The Construction Conundrum

A critical decision facing the consortium at this stage is the quality and timeliness for construction as it gets underway.

For the long term sustainability of the project, it is important that we adopt processes and protocols that are in line with existing government practices. Due to this, the project team has been working towards the tendering route wherein the government puts an open call for bids from potential contractors and selects on the basis of certain pre-determined criteria for the construction phase.

The most established criteria for selection in most government projects is the cost of construction (i.e. the bidders have to submit the cost at which they can construct the toilets while adhering to the specifications laid out by the technical team). The lowest cost bid is then accepted and sufficient checks and balances are built into the process to ensure that quality standards are met and the contractor is not seen to be compromising on materials.

There is enough, and more, literature and debate out there on the demerits of this. The most prominent amongst these being the absence of capacity within the government to ensure compliance and sometimes the ability of long-entrenched contractors to game the system.

The dilemma that the project team faces is that, while lowest cost tenders are the most established practice for executing government projects (and, hence, from the point of view of replicating this experiment with other governments across the country, would make for a more compelling proposition), there are several pitfalls within it that can potentially derail the project.

Prime amongst these is the possibility of getting a contractor who may not have the expertise to deliver on the innovative aspects of architecture and construction. Also, the fact that the administrative staff within city governments is already over-burdened almost makes it certain that the checks and balances required for timely completion will be compromised.

The presence of a professional project management consultancy that manages on-ground construction and monitoring, negates the downside to some extent, but not entirely. The PMC can bring professional best practices to this phase but the control still rests almost entirely with the government.

From my perspective, this is as good an example as any of what it takes to deliver an innovative project on the ground. The ability to balance the strategic with the tactical is one of the most crucial ingredients for success, and one that gets invoked time and again on this project.