Performance of consultants on government projects in ghana: Client and contractor pespective

Abstract

Construction project consultants share the characteristics of helping their clients address problems and improve upon project performance; they have a passion for the wisdom and expertise they bring to the project, and they have the ability to galvanize clients into action. However, it is an open secret that many projects often delay. Also, it is a known fact that most project contract figures swell more than double the original tender figure. Meanwhile, there are supervising consultants who are engaged and paid to manage such important projects. Their role however, is to complement the effort of contractors to ensure a successful completion of a project. The aim of this research is to identify factors affecting the performance of consultants on government projects, and to rank these factors according to their relative importance from the perspective of consultants. Analysis of the factors considered in a survey indicate that the main factors negatively affecting the performance of consultants are: urgency of the project at hand, project duration, variations, political influence from higher authority, timely decision making on the part of the consulting team and the experience of the design team on the project. The others are the ability of the consultants to work as a team, creativity on the part of the consultants in controlling cost and developing own efficiencies so that contract sums are kept within budget .