Project Delivery

This webinar, presented by Adrian Bridge on 31 July 2020, provides an overview of a new procurement decision tool and its application to a road infrastructure project, the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC) in Queensland.

The procurement decision tool has been designed to significantly advance value for money in the delivery of infrastructure projects. The development and empirical testing of the tool has occurred as part of an Australian Research Council (ARC) grant, with support of Austroads’ member organisations. The project has been undertaken by a team of Queensland University of Technology researchers led by Associate Professor Adrian Bridge.

The tool helps identify the most efficient bundling configuration, or contract packaging, within a project. Additionally, it identifies the most efficient approach to contracting, from collaborative to competitive contracting, associated with each contracted bundle. The tool is not pre-disposed to any mode of procurement promoting objectivity, accountability and transparency of decision-making.

Beyond the testing of the tool in the ARC grant and TSRC, it has also been successfully tested on a major Australian hospital development demonstrating its flexibility and applicability to various sectors.

In due course, the procurement decision tool can potentially replace the procurement approach in Austroads and Australasian Procurement and Construction Council’s Building and Construction Procurement Guide.

The case study application of the tool on TSRC and a major hospital forms the basis of the tool’s forthcoming user guide to be published by Infrastructure Australia.