Barriers to spurring innovation in Swedish transport infrastructure construction

The construction industry is struggling with declining productivity. As Sweden’s largest public-sector purchaser of constructions services, the Swedish Transport Administration launched a programme aimed at increasing productivity. One important component of this programme was the introduction of design-build procurement to increase the leeway provided to contractors to identify innovative and efficient solutions. In this case study of the programme, which focuses on design-build contracts, the authors have conducted 27 interviews with Swedish Transport Administration project managers, contractors, and consultants to examine how successful the implementation of some of these measures has been and what hurdles they have encountered. Their results show that, in many regards, the programme has failed to increase innovation and productivity. To a large extent, this can be attributed to legitimate reasons such as the integrity of the planning process and standardisation of the railway. That said, they have also identified a perceived lack of competence among both project managers and contractors, as well as an apparent lack of trust between them. One important conclusion is that the Swedish Transport Administration has failed not only to implement design-build contracts, but also the structure to make the contracts they have implemented work, in particular the failure to provide project managers with incentives to experiment. They also conclude that, if used incorrectly, this type of procurement could even have a detrimental effect on innovation.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2023.101041
• Record URL:
  • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213624X23000950
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/2213624X
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of World Conference on Transport Research Society. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Bondemark, Anders
  • Westermark, Kristina
  • Gordon, Amanda
• Publication Date: 2024-3-15

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 101041
• Serial:
  • Case Studies on Transport Policy
  • Volume: 15
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 2213-624X
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/2213624X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction management; Design build; Infrastructure; Innovation; Transportation planning
• Identifier Terms: Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket)
• Geographic Terms: Sweden
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Public Transportation; Railroads; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01886717
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 28 2023 4:57PM