Assessing Construction Engineering-Related Delays: Egyptian Perspective

The sources of construction delays include engineering, construction, financial/economic, management/administrative, and force majeure. This paper presents a knowledge-based expert system dedicated to engineering-related delays. Three categories of engineering-related delays are considered in the proposed system. These are: (1) design development; (2) workshop drawings; and (3) project parties changes delays. The knowledge of the system is acquired from literature, Federation International des Ingenieurs-Conseils (FIDIC) contract forms, domain experts, as well as a questionnaire survey. Three classes of participants (consultants, contractors, and employers) have been approached to get their feedback on the cases of engineering-related delays. The design of the questionnaire and criteria for selecting participants are described. The feedback of the participants is analyzed to draw the main causes of engineering-related delays. The proposed system’s built-in rules utilize the procedure of FIDIC contract forms for both design-bid-build and design-build projects. In addition, it provides flexibility in utilizing other customized procedures. The system advises on the claim entitlement, responsibility, and compensability of claims. A case study is presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed expert system.