Abstract

The Saudi Arabia’s Public Works Contract (PWC) is an old Standard Form of Contract that requires amendments. Provisions related to risk allocation, valuation of variations and other associated factors continue to cause dissatisfaction to contractors’ administration of public construction contracts. This paper embarked on identifying and prioritizing the contractual provisions of the PWC that cause dissatisfaction to contractors in the administration of infrastructure projects in the Kingdom. Severity analyses of the contractual provisions reveal site risks allocation, valuation of variations, subcontracting, security for advance payments, and final payment delays as the most critical challenges. This paper provides original contribution to knowledge by establishing a methodical investigation of the shortfalls of the PWC as they affect contractors in the procurement of public infrastructure in the Kingdom. Consequently, the current shortfalls of the PWC as they affect contractors were identified and viable recommendations were pointed out. In essence, the paper presents a pioneering attempt and methodology that highlighted the weaknesses of the Public Works Contract, which is the legal framework governing the contract for engaging construction companies to perform public infrastructure works in Saudi Arabia. The paper makes pioneering attempt to draw the attention of authorities and key stakeholders concerned to urgently consider some amendments to the Public Works Contract in order to improve the shortfalls identified in this paper. This could boost the confidence of foreign contractors and attract them to invest their capital and technical expertise in the Kingdom’s construction industry.

Key words: Public Works Contract, public infrastructure, contractors, severity index analysis