Ryan M. Hoff

Date of Award

3-26-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering Management

Department

Department of Systems Engineering and Management

First Advisor

Gregory D. Hammond, PhD.

Abstract

Using a dataset of 25 Afghan wartime projects, two questions were investigated: 1) What factors affect the success of construction projects; and 2) How do project outcomes differ based on the contract type? Current literature suggests that wartime projects may face the same cost and schedule factors as peacetime projects, with some notable additions. Project factors, health and safety compliance, quality of work, technical performance, work productivity, and external environmental factors were tested with contingency tables to determine dependency with schedule or cost performance. External environmental factors, including weather and wartime security, were not predictive of project performance. However, cost performance and schedule performance were significantly dependent on government-issued excusable delays. Moreover, project management deficiencies were predictive of poor schedule performance but not cost performance. Second with regards to contract type, performance differences between contract types were explored using Mann-Whitney tests. Reimbursable contracts were found to have significantly greater cost and schedule growth. Additionally, fixed price projects were found to have more problems with design performance and contract management. There was no significant difference in overall project quality. In conclusion, cost monitoring from the owner and scrutiny of project management is critical and increased technical performance monitoring is necessary.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENV-15-M-174

DTIC Accession Number

ADA616430

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