Retrospective Delay Analysis in Construction Projects of Iraq

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RETROSPECTIVE DELAY ANALYSIS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF IRAQ

Mohammed T. Almusawi and Kadhim R. Erzaij Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Baghdad University, Iraq E-Mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Construction projects are commonly acknowledged as successful when it is completed at the specific time, within budget, and according to the specifications. The delay of projects has negative effects on the value of the contract because it is related to the elements of the expensive resources which often lead to claims or arbitration. However, the projects that investigated in this study included construction of ten hospitals with 400 beds in different cities of Iraq. A frequency, severity and importance indexes were determined for 77 factors of delay divided into ten categorizations according to the stages of the project, The results showed that the weakness of technical offers of companies nominated to assignment as a result of adopting the principle of the lowest bid price in the government tendering and ineffective delay penalties by the employer in addition to Poor planning and scheduling the project by the contractor were the major causes that delayed the projects in the middle and southern Iraq.

Keywords: Iraqi construction project, delays, factors.

1. INTRODUCTION bidder without consideration the prequalification. Both the The construction industry is one of the largest researchers in Saudi Arabia used Frequent-severity scale industries that generate money in the economy because it for ranking the causes of delay. represents a center for attracting financial and human In Jordan, two studies were identified. Al resources. The American Arbitration Association Momani (2000) presented a comprehensive study for 130 (AAA2000) considered the construction industry is a public projects, which included residential, office major user of its conflict avoidance and disputes solution buildings, medical centers, school buildings, and services. In Iraq, The construction sector has been greatly communication facilities. The study showed that the main affected by the wars and economic conditions that the delay causes related to: poor design, change orders, country has undergone for decades. In recent years, The weather conditions, the site conditions, late delivery, the Iraqi government contributes to the development of the economic conditions, and increase in quantities. The construction sector in several ways by establishment of second study, conducted by Sweis et al (2008) who strategic projects. One of these projects is the construction identified and classified the causes of delays in residential of 10 hospitals with 400 beds which has a total cost of construction projects of Jordan which concluded that 1,500,000,000 USD in different cities of Iraq but the major delays can be caused by all parties involved in projects; problem that hinders these projects is delayed. However, however, main causes came from financial difficulties the main objectives of this study is to identify the factors faced by the contractor, too many change orders by the which caused delay from the viewpoint the employers to owner and poor planning and scheduling of the project by aid them in establishing adequate evaluation in the future the contractor. contracts by using quantitative data which determined in Mezher and Taweel (1998) surveyed sixty-four this paper. causes of delays in the construction industry in Lebanon by using an important index scale. It was found that the 1.1 Previous studies most important delay factors were financing and Many researchers defined the Construction delays scheduling of subcontractors, poor contractual in different ways all agree that the delay is an increase the relationships, and design changes by owners. The project duration on the date agreed upon in the contract or researcher recommended using innovative management schedule (Stumpf 2000), (Assaf and Al-Hejji 2006). A lot techniques and value engineering to be more effective and of articles and studies published to identifying and efficient. analyzing the causes of delay in different countries. In In Kuwait, Koushki et al. (2005) studied delays Saudi Arabia, Assaf and Al-Hejji (2006) conducted a and cost increases in private residential construction survey on time performance in large construction projects. projects. The three major factors contributing to time- They identified Seventy-three causes of delay during the delays included change orders, financial constraints, and study. change orders by the owner during construction was owners’ lack of experience in construction works. the main cause for this research while Al-Khalil and Al- In turkey, eighty-three different delay factors Ghafly (1999), who studied the delay in the public water were identified and analyzed with the relative importance and sewage projects, identified Sixty causes for delay, index method by Murat G, et al (2013), the result of Among the most significant causes that found are financial analysis showed that inadequate contractor experience, difficulties by the contractor and cash flow problems, Ineffective project planning and scheduling and Poor site difficulties in obtaining permits, and select the lowest management and supervision were the more effective

www.arpnjournals.com causes. Kazaz et al (2013) investigated Thirty-four factors The term “concurrent delays” is used to describe that causes delays in construction projects, According to two, or more, delays occurring at the same time, either of the results, “design changes” was found to be the most which, if it occurs alone, would have affected the predominant factor, followed by “delay of payments” and completion date. Golanaraghi and Alkass (2012) defined “cash flow problems”. the Concurrent delays as two or more independent delays Chan and Kumaraswamy (1997) examined the which occur simultaneously or which overlap to some relative importance of delay factors in Hong Kong. Five extent causing a delay in the project. Concurrent delays major delay factors were identified: poor site management are the most challenging delays because of their and supervision, unforeseen site conditions, slow decision- complicated nature. A party that needs to defend a claim making involving all project parties. Alaghbari (2007) will find the importance of the concurrent delay as it may reported the significant factors that causing delay in be entitled to compensation claimed by the other party. building construction projects, financial problems were the For others, which considered as concurrent delays, the main factor and coordination problems are the second delays need not actually occur at the same time, so, most significant factor that delays the construction projects ‘concurrent delays’ may occur in two cases: When there in Malaysia. are two, or more, independent delays during the same time period. And during any part of performance the project 1.2 Delays classification period, not necessarily at the same period time. Though Construction delays can be classified into many there is no universally accepted for the second definition categorizations, according to the liability of the above, but some authorities in the UK and the US courts construction parties into excusable and non-excusable, corroborating with this concept when delay events arise at according to the occurrence into critical and non-critical, different times but the impacts of them are felt at the same they can be also classified according to the effects into time (Perera and Sutrisna 2013). concurrent and non-concurrent delays. Delays which affecting in the Project completion, Excusable delays can be categorized into or in some cases a milestone date, are known as critical compensable and non-compensable. Excusable- delays, the concept of "critical" delays arises from the compensable delays are delays that beyond the control of scheduling of the critical path method (CPM) (Trauner the contractor. Being the responsibility of the employer, 2009) while delays that not affecting the completion of the which, according to the contract documents, the contractor project or a milestone date are considered non-critical is entitled to extend the time and recover the damages delays. associated with the delay, for a delay to be excusable- compensable must be critical to the completion date 2. CASE STUDY (Keane and Caletka 2008). Excusable-compensable delays Most constitutions refer to the human right to live are usually due to omissions or acts of the employer or the in a good environment that guarantees a healthy and happy employer’s designer such as late notice to proceed in the life. Through State, society guarantees this right by work, failure to provide proper financing, failure to providing individual health care by establishing different provide employer-furnished materials or components, kinds of health institutions such as hospitals, dispensaries delays in reviewing or approval the drawings and delay in and treatment centers. In Iraq, until three decades ago, the approval the change orders. indicators of the health status in Iraq improved Excusable, non-compensable delays also known substantially and health care services kept high standards. as “force majeure” delays. These delays are usually called During the year 1970, the number of beds allocated for “acts of God” because they are not the responsibility or every 1000 people was close to the 2 beds. However, the fault of any specific party. Most contracts allow for the regime which ruled Iraq after that did not consider the contractor to obtain an additional time for excusable health care services to be a priority. The health system, delays, but not additional money (Alaghbari 2007). therefore, suffered from continued neglect and budgetary Examples of excusable, non-compensable delays are allocations did not reflect population growth as well as unusual delay in transportation, such as prohibition of wars and economic conditions that the country has freight, unusual weather conditions and strikes. undergone for decades, As a result, the health sector Non-Excusable delays are the delay which caused witnessed progressive deterioration and health indicators by the contractor’s actions and/or inactions, that prevent fell to levels comparable to some of the least developed the Contractor's claims from any extension of time or countries to reached 1.3 in 2003. After 2003, the country compensation; the contractor may also be liable for faces enormous challenges; terrorism and political liquidated damages (Hafiz 2013) such as failure to submit conflicts which led to more neglect in health sector to shop drawings and related materials to the employer for stabilize the number of beds at 1.2 during the year 2014 approval according to the schedule. (word bank reports 1960-2012), (WHO report 2014). The independent delays occur in isolation and do In recent years, particularly after 2008, The Iraqi not result from a previous delay. The independent delay government contributes to the development of the effect can usually be calculated on the total duration of the construction sector in several ways by establishment of project. These delays may cause a serial delay (Stumpf strategic projects. One of these projects is construction of 2000). ten hospitals with 400 beds which has a total cost of 1, 500, 000, 000 USD in different cities of Iraq but the major

www.arpnjournals.com problem that hinders these projects is delay. As-Planned show the delay that experienced by these projects which versus as-Built schedules comparison method was used to summarized in Figure-1 below:

Activity Name 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 projects Project 1 100%, 30-Sep-16

Project 2 90%,

Project 3 93%,

Project 4 90%,

Project 5 90%,

Project 6 13%,

Project 7 12%,

Project 8 12.5%,

Project 9 33%,

Project 10 90%,

As-planned Remaining work As-built Completion percent

Figure-1. As-Planned VS As-Built Schedules Comparison of Case study.

2.1 Data collection who represent of employer reveal whether the factors have For this study, related data were collected to been observed in these projects and if there were more identify possible delay factors in hospital construction causes that have occurred during the implementation of projects. Initially, 22 factors were gathered based on these projects. A list of (77) delay causes in hospital projects are data. But there is not enough details in those factors, e.g., established, which is shows in Table-1, categorized delaying the approval of shop drawings resulted in a according to the work progress into (10) group, delayed project of 90 days, This factor did not give a full Contractual process related causes, Design related causes, description of why the approval of shop drawings was Site preparation related causes, Construction equipment delayed, many secondary factors may lead to this delay, related causes, Contractors staff related causes, Employers such as lack of clarity of details or design errors in the staff related causes, Procurement of construction materials drawings which submitted by the Contractor, inefficient of related causes, Cash flow related causes, Procurement of the employer's consultant or because of the unclear medical and operational equipment related causes, and requirements of the employer. Because of insufficient external factors related causes. details and lack of data about delay factors the interviews were conducted with the experts and the staff of the 2.2 Design questionnaire resident engineer for each hospital. The interviews focused The list of factors that identified from previous on the causes of delay in hospital construction projects to stages was examined by using the closed questionnaire to check the list of causes that identified from root-cause determine the degree of severity and frequency of analysis for collecting data in the previous stage in occurrence for each delay factor. The questionnaire addition to related literature which reviewed. Interviews generally divided into two main parts. First one is related were conducted face to face with the engineering team to general information about practical experience,

www.arpnjournals.com specialization, years of experience, etc. Second Part or more) while the answers that relevant to the degree of included the list of the identified factors of delay in severity are: No effect, fairly severe, Severe, Very severe. hospital construction project. For each cause or factor two The assessment is made by comparing the causes with questions were asked: each other. a) What is the frequency of occurrence for this cause? frequency of occurrence degree of severity And b) What is the degree of severity of this cause on project

delay? Never Severe No effect Frequently Constantly Very severe Fairly severe Both the frequency of occurrence and degree of Occasionally severity Divided into (4) answers, as shown in Figure-2 below. The answers that related to frequency of Figure-2. Design of Questionnaire. occurrence are: Never (there is no delay for this reason), occasionally (the delay is one or two times for this reason), frequently (three or four times), constantly (for five times

Table-1. Causes of delay.

No Contractual process related causes 1 Inadequate Iraqi conditions and instructions for turnkey projects. Lack of Iraqi laws and regulations for clauses that allow direct contracting with international companies in 2 the field of hospital construction. 3 The reluctance of international efficient companies because of the security situation in Iraq. 4 The changes and amendments in government regulations. weak conditions and specifications required by the employer for the purpose of qualifying companies during 5 the phase of study and analysis of tenders The weakness of technical offers for companies that nominated to assignment as a result of adopted the 6 principle of the lowest bid price in the government tendering. 7 Delay of contractual processes due to routine and bureaucratic processes. 8 Difficulties in obtaining legal and financing permits from the other concerned authorities. 9 Poor qualification of contractual staff of the employer institution. 10 The contractual project period is unrealistic The inclusion of contractual clauses to oblige the employer to facilitate the entry of contractor staff, 11 equipment and services import through border ports. 12 Ineffective delay penalties by employer. No Design related causes 13 Lack of technical capabilities by the contractor to complete the drawings. 14 Delays in setting the design requirement by the employer. 15 Misunderstanding of the scope of work by the contractor due to unclear the requirements of work. 16 Discrepancies between contract documents and employer requirements (RFB). 17 Lack of number and experience of employer's consultant to study the drawings. 18 Design changes by the employer during the design phase. 19 Lack of clarity of details or design errors in the drawings which submitted by the Contractor. 20 Poor coordination between the designer (contractor) and the employer's consultant. 21 Delay in arrival of approval drawings and updates by the employer's consultant to the work site. 22 Disparity between BOQ and design. No Site preparation related causes 23 Delays in transmit the site to the contractor due to the security situation in the governorate.

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24 Delays in initiate of work due to some obstructions such as buildings or Agricultural Land in the site. 25 Unforeseen site conditions and geologic factors. 26 The existence of sewer lines or electricity transmission lines passes through the site. Delays in connecting the infrastructure services such as water, sewage, electricity and communications to the 27 site by the relevant ministries. 28 Insufficient data collection and survey before construction by the contractor. No Construction equipment related causes 29 Difficulties in available of construction equipment due to lack of financing capability of the contractor. 30 Difficulty in providing of construction equipment because of Security arrangements by local authorities. 31 Lack of high-tech mechanical equipment 32 Equipment breakdowns. No Contractors staff related causes 33 Poor in supervision and site management by the contractor. 34 Poor qualification, experience and skills of the contractor’s technical staff. 35 Insufficient number of labor because of lack of financing capability or poor coordination by the contractor. Poor communication and coordination by the contractor with the suppliers and subcontractor involved in the 36 project. 37 Frequent change of subcontractors due to inefficiency of their work. 38 Disputes between the contractor and subcontractors. 39 Disputes between labors in the site. 40 Poor planning and scheduling the project by the contractor 41 Re - work due to design errors by the contractor. 42 Delay in issuing entry visas to foreign workers by ministry of interior. Instructions of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs about determining the percent of foreign labors and 43 restrictions on their entry. 44 Accidents during construction due to mismanagement of occupational safety. 45 Slow in preparation of changes order requests by the contractor. No Employers staff related causes 46 Poor qualification of supervision staff of the employer's institution. 47 Insufficient authorizations that awarded to the resident engineer in the site by the employer. 48 Slowness in decision making process by the employer. 49 Delay in solving the contractor claims by the employer. 50 Changes in the scope of work by the employer during the construction. 51 Suspension of work by employer. Failure to allow the contractor to work for 24 hours (according to contract) due to lack of staff of the resident 52 engineer in the site. 53 Delay in performing inspection and testing by employer's consultant. Delay in giving technical consultations or solving technical problems due to lack of number and experience 54 of employer's consultant in the site. Poor coordination between employer's consultants and other parties in the work site regarding design and 55 technical matters. No Materials and laboratory tests related causes 56 Failure in laboratory tests of construction materials, concrete or soil treatments by the contractor. 57 Shortage of construction materials in local markets. 58 fluctuations the price of materials

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59 Changes in specifications and material types during construction by the employer. Difficulty in providing construction materials due to lack of financial commitment of suppliers by the 60 contractor in previous transactions. 61 Difficulty in delivering the construction materials because of Security arrangement by local authorities. 62 Delays in the manufacture of special building materials required by work. 63 Poor storage of construction materials by the contractor. 64 Delay the results of laboratory tests due to lack of laboratories in Iraq. No Cash flow related causes Cash flow payments are delayed as a result of the lack of accuracy by the contractor in accounting the 65 completed works quantities. 66 Cash flow payments are delayed due to audits and administrative processes by the employer. 67 Cash flow payments are delayed due to the economic crisis. 68 Change the dollar's exchange rate against the contractual currency (Iraqi Dinar). No Procurement of medical and operational equipment related causes Delay in awarding the Letter of credit) L/C as a result of the contractor's delay in providing the certificates 69 ( of origin, Insurance or provide certificates differ from what is agreed upon. 70 Delay in awarding the Letter of credit) L/C( because of processes of the banking system in Iraq. 71 Delay in awarding the Letter of credit) L/C( due to Financial or administrative problems by the employer. Delayed entry of medical equipment and operational equipment because of poor coordination of employer 72 with the authorities responsible for the border crossings. Delayed entry of medical equipment and operational equipment due to security measures at the border 73 crossing points. No External factors related causes 74 The effect of hot weather on construction activities. 75 The effect of rain on construction activities. 76 Public holidays and religious habits. 77 Effect of cultural and social factors.

3. METHOD OF ANALYSIS Sj: severity weight (1, 2, 3 or 4) In this study, Importance Index technique (II) Pj: number of participants who answeredto option j. would be implemented. This technique summarizes by calculated both the frequency index (FI) and severity scale Frequencyofoccurrence Degreeof severity index (SI)after being converted to numerical values as 1 Never No effect shown in Figure-3. Frequency index (FI) is a formula used 2 Occasionally Fairly severe to rank the factors of delay according to frequency of 3 Frequently Severe occurrence: 4 Constantly Very severe

FI= ∑ (Fi×Pi) / ∑ (Pi) …… (1≤ FI ≤4). Figure-3. Frequency and severity scale. Severity index (SI) is a formula used to rank factors of delay, based on the degree of severity: 3.1 Data accuracy The aim of this section is to give an explanation SI= ∑ (Sj×Pj) / ∑ (Pj) ….… (1≤ SI ≤ 4). about the strength of respondents’ experience, and the degree of reliability of the data presented by them. In order The importance index (II) for each cause is to verify the accuracy of the questionnaire and ensure that calculated as a formula of both frequency and severity all factors are directly or indirectly connected to the study indices: objective, the opinion of experts and specialists in the field of hospital construction was adopted while Cronbach's II (%) = (FI×SI / 16) ×100% alpha (α) was used to measure the internal consistency between the questions of questionnaire. Where: Fi: frequency weight (1, 2, 3 or 4). Pi: number of participants who answered to option i.

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3.1.1 Respondents’ experience 3.1.2 Data reliability Sixty-one of professionals who working in the Cronbach's alpha ( is going to be used to check field of hospital construction in the ministry of health the reliability of collection data. The Statistical Product answered the questionnaire survey which was distributed and Solutions Services (SPSS)α) software version 25 has among them, consist of Resident Engineer staff, been used as a tool by using the formula: Controlling and monitoring Departments and their managers in many specializations. Figures (4), (5) and (6) show their years of experience, Specialty and job position. 푁 . 퐶̅ α = Mamagers Where:푉̅ + (푁 − 1). 퐶̅ 18% N: The number of items. : Average covariance between item-pairs. : Average variance. Other 퐶̅ engineers 푉̅ The results for two part of questionnaire, frequent 64% of occurrence and degree of severity, were 94.5 and 94.9 respectively. Pallant J. (2007) considered the value of ( above 70 % is acceptable while Gliem (2003) considered Monitoring the value more than 90 % is excellent. α) 18% 3.1.3 Degree of agreement Spearman's Correlation coefficient isa non-

Figure-4. Study Sample based on job position. parametric analysis used to measure the strength of agreement and direction of the relationship between different factors, or parties. The correlation coefficient Architect values are between -1 and +1, where +1 represents a full 3% agreement relationship, while -1 result is a full disagreement relationship. For this research, the Elictrical Spearman’s correlation coefficient is used to explain the 27% Civil degree of agreement among different parties who 44% answered the questionnaire in addition to that the Mechanica measuring and comparing the relationship between the l answers of two parties for a single delay factor is applied, 19% while neglecting the answer of the third party. The parties Medical who have been checking their answers are; the resident equipment engineers, controlling and monitoring engineers. The 7% formula which used to calculate Spearman's correlation is shown below.

Figure-5. Study Sample based on Specializations.

2 40% (6 ∑ 푑 ) 푟 = 1 − [ 3 ] 35% Where: 푛 − 푛 Spearman correlation coefficient between two 30% parties 푟푠 : Difference between ranks assigned to variables 25% for each factor 푑: Number of pairs of rank 20% 푛: The results show that there is a strong agreement 15% between each two groups of stockholders in ranking delay 10% factors where the highest degree of agreement was between monitoring staff and resident engineers, followed 5% by the agreement between monitoring and controlling staff while the lowest degree of agreement was between 0% resident engineers and controlling staff, however these 5 - 9.5 10 - 14.5 15 - 19.5 20 - 24.5 25 - 29.5 ≥ 30 results were between (0.6 - 0.75).

Figure-6. Study Sample based onyears of experience.

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4. RESULTS design errors. Ten factors of delay were examined which The following discussions will discuss the led to delayed completion of design work or which led to important causes of delay in context each category in delay construction work associated with the design. As hospital construction projects of Iraq, these categories shown in the Figure-8 the result explained that lack of included causes related to contractual process, causes technical capabilities by the contractor to complete the related to design, causes related to site preparation, causes drawings, Disparity between bill of quantities with design related to construction equipment, causes related to and lack of number and experience of employer's contractor’s staff, causes related to employer’s staff, consultant in study the drawings were the most significant causes related to construction materials and laboratory factors with (II= 69.43, 66.35, 64.3) respectively while tests, Causes related to cash flow, Causes related to misunderstanding of the scope of work by the contractor procurement of medical and operational equipment in due to unclear the requirements of employer was the least addition to causes related to external factors. Ranking of significant factor with (28.70) in addition to design overall causes of delay according to their importance changes by the employer during the design phase and index, frequent index, severity index are shown in Table-2 Delays in setting the design requirement by the employer. except of Al-Mosul project, where the security situation had the greatest impact in delay and interruption. However, these results included the projects in middle and southern Iraq. The major delay factor that hinders these projects were the weakness of technical offers for companies that nominated to assignment as a result of adopted the principle of the lowest bid price in the government tendering. And ineffective delay penalties by employer that inclusion in contractual process related causes in addition to Poor planning and scheduling the project by the contractor which inclusion in contractor staff related causes.

4.1 Causes related to the contractual process The avoidance of delays in projects, losses and disputes requires a comprehensive understanding of the potential risks so that appropriate contract conditions and selecting the best method of bidding can be prepared. 12 factors of delay were identified which includes the causes that occurred during the contracting phase or which have extended their effect to the subsequent stages of design and construction, the results showed that the weakness of technical offers for companies that nominated to assignment as a result of adopted the principle of the lowest bid price in the government tendering is the main cause (II88.28) followed by Ineffective delay penalties by employer and reluctance of international efficient companies because of the security situation in Iraq and (II= 86.08 and 83.89) while the lack of Iraqi laws and regulations for clauses that allow directing contracting with international companies in the field of hospital construction, weak conditions and specifications required by the employer for the purpose of qualifying companies during the phase of study of tenders and Inadequate Iraqi conditions and instructions for turnkey projects were the least significant factors, however the Figure-7 shows the important index for contractual factors of delay.

4.2 Causes related to design Design process should keep the duration of a project, cost reduction and better quality of the final work; however, it may increase the complexity of projects and make it more difficult to manage. In these case studies, the concept of fast-track became a reality during the implementation phase, which required more accurate and the highest level of quality to avoid the risks caused by

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0 … s. ssignment… purpose of… purpose Disparity between BOQ desgin. and between Disparity urity situation… itate the entry of… theitate entry discrepancies due to contract documents and… contract to due discrepancies misunderstanding of the scope of work by work the… ofthe of scope misunderstanding Lack of number and experience of employer's… of experience and number of Lack lack of clarity of details or design errors in the… in detailsdesign or oferrors clarity lack of Delays in setting the design requirement by the… design requirement the setting in Delays Lack of technical capabilities by the contractor to…the contractor capabilities by technical Lack of Poor coordination between employer's consultants… between employer's coordination Poor Design changes by the employer during the design… the during changesemployer by Design Poor coordination between the designer (contractor)… designer between the coordination Poor

Figure-8. Causes related to design.

Ineffective delay penalties delayby employer. penalties Ineffective 4.3 Causes related to site preparation The contractual project period is unrealistic periodproject is contractual The Most international Standard contract Documents agreed that the work site should be ready and any legal problems or physical obstacles must remove before starting the work. Although the design of the projects has

The changes and amendments in government regulations. government in changes amendments and The already started on the specified contractual date but all of these projects have suffered from the delay of construction

Inadequate Iraqi conditions and instructions for turnkey projects. turnkey for instructions and conditions Iraqi Inadequate on the site, six factors delay have been identified and their Poor qualification of contractual staff of the institution. of employer staff contractual ofqualification Poor effect is sequentially as following; insufficient data collection and survey before construction by the

Delay of contractual processes due to routine and bureaucratic processe and routine to due processes contractual of Delay contractor, Delays in connecting the infrastructure services such as water, sewage, electricity and communications to Difficulties in obtaining legal and financing permits from the other authorities… other the from permits financing and legal obtaining in Difficulties weak conditions and specifications required by the employer for the for employer required by the specifications and conditions weak the site by the relevant ministries, Delays in initiate of lack of Iraqi laws and regulations for clauses that allow to direct contracting with tocontracting allow fordirect that regulations and clauses laws Iraqi lack of

The inclusion of contractual clauses to oblige the employer to facilto employer to the clauses oblige contractual ofinclusion The work due to some obstructions such as buildings or The reluctance of international efficient companies because of the of sec companies because efficient international ofreluctance The The weakness of the technical offers of the companies nominated for a nominatedthe the of companies technical offers weakness the The of Agricultural Land in the site of the project, The existence of sewer lines or electricity transmission lines passes through the site, Delays in transmit the site to the Figure-7. Causes related to contractual process. contractor due to the security situation in the governorate, Unforeseen site conditions and geology factors. The Figure-9 shows the important index of causes that related

www.arpnjournals.com to site preparation in addition to causes related to 4.5 Causes related to contractor’s staff construction equipment. The contractor’s staff related causes considered the biggest of others because of the case studies was turn- 4.4 Causes related to construction equipment key projects and the most responsibilities of risk lies with The complex nature and strategic importance of the contractor. Thirteen delay factors have been identified, these projects should lead to the provision of high-tech Poor planning and scheduling the project by the machinery to perform high quality work within the contractor, insufficient number of labor because of lack of planned time. Four delay factors have been defined. As financing capability or poor coordination by the contractor explain in Figure-9 results showed that the difficulties in and Poor qualification, experience and skills of the available of construction equipment due to lack of contractor’s technical staff were the most three causes in financing capability of the contractor was the higher delay this categories. While Disputes between labors in the site factor from others (II=63.83) followed by Lack of high- was the least factor However, the Figure-10 shows the tech mechanical equipment and equipment breakdowns important index of causes that related to contractor’s staff. while the difficulties in providing of construction equipment because of Security arrangements by local 100 authorities was the lowest delay factor (II=21.6). 90 100 80 90 70 80 60 70

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0 0 … Equipment breakdowns. Disputes between labors the in site. Accidents during constructiondue to… Delays in initiate of worksome… due to Difficulty providing in construction…of Difficultiesin available construction…of Frequent change subcontractorsof due to… Lackof high-tech mechanical equipment Theexistence of sewer lines or electricity… Poor communication and coordination by the… Insufficient data collection andsurveybefore… Poor qualification, Poorqualification, experience and skills the of insufficientnumber laborof because lackof of… Poor planning and scheduling the project by the… Instructionsof Ministry the Laborof and Social… Poor in supervision and site managementby the… Delays in transmit the tosite the contractor due… Re- work due to designerrors contractor. by the Delays in connectingthe infrastructure services… Unforeseen site conditions and geology factors. Delay in issuing entry visas to foreign workers by… disputes between contractor the subcontractors. and Slow in preparation changesof requests order bythe…

Figure-9. Causes that related to site preparation in and Figure-10. Causes that related to contractor’s staff. construction equipment.

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4.6 Causes related to employer’s staff 4.7 Causes related to construction materials and Although the projects are turn-key, the contracts laboratory tests and work conditions have defined responsibilities for the In this group, nine factor causes were examined, employer's staff. This category includes ten factors related the result which summarizes in Figure-12 show that the to employer’s staff. Based on the result, Insufficient Poor storage of construction materials by the contractor authorizations that awarded to the resident engineer in the was the most important factor (66.85) follows by site by the employer was the higher rank (II: 74.01) Difficulty in providing construction materials due to lack followed by Poor qualification of supervision staff of the of financial commitment of suppliers by the contractor in employer's institution and Slowness in decision making previous transactions in addition to failure in laboratory process by the employer while the factor that related to tests of construction materials, concrete or soil treatments failure to allow the contractor to work for 24 hours by the contractor. While the results show that the (according to contract) due to lack of staff of the resident difficulties in delivering the construction materials engineer in the site, changes in the scope of work by the because of Security arrangement by local authorities, employer during the construction, and Suspension of work fluctuations the price of materials and delay the results of by employer were the least significant. The Figure-11 laboratory tests due to lack of laboratories in Iraq were the summarizes the ranking of causes related to employer's lowest affecting factor. staff. 4.8 Causes related to cash flow Four delay factors were investigated in this 100 category, as shown in Figure-13, Financial payments 90 delayed by the employer due to the economic crisis was the most important factor (II=52.75) following by Change 80 the dollar's exchange rate against the contractual currency (Iraqi Dinar), Cash flow payments are delayed as a result 70 of the lack of accuracy by the contractor in accounting the completed works quantities and finally Cash flow 60 payments are delayed due to audits and administrative processes by the employer. 50

0 Suspension workof by employer. Slownessdecision in making process by the… Poor qualificationPoor of supervision the… staff of failureto allow the contractorto work for 24… changes in the scope workof employer… by the Delay in performing inspection and testing by… Insufficient authorizations that awarded to the… Delay insolving the of contractorclaims by the… delayin giving technical consultations solving…or delayin arrival of approval drawingsand updates…

Figure-11. Causes related to employer’s staff.

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100 holidays and social factors, although the importance of these factors is limited, but it was necessary to examine 90 them because they are influential in other countries. The Figure-13 shows the important index of these factors. 80 100 70

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0 flactuationsprice the materialsof Difficulty delivering in the construction… failurein laboratory testsof construction… Shortage constructionof materials local… in Poor storage constructionof materials bythe… Changes in specifications and material types… Delays in the manufacture specialof building… Difficulty providing construction in materials… Delay the results laboratoryof testslack… due to

Effectof cultural and social factors.

Public holidays and religious habits.

Figure-12. Causes related to construction materials and Delaythebecause in L/C awardingof… Delayed entry medicalof equipment and… Delayed entry medicalof equipment and… laboratory tests. Theeffect of hot weather on construction… Theeffect of rain on construction activities. Financial payments delayed bythe employer… Delay in theawarding L/Casresult ofa the… Changethe dollar's exchange rate against the… Cash paymentsflow are delayed as a result of… Cash paymentsflow are delayed due to audits… 4.9 Causes related to procurement of medical and Delay in theawarding due L/C Financial to or… operational equipment Figure-13. Although the contractor is responsible for the Causes related to cash flow, procurement of medical and operational equipment and external factors. risks that delay the arrival of medical and operational equipment but the contract included the employer's liability for some of those responsibilities. Five delay 5. CONCLUSIONS factor were identified as shown in Figure-13, the result Based on the results of the study, the origin of show that the delay of entry the medical and operational delay problems is related to the contractual processes. Six equipment because of poor coordination of employer with contractual factors were among the top ten factors influencing projects, although their impact was indirect the authorities responsible for the border crossings was the but had a strong effect on other factors in design and most significant cause (II= 50.62) follow by delay in awarding the Letter of credit L/C as a result of the implementation. This requires a comprehensive review contractor's delay in providing the certificates of origin, and a good understanding of the instructions of the Insurance or provide certificates differ from what is agreed contract. Recently, the new standard tender documents upon. have been applied in the field of government contracts and this proves some of the results of this study. Despite the

reluctance of international efficient companies to work in 4.10 Causes related to external factors This group included four factors that led to delay, Iraq because of the security situation, the results prove that two of them are related to the climate and others related to the effect of security situation factors in middle and

www.arpnjournals.com southern Iraq is less significant comparison with the kazaz A., et al. 2013. Causes of Delays in Construction others. However, all results of the study are detailed in Projects in Turkey. Journal of Civil Engineering And Table-2 and finally we can say that the middle and Management. 18(3): 426-435. southern Iraq is a good environment to work and investmentif the international efficient companies decided Keane P. J. and Caletka A. F. 2008. Delay Analysis in to work in this country. Construction Contracts, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

REFERENCES Koushki et al. 2005. Delays and cost increases in the construction of private residential projects in Kuwait, Alaghbari W., et al. 2007. The Significant Factors Causing Construction Management and Economics. 23(3): 285- Delay of Building Construction Projects in Malaysia. 294. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management. 14(2): 192-206. Mezher T. M. and Taweel W. 1998. Causes of delays in the construction industry in Lebanon. Engineering, Al-Khalil, M. and Al-Ghafly M. 1999. Important Causes Construction and Architectural Management. 5(3): 252- of Delays in Public Utility Projects in Saudi Arabia. 260. Construction Management and Economics. 17(2): 647- 655. Murat G, et al. 2013. Quantification of Delay Factors Using the Relative Importance Index Method for Al-Momani A. H. 2000. Construction Delay: A Construction Projects in Turkey. Journal of Management Quantitative Analysis. International Journal of Project in Engineering. 29(2): 133-139. Management. 18(3): 51-59. Pallant J. 2007. SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step 2001. American Arbitration Association (AAA), 2000 Guide to Data Analysis using SPSS for Windows, third Annual Report, June 21. edition. Open University Press, USA.

Assaf S. A. and Al-Hejji S. 2006. Causes of Delay in Perera N. A. and Sutrisna M. 2013. The Theory of Large Construction Projects. International Journal of Criticality in Concurrent Delays, SLQS UAE 29th get- Project Management. 24: 349-357. together. 2013: 30-35.

Chan D. W. and Kumaraswamy M. 1997. A comparative Stumpf G. R. 2000. Schedule delay analysis. Cost study of causes of time overruns in Hong Kong Engineering Journal. 42(7): 32-43. construction projects. International Journal of Project Management. 15(1): 55-63. Sweis G., et al. 2008. Delays in Construction Projects: The Case of Jordan. International Journal of Project Gliem J. A. and Gliem R.R. 2003. Calculating, Management. 26(6): 665-674. Interpreting, and Reporting Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient for Likert-Type Scales, Midwest Research to Trauner t. 2009. construction delays: understanding them Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community clearly, analyzing them correctly, 2nd, USA, Elsevier Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Golanaraghi S. and Alkass S. 2012. Modified isolated Word bank, Statistical reports 1960-2012, delay type technique, Construction Research Congress http://www.albankaldawli.org/ 2012, ASCE. pp. 90-99. Word Health Organization (WHO), Statistical report 2014, Hafiz S. M. 2013. Simple Delay Analysis Methodologies http://apps.who.int/en/. Selection Advisor for Construction Practitioners (DAMSA). International Journal of Education and Research. 1-8.

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Table-2. Ranking Causes of delay.

frequency severity important No delay factors category mean St.dev. mean St.dev. index

The weakness of the technical offers of the companies nominated for the assignment as a 1 3.73 0.52 3.78 0.45 88.28 contractual result of the adoption of the principle of lowest bidder price in the government tendering. 2 Ineffective delay penalties by employer. 3.59 0.76 3.84 0.52 86.08 contractual

Poor planning and scheduling the project by 3 3.66 0.54 3.69 0.50 84.28 contractor staff the contractor The reluctance of international efficient 4 companies because of the security situation in 3.62 0.66 3.70 0.59 83.89 contractual Iraq. Insufficient number of labor because of lack of 5 financing capability or poor coordination by 3.56 0.79 3.56 0.85 79.09 contractor staff the contractor. Delay of contractual processes due to routine 6 3.50 0.75 3.60 0.72 78.75 contractual and bureaucratic processes. Insufficient authorizations that awarded to the 7 3.34 0.85 3.54 0.79 74.01 employer staff resident engineer in the site by the employer.

8 The contractual project period is unrealistic 3.30 0.94 3.49 0.85 71.91 contractual

Poor qualification of contractual staff of the 9 3.16 0.87 3.60 0.70 71.06 contractual employer institution. Lack of technical capabilities by the contractor 10 3.28 0.83 3.38 0.85 69.43 design to complete the drawings. Poor storage of construction materials by the 11 3.26 0.85 3.28 0.92 66.85 materials contractor.

12 Disparity between BOQ and design. 3.28 0.85 3.23 0.91 66.35 design

Poor qualification, experience and skills of the 13 3.15 0.91 3.36 0.91 66.11 contractor staff contractor’s technical staff. The inclusion of contractual clauses to oblige the employer to facilitate the entry of 14 3.12 0.91 3.39 0.91 66.07 contractual contractor staff, equipment and services import through border ports. Poor in supervision and site management by 15 3.11 0.90 3.33 0.94 64.78 contractor staff the contractor. Lack of clarity of details or design errors in the 16 3.13 0.77 3.28 0.78 64.30 design drawings which submitted by the Contractor. Disputes between the contractor and 17 3.15 0.75 3.25 0.70 63.85 contractor staff subcontractors. Difficulties in available of construction 18 equipment due to lack of financing capability 3.11 0.90 3.28 0.97 63.83 equipment of the contractor. Difficulties in obtaining legal and financing 19 3.20 0.93 3.18 0.94 63.54 contractual permits from the other authorities concerned Poor communication and coordination by the 20 3.13 0.70 3.22 0.76 62.99 contractor staff contractor with the suppliers and subcontractor

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involved in the project

Insufficient data collection and survey before 21 3.08 0.74 3.27 0.80 62.95 site preparation construction by the contractor. frequency severity important No delay factors St. St. category mean mean index dev. dev. Frequent change of subcontractors due to 22 3.07 0.89 3.25 0.87 62.19 contractor staff inefficiency of their work. Delay in giving technical consultations or solving technical problems due to lack of 23 3.02 0.83 3.17 0.87 59.70 design number and experience of employer's consultant in the site. The changes and amendments in government 24 3.02 0.94 3.16 0.99 59.65 contractual regulations. 25 Lack of high-tech mechanical equipment 3.03 0.87 3.10 0.93 58.73 equipment Lack of Iraqi laws and regulations for clauses that allow directing contracting with 26 3.02 1.16 3.10 1.12 58.41 contractual international companies in the field of hospitals construction. Poor coordination between the designer 27 3.00 0.81 3.08 0.88 57.84 design (contractor) and the employer's consultant. Lack of number and experience of employer's 28 2.82 0.91 3.22 0.92 56.63 design consultant. in study the drawings. Delay in issuing entry visas to foreign workers 29 2.95 0.81 3.07 0.84 56.54 contractor staff by ministry of interior. weak conditions and specifications required by the employer for the purpose of qualifying 30 2.87 0.91 3.15 0.88 56.44 contractual companies during the phase of study and analysis of tenders Instructions of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs about determination the 31 2.97 0.86 2.97 0.87 55.03 contractor staff percentage of foreign labors and restrictions on their entry. Financial payments delayed by the employer 32 2.81 0.80 3.00 0.98 52.75 cash flow due to the economic crisis. Delay in arrival of approval drawings and 33 updates by the employer's consultant to the 2.85 0.88 2.93 0.90 52.25 design work site. Poor coordination between employer's 34 consultants and other parties in the work site 2.80 0.80 2.98 0.89 52.21 design regarding design and technical matters. Delayed entry of medical equipment and Medical and operational equipment because of poor 35 2.73 0.90 2.96 0.93 50.62 operational coordination of employer with the authorities equip. responsible for the border crossings. Discrepancies due to contract documents and 36 2.62 0.98 3.07 0.99 50.15 design employer requirements (RFB). Difficulty in providing construction materials due to lack of financial commitment of 37 2.72 0.88 2.95 0.98 50.09 materials suppliers by the contractor in previous transactions.

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Delay in awarding the L/C as a result of the Medical and contractor's delay in providing the certificates 38 2.74 0.69 2.88 0.82 49.33 operational of origin, Insurance or provide certificates equip. differ from what is agreed upon. Slow in preparation of changes order requests 39 2.77 0.80 2.74 0.91 47.40 contractor staff by the contractor Re - work due to design errors by the 40 2.61 0.92 2.90 0.94 47.27 contractor staff contractor. Poor qualification of supervision staff of the 41 2.56 0.98 2.95 0.90 47.16 employer staff employer's institution frequency severity important No delay factors St. St. category mean mean index dev. dev. Change the dollar's exchange rate against the 42 2.68 0.88 2.80 0.88 46.93 cash flow contractual currency (Iraqi Dinar). Slowness in decision making process by the 43 2.60 0.94 2.87 0.87 46.58 employer staff employer. Delay in the solving of contractor claims by the 44 2.66 0.91 2.79 0.91 46.26 employer staff employer.

Design changes by the employer during the 45 2.60 0.81 2.83 0.96 46.04 design design phase. Accidents during construction due to 46 2.59 0.99 2.79 1.11 45.12 contractor staff mismanagement of occupational safety. 47 Equipment breakdowns. 2.61 0.80 2.74 0.96 44.60 equipment Cash flow payments are delayed as a result of 48 the lack of accuracy by the contractor in 2.62 0.72 2.72 0.85 44.43 cash flow accounting the completed works quantities. Delayed entry of medical equipment and Medical and 49 operational equipment due to security 2.63 0.84 2.68 0.92 43.95 operational measures at the border crossing points. equip. Cash flow payments are delayed due to audits 50 2.56 0.92 2.66 0.96 42.45 cash flow and administrative processes by the employer. Failure in laboratory tests of construction 51 materials, concrete or soil treatments by the 2.52 0.85 2.66 0.98 41.90 materials contractor. Delays in setting the design requirement by the 52 2.48 0.87 2.68 0.83 41.65 design employer. Delays in the manufacture of special building 53 2.52 0.87 2.57 0.96 40.61 materials materials required by work. Inadequate Iraqi conditions and instructions for 54 2.51 0.99 2.57 0.96 40.35 contractual turnkey projects. Medical and Delay in awarding the L/C due to Financial or 55 2.54 0.97 2.50 0.99 39.62 operational administrative problems by the employer. equip. Medical and Delay in awarding the L/C because of 56 2.45 0.85 2.55 0.89 39.04 operational processes of the banking system in Iraq. equip. 57 Disputes between labors in the site. 2.41 1.02 2.52 1.04 38.02 contractor staff

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Delays in connecting the infrastructure services such as water, sewage, electricity and 58 2.38 0.83 2.40 0.99 35.64 site preparation communications to the site by the relevant ministries. The effect of hot weather on construction 59 2.36 0.93 2.39 0.94 35.31 external activities. 60 Public holidays and religious habits. 2.28 0.84 2.25 0.94 31.99 external Delays in initiate of work due to some 61 obstructions such as buildings or Agricultural 2.20 0.91 2.30 0.94 31.51 site preparation Land in the site of the project. Misunderstanding of the scope of work by the 62 contractor due to unclear the requirements of 2.15 0.99 2.14 0.94 28.70 design work. Delay in performing inspection and testing by 63 2.03 0.93 2.10 0.96 26.66 employer staff employer's consultant. frequency severity important No delay factors St. St. category mean mean index dev. dev. 64 Suspension of work by employer. 1.90 0.89 2.15 0.95 25.52 employer staff

Changes in the scope of work by the employer 65 2.07 0.95 1.95 0.96 25.18 employer staff during the construction. Changes in specifications and material types 66 1.95 0.88 2.07 0.91 25.18 materials during construction by the employer. The existence of sewer lines or electricity 67 1.92 0.80 1.92 0.95 22.99 site preparation transmission lines passes through the site. 68 The effect of rain on construction activities. 1.92 0.69 1.92 0.76 22.99 external Shortage of construction materials in local 69 1.84 0.80 1.97 0.98 22.57 materials markets. Difficulty in providing of construction 70 equipment because of Security arrangements 1.79 0.82 1.93 1.00 21.60 equipment by local authorities. Delay the results of laboratory tests due to lack 71 1.82 0.89 1.89 0.91 21.44 materials of laboratories in Iraq. 72 Effect of cultural and social factors. 1.79 0.80 1.82 0.94 20.32 external 73 fluctuations the price of materials 1.78 0.74 1.81 0.88 20.17 materials Difficulty in delivering the construction 74 materials because of Security arrangement by 1.84 0.88 1.75 0.96 20.13 materials local authorities. Failure to allow the contractor to work for 24 75 hours (according to contract) due to lack of 1.69 0.99 1.74 1.12 18.34 employer staff staff of the resident engineer in the site. Delays in transmit the site to the contractor due 76 1.61 0.80 1.80 1.00 18.11 site preparation to the security situation in the governorate. 77 Unforeseen site conditions and geology factors. 1.57 0.76 1.79 0.90 17.58 site preparation

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