Outsourcing of Construction Professional Services in the UK University Sector: Prediction of Consultant Performance for the Selection Process (RICS Research Trust Funded Project)

It is critical to find practical ways to select high quality services that provide the best value for money for university clients and ultimately taxpayers, especially given the current budgetary pressures. If intangible performance quality can be objectively and significantly predicted, tenders can be assessed for whether the proposed services can meet the client’s needs in the first place. The performance quality predicted is then further assessed with the proposed fees to determine the value.

This research aims to develop performance predictive conceptual models to forecast performance outcomes of construction consultants in the UK university environment, covering consultancies for new build, refurbishment and maintenance projects. Empirical studies show that there is a causal relationship between output performance and input economic and management factors in production of services and that regression can serve as a tool to forecast performance quality. Accordingly, it is possible to objectively and significantly predict the performance of construction consultants, based on these influencing factors used at the procurement stage. The regression models developed are in the form of mathematical regression equations to calculate individual performance outcomes. With ratings assessed for individual factors, each model will calculate a performance score for each performance outcome. Performance scores for individual performance outcomes will then be added to provide a total quality score.