Evaluation of construction management contract between DDR International of Atlanta, Georgia and the Ministry of Development, State of Housing and Land Reclamation, A.R.E.

Special evaluation covers the period 3/82-3/84 and is based on document review and interviews with contractor, host government, USAID/C, and construction industry personnel. DDR International, the contractor, has provided very valuable construction management assistance to four public sector Egyptian firms. Participant firms particularly praised DDR's capability and persistence, but felt that had DDR's contract time been longer, much more could have been accomplished. Many also felt that DDR's scope of work should have been broadened to include instruction in quality assurance, cost control, equipment control, quantity surveying, and information systems and to allow more time for training of trainers. The firms' rates of project completion increased where DDR participated and some projects were finished on time or ahead of schedule. Less positively, the one private company participating in the project, the Urban Development Company for Investment and Contracting (UDICO), did not continue DDR's services after the 90-day trial period because it sought the more extensive services which DDR had provided to the public sector El Nasr General Contracting Company (which had hired DDR on its own before this project started). Nevertheless, UDICO expressed interest in participating in an expanded construction management program. Lessons learned are: the likelihood of successfully introducing a new technology such as construction management is enhanced when the audience has already demonstrated its receptivity; and the quality of a TA team and its personnel are critical to project success. It is recommended that USAID/C consider an expanded effort modeled after the DDR project, using the training office of the Ministry of Housing. Also, when appropriate, construction projects should include a construction management requirement and project designs by architectural and engineering firms should be subject to value analysis (external evaluation of designs vis a vis a planned facility's function). (Near East Evaluation Abstract, modified)