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While many procurement systems govern the construction sector, Design/Bid/Build is still prominent among the French building actors. The research applies Lean thinking (via a kaizen event) to the bidding phase of a building construction company to improve its bidding outputs.

The method used in this study is “Action-Research”. A two-month preparation phase was needed to prepare for the kaizen event. The results were based on an assessment conducted after 6 months of the kaizen event. Performance was measured following selected indicators related to ‘Time’, “Economical Impact”, “Quality” and “Sustainability”.

The Lean implementation had positive side-effects on the company’s organization and strategy as well.

The findings of this action-research project can be used to help researchers and practitioners assess the potential application of Lean in the bidding phase. It also provides insights into the importance of the cultural and existing practices for a successful Lean implementation.

A few research projects investigated the application of Lean thinking in bidding as it is considered as a wasteful process. However, waste can also be organized. The research proves that bidding can benefit from Lean thinking.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the root cause of a large number of quality problems in the current Chinese construction market.

Information economics theory is used to analyze the cause of construction quality problems related to the specific case of the Wenchuan earthquake of China.

The single low price competition in the construction tender market leads to the serious adverse selection and moral hazard behavior of bidding firms. The main solution to this problem is the introduction and improvement of an independent inspection/supervision mechanism.

The paper systematically analyzes the evaluation method of the lowest price winning bidding policy, which is the fundamental cause of adverse selection and moral hazard problems in the Chinese construction market.

Design‐build project delivery will likely yield benefits when it is a rational choice by a program director or owner's construction manager. It is not well understood whether those benefits translate to construction programs where design‐build is mandated for the vast majority of project types. Such a determination for military construction (MILCON) is the purpose of this paper.

The methodology for the research involved a comparison of mean performance metrics for design‐build and design‐bid‐build MILCON projects. Once an appropriate sample of projects was identified, project data were corrected for project location, size and time‐value‐of‐money.

Military design‐build projects did experience a lower total cost of change orders as well as a reduced change order cost associated with field changes. Also, statistical analysis demonstrated no significant difference in project performance metrics based on facility type. These results indicate that design‐build project delivery method can work equally well on all types of MILCON projects and is an effective system for cost and scope control, but that some of the expected schedule performance gains underlying the decision to use design‐build will be difficult to achieve on all MILCON projects.

The paper presents advantages and disadvantages of utilising design‐build to MILCON projects by facility types.

Using Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games as an example, the purpose of this paper is to explore the expected social impact of mega-sporting events, as perceived by non-host city residents, and the way in which this perception affects attitudes toward bidding.

An empirical survey study was conducted in which data were collected from residents in Shanghai, comprising a sample of 483 respondents. An exploratory factor analysis identified 40 items loaded on eight distinctive factors that underlie the expected social impact of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the effect of the perceived impact on residents’ attitudes toward the bid to host the Olympics.

Among the eight identified impact factors, six were found to be positive and two negative. While all factors were significantly higher above the point of indifference, perceived positive impact factors tended to outweigh those that were negative. In addition, seven out of the eight factors were found to be significantly predictive of support for Beijing’s bidding: while the effect of “tourism and environment,” “social capital and psychic income,” “international cooperation and exchange,” “infrastructure,” “national image,” and “sport development” was positive, the effect of the “higher living cost” factor was negative with regard to the support of the bidding. This study seeks to contribute by taking a non-host community perspective.

A growing body of literature has documented perspectives on events and their specific timing during event cycles, i.e., during the bidding stage. In addition, it also offers insight into the perception and attitudes of citizens from emerging markets toward event bidding and hosting, both of which play an increasingly important role in global sports but, on the whole, remain relatively under researched.

One of the major objectives of facility owners is to get the ‘best value’ in construction, renovation or maintenance of facilities. Owners are reluctant to pay more for best value if they do not understand what the value is. Research now proposes that the use of best value procurement can actually reduce the first costs of delivering the construction. The research looks at the transaction costs or the first costs of construction. The research uses the procurement of roofing in the State of Hawaii because of the availability of data on both the low‐bid and best value procurements. The State of Hawaii used transaction cost analysis to identify the cost of best value construction. The costs considered were planning and programming, design, procurement, construction management and inspection costs. Owing to the number of projects and the access to budget figures, construction cost figures, design costs and construction times, the State was able to identify the relative transaction costs and performance for both processes. The first costs or transaction costs of the best value procurements were lower than the transaction costs of the traditional design‐bid‐build costs. The actual performances of the roofing systems procured, which included warranty period, performance of the contractor and performance of the roofing systems, were far superior. The result was an increase in value for a lower cost.

The evidence suggests deductions for non-performance and competitive solicitation methods are key determinants of contractor performance. A penalty provision is strongly associated with an increase in unit cost, while a competitive solicitation method reduces unit cost. The evidence is inconclusive for fixed price contract and contract length. The findings support the idea that contracting techniques impact contractor performance. The potential for cost savings may not be fully realized unless techniques that focus on competitive contracting are employed. Future research that addresses contract design factors for other services in other settings will provide information to help policy makers choose among the numerous contract design options.

This paper concentrates on the visual information within a product description block in an online auction page, which is the only place a seller can manipulate to influence bidders. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of photograph use, model use, and the physical attractiveness of the model on bidding behavior.

A mock online auction website was built to manipulate picture use, model use, and the physical attractiveness of the model. The experiment recruited volunteers and randomly assigned each participant into one of four treatments. After experiencing the stimulus for two minutes, the researchers asked participants to evaluate their bidding intention and write down the highest price they would bid.

The results show that using a photograph to introduce the product acquires a higher bidding intention and bidding amount than not using a photograph. In addition, a web page using physically attractive models in photographs acquires a higher bidding intention and bidding price than a web page using physically unattractive models in photographs.

This study is unique in discussing the effect of the visual content of the product description block on online bidding behavior. The results of this study provide suggestions and a product information presentation strategy for online auction sellers.

Benchmarking of best practices has proved useful in the business and manufacturing sectors. However, benchmarking is not established in the construction industry in general and in government organizations in particular. A study of the contractor selection methodologies used by various clients confirms the multiplicity of approaches in practice. This paper aims at identifying some relevant ‘best’ practices and highlighting ‘innovative’ contractor selection approaches that have been used by large public clients. A ‘co‐operative’ and ‘non‐competitive’ conceptual benchmarking model is formulated and presented with a view to encouraging continuous improvement in contractor selection for construction projects.

This article first looks at the Bath Information and Data Services (BIDS) online bibliographic services from the point of view of the computing personnel who have developed and run the service. It examines the way in which librarians have worked with the BIDS personnel in the design and development of the services. It then looks, also from a computing perspective, at the role of librarians in those areas of the rapidly changing information world with which BIDS is concerned. It is in this latter context that the background to, the development of, and the future environment for, the BIDS Online Document Ordering System (BODOS) are explored.

Specialty contractors have knowledge to contribute to the early design of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) products. In current practice, however, they are seldom involved in early design, but evidence suggests that their early involvement is increasing. Lean construction theory advocates such involvement. The practice of involving suppliers in product development efforts and manufacturing has proven to be highly successful. The paper reports on empirical research that identified the contributions of specialty contractor (SO knowledge to early design, which led to gains in process efficiency and improvements in product quality. These contributions are categorized and illustrated by means of examples that stem from current practice or present potential opportunities for improvement. Reasons are given why SC knowledge is often ignored in design. Changes in AEC practices nevertheless suggest that organizations are creating conditions to increase interaction between designers and SCs. Such interactions will help AEC organizations to retain and share the knowledge of individuals as well as learn to develop new knowledge.