledge-management model is developed, using the case-based reasoning (CBR) approach, and a mechanism for the retrieval and reuse of knowledge for guiding CPS decisions is elucidated.  The results indicate CBR is a suitable tool for formulating the procurement selection parameters and selecting a suitable procurement system for a construction project.  This is primarily because the CBR approach is flexible enough to allow closely matching historic cases to be retrieve as well as enabling the decision-maker to adapt the proposed solution based upon the predominant characteristics of the client, project and external environment pertinent to the current project.

Keywords:

case-based reasoning, construction procurement, knowledge management, procurement selection parameters.

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