CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION PRACTICES OF ROAD PROJECTS: THE CASE OF ETHIOPIAN ROADS AUTHORITY

Abstract

Infrastructure projects, such as road constructions, are one of the most important projects in Ethiopia. Growth in this sector is critical for growth in national income as it is among the largest sectors that generates employment within the country as well as a key driver for economic development of Ethiopia. Ethiopia Roads authority is administrating hundreds of road projects; however the projects completed with poor delivery, particularly in terms of cost, time and quality. So the researcher expected that if the contracts had been administrated effectively the projects would have been successful with respect to cost time and quality. Accordingly the researcher tries to assess the contract administration practice of ERA, evaluate its effectiveness based on the parameters developed during the intensive literature review and tries to assess and identify the challenges that impede the contract administration process of the authority. Primary data’s are distributed and collected to 124 employees through questionnaires and interview was conducted with 22 employees of contract administration staffs and managements of ERA and secondary data are collected from manuals and reports of the authority. SPSS software was used for the analyses of data collected. The result of the study indicated the contract administration practice of ERA was not effective in the activities of following up of manuals guideline and procedures, skilled and experienced staff, risk identification and management, well organized filing system, quality assurance of a project and contract closing out procedure. In addition the major challenges in the contract administration pactice are Insufficient trainings in contract management process, Unwanted contract changes(cost, time and scope), Lack of Organized risk assessment at early stage of contract implementation, Poor project performance, Unethical practices, Problems in clearing right of way(Row), Using Traditional Filing system, High Turnover staff and absenteeism), Inappropriate scheduling of contract duration, Inconsistency in following up Manuals and Guidelines ,Not considering factors that could affect delivery of a project., Project Closeout procedure problem. Based on the findings the researcher recommended Intensive trainings on contract administration practices specially to new employees, to develop a mechanism of verification to ensure the manuals are being followed by all employees ,to tackle the causes that contribute to cost increase and delay of projects, Attention should be given to Right of Way issues since they are the main cause of or projects to lag behind the schedule, Resource mobilization of contractors should be monitored strictly, to develop a contract closeout checklist and o have a proper modernized documentation system