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Effect of Bid Shopping on Public Building Project Delivery in Bauchi Metropolis
Authors: Maria Musa Mukaddas, Hassan Umar Mohammed, Ismaila Isah Suleiman
Number of views: 46
The menace of the unethical practice in which a contractor discloses the bid price of one contractor or subcontractor to another, in order to obtain a lower bid price, otherwise known as bid shopping has been a major bane of the construction industry. This blight is responsible for a myriad of problems for the industry. This study examines these practices and their effects on the public sector of the construction industry. Thirty-six (36) questionnaires were administered to experts in the area of construction to understand their perspectives on the anomaly and its effect on project delivery in Bauchi metropolis, Nigeria. Findings of the study showed that some that 25.0 % of the respondents were Architects, 36.1 % quantity surveyors, 22.2 % were builders, 11.1 % project managers and 5.6 % were structural engineers. The highest educational qualification of respondents in the quantity surveying profession observed were, 41.7% of the respondents had earned B.sc, 27.8 % had HND, and 8.3 % had PGD, while 22.2 %, had MSc. In terms of experience 47.2 % had 5-10 years of experience, 30.6 % had less than 5 years of experience, 19.4 % have 11-15 years of experience and 2.8 % have 16-20 years of experience. 36.1 % of the respondents were consultants, 38.9 % were contractors while 25.0% were clients. Findings further some of the techniques used for bid shopping include post-award bid shopping technique ranked first, pre-award bid shopping technique was ranked second and bidding via an electronic reverse auction technique was ranked third. Effect of bid shopping on project delivery shows that “Promotes lower work quality was ranked first, Delays project completion was ranked second, creates an adverse work environment was ranked third, Increased life costs on a project was ranked third and General inefficient prosecution of work was ranked fifth”. Possible implications of bid shopping indicates that vulnerability to frequent maintenance work was ranked first, High maintenance cost was ranked second, poor workmanship was ranked third, poor value for money was ranked forth, poor aesthetics value was ranked fifth and Collapse of buildings was ranked sixth. Penalties that should be taken against contractors who practice bid shopping, the respondents observed that imposing liquidated damages or fines was ranked first, disqualifying winning bidders who are immediately found guilty of bid shopping was ranked second, no any action was ranked third, suspension of licenses or permit was ranked fourth and eventual punishment by lack of competitive bidding was ranked fifth.