Partnering the Construction of a Swedish Pharmaceutical Plant: Case Study

In recent years increased interest in cooperative arrangements, such as partnering, has been noticeable in the construction industry in many countries. To facilitate cooperative relationships many aspects of the traditional procurement procedures need to be changed. The research presented in this paper offers an analysis that compares empirically observed partnering procurement procedures with conceptual prescriptions provided by a transaction cost economics framework. The empirical illustration shows that the case client has reduced the focus on price and authority and instead facilitated a relationship based on trust and cooperation, through procurement procedures involving joint specification, limited bid invitation, bid evaluation based on soft parameters, joint selection of subcontractors, standard contracts coupled with relational norms, usage of collaborative tools, and contractor self-control. The procurement procedures chosen result in a governance form rather similar to the one prescribed by the conceptual model. Furthermore, the project participants are satisfied with the project result and also consider the procurement procedures performed suitable. Hence, the results provide both theoretical and empirical support to the implementation of partnering procurement procedures in construction projects characterized by high complexity and uncertainty.