With the growing demand for decarbonizing the construction industry, capital project owners should reward contractors and other vendors who are adopting practices to reduce the emission of carbon monoxide on projects that they execute. Rewarding those contractors can be achieved by including the GREEN category in the other categories used to prequalify contractors.
Today, most capital project owners limit the contractor prequalification categories to Financial Capacity, Previous Experience, Example Projects, References and Recommendations, Methodology, Organization Chart, Resources, Sub-Contractor Involvement, Policies, Quality Assurance, HSE Record and Claims History. Although no one can deny the importance of those categories to shortlist qualified who have the financial and technical capabilities to deliver capital construction projects. Nevertheless, very few would include the track record in adopting GREEN practices in the prequalification criteria.
In other words, contractors who score high on the prequalification categories while scoring low or even very on the GREEN category will be qualified to bid on projects while contractors who have adopted best practices to reduce the emission of carbon monoxide but might not have scored so high on other categories, could be disqualified.
Using a Project Management Information System (PMIS) like PMWeb, the project owner will include in the pre-qualification document to be completed by each contractor, the list of GREEN-related requirements that each contractor needs to respond to. Those would include the requirements that are aligned with Net Zero Carbon Construction.
For example, those could include the contractor’s policy and methodology in managing waste on construction sites, recycling waste building materials and components, using recycled material for temporary facilities and other material that are not part of the permanent building structure, use of low-emission construction machinery, using solar power for site offices and temporary facilities and other project-related activities.
Those GREEN prequalification items will be added to the scoring items list which allows using them to the existing scoring lists in different PMWeb modules. Those modules include vendor prequalification, project ideas or initiatives, stage gates exist criteria, document management system, online bidding, and other modules.
For the prequalification module, the GREEN score group will be added to the other score group used to assess and qualify the contractor’s capabilities. Those usually include groups for Financial Capacity, Previous Experience, Example Projects, References and Recommendations, Methodology, Organization Chart, Resources, Sub-Contractor Involvement, Policies, Quality Assurance, HSE Record, and Claims History.
By incorporating the GREEN scoring into the Vendor Prequalification process and even the On-Line Bidding module will ensure that contractors who are adopting practices to reduce the emission of carbon monoxide might be given priority over contractors who do not consider adopting such practices. The GREEN requirements should be expanded and becomes one of the integral requirements for qualifying and selecting contractors and vendors to be involved in the delivery of capital construction projects for project owners who are keen on achieving the decarbonization of the construction industry.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with 40-year service record providing project management, project controls services, and project management information systems to over 200 projects with a total value over the US $100 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment, Hospitality, and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, Telecommunication, and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management including project management control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 40 years, he has lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America. He has written more than 300 articles on project management and project management information systems that were featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE) and Green Project Management (GPM).
Bassam holds a Masters in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – Kuwait University, Kuwait and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, and London Business School, London, UK.