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To receive a satisfactory consultancy service, a construction client must first select suitable consultants. While numerous criteria for the selection of construction consultants have been suggested in the literature, their influence on client satisfaction has hardly been statistically established. This study aimed to reduce the criteria for the selection of construction consultants into a more manageable set of fewer factors and ascertain the influence of the factors on client satisfaction.

Data were gathered through a purposively administered cross-sectional survey of public sector clients in Nigeria. Analyzes were done using relative importance index, factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.

The results proved that the criteria for the selection of consultants can, in the order of decreasing influence on client satisfaction, be grouped into service delivery approach (SDA), relationship with the client, the caliber of personnel, firm reputation and firm certification. However, SDA is more influential on client satisfaction. All the factors were found to have significant statistical effects on clients’ overall satisfaction with consultancy services.

The study demonstrates the extent to which construction consultant selection criteria are relevant to client satisfaction. It shows that SDA is the most important predictor of clients’ satisfaction with consultancy services. The results are helpful for grouping consultant selection criteria in future studies, and in guiding clients on the weights to assign to consultant selection criteria during tender evaluation.

This paper introduces and examines the implementation of the World Bank's electronic procurement initiative for the selection of consultants, which is expected to foster consistency of practice worldwide, increase transparency and competition, and minimize processing time and effort. Following the description of functionalities and benefits of the system, this paper discusses the challenges encountered and lessons learned during the implementation process in terms of critical success factors (CSF).

The purpose of this paper is to explore the practice of engaging key project consultants for the development of green projects in Malaysia.

A qualitative approach is adopted in this research using the face-to-face semi-structured interview process with 18 respondents consisting of developers and architects of green projects that have obtained green certification by the Malaysian Green Building Index.

The engagement of consultants is divided into three stages: engagement method; consultant selection method; and evaluation process. The engagement method can be initiated by the client or through the architect. The direct selection is the preferred strategy in engaging architects, while open strategy is commonly adopted for engaging other key consultants. The evaluation process consists of request for proposal evaluation and negotiation before appointment is awarded. In addition, there are four main criteria in selecting the consultants: client’s preference, fee flexibility, green project requirement and consultant firm’s internal strengths.

The study is based on the Malaysian context and based on the engagement of main consultants in green development projects and, thus, cannot be generalised to other consultants’ engagement in conventional projects.

This research presents the process that can contribute to better planning, controlling and management of the consultants’ engagement process. The selection criteria shall form a reference in selecting the most suitable consultants for the project.

This study attempts to understand how consultants are engaged in green projects, an important management stage in project initiation, but has received little attention in the past.

Consultant pre‐selection is an essential process to distinguish capable candidates before they are invited to submit their technical and fee proposals for consultancy assignments. Despite that, many clients have their own criteria and emphasis, and this could result in discrepancies in pre‐selection decisions. The aim of this paper is to devise a more objective framework for evaluating consultants' general capabilities during the pre‐selection process. The paper begins by identifying the commonly used criteria for pre‐selecting engineering consultants. In order to examine the importance of consultant pre‐selection criteria (CPC), a questionnaire survey has been conducted with clients who are responsible for pre‐selecting their consultants; and consultants being pre‐selected by the clients. The findings reveal that the perception of the client and consultant groups on the importance of CPC was very consistent. Finally, a multi‐criteria model for evaluating consultants' general capabilities during the pre‐selection is proposed. Based on each candidate score, clients can determine which engineering consultants should be invited to bid for a consultancy assignment.

This paper seeks to analyse the process of packaged software selection in a small organization, focussing particularly on the role of IT consultants as intermediaries in the process.

This is based upon a longitudinal, qualitative field study concerning the adoption of a customer relationship management package in an SME management consultancy.

The authors illustrate how the process of “salesmanship”, an activity directed by the vendor/consultant and focussed on the interests of senior management, marginalises user needs and ultimately secures the procurement of the software package.

Despite the best intentions the authors lose something of the rich detail of the lived experience of technology in presenting the case study as a linear narrative. Specifically, the authors have been unable to do justice to the complexity of the multifarious ways in which individual perceptions of the project were influenced and shaped by the opinions of others.

Practitioners, particularly those from within SMEs, should be made aware of the ways in which external parties may have a vested interest in steering projects in a particular direction, which may not necessarily align with their own interests.

This study highlights in detail the role of consultants and vendors in software selection processes, an area which has received minimal attention to date. Prior work in this area emphasises the necessary conditions for, and positive outcomes of, appointing external parties in an SME context, with only limited attention being paid to the potential problems such engagements may bring.

Architects and engineers (AE) need to possess both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills. Soft skills are important because AE interact in organizational settings instead of working by themselves. Soft skills may be grouped under ‘conscientiousness’, ‘initiative’, ‘social skills’, ‘controllability’ and ‘commitment’. As part of a larger study on the selection of consultants by design‐build (DB) contractors in Singapore, a survey was conducted to gauge whether contractors felt that soft skills are important for consultants to carry out their design tasks in DB projects. From the literature, attributes relating to these skills were identified. Data were collected via mailed questionnaire. The questionnaire requested respondents to indicate on a five‐point scale the importance of various soft skills. It was found that all the soft skills, which were operationalized into 14 attributes, are important factors that contractors look for when selecting consultants. It is, therefore, concluded that contextual performance is important and relevant.

Examines the characteristics and structure of executive recruitment consultancies in France. Search consultants recruit through “head‐hunting” while selection consultants recruit through advertising. These consultancies play an important part in the market for executive recruitment. The nature of the product has implications for the behaviour of the consultancies and the structure of the industry. There is little or no price competition in the market; instead there is a reliance on non‐traditional non‐price competition. There are two factors which have affected the industry: the recession, which has led to changes in the focus and role of the consultancies; and the creation of the Single European Market, which has led to the increasing internationalization of business.

Although the public sector has become a major employer of management consultants, no research has previously been undertaken to investigate the purchase of management consultants in the public sector context. Outlines an investigation into the purchase of management consultants by government departments, focusing specifically on the selection decision. The UK and Australia were examined to ensure that the findings were not merely local phenomena. Research focused on the public sector decision makers’ guiding procurement principle, value for money, and the criteria and information sources both used and desired to assist the purchase decision. It was found that there was widespread and relatively uniform understanding of the procurement principle, value for money, although there appeared to be a lack of connection between this principle and procurement practice. Public sector decision makers also believed that they had adequate although not satisfactory access to information upon which to base their decisions while, significantly, it was revealed that these decision makers did not believe the selection decision for management consultants was, overall, difficult. Concludes that the implications of this research are twofold. First, it highlights the issues of “corporate memory” and information management, and their impact upon informed decision making, and secondly it questions the applicability of private sector research to public sector practice.

The relationship between consultants and their clients is characterized by a considerable asymmetry of information. In this type of relationship, the client is unable accurately to evaluate the quality of the service or advice purchased. The process of purchasing advice (in terms of both selection and evaluation) appears to be very complex, and most existing models seem unsuitable. However, this does not prevent market actors from developing responses to the problems of information asymmetry which characterize the consultancy relationship. Shows that, while these responses are manifested mainly in the form of visible institutions, non‐institutional responses, including personal relations and networks of contacts and co‐operation, are often more important.