A CRITIQUE OF INTEGRATED WORKING AND PARTNERING

misbe2011 Tracking Number 114

Many authorities have supported the concept of integrated working or partnering. They claim a number of advantages of partnering such as greater co-operation, cost savings, timely completion of projects and improved quality but there remain a number of difficulties both at a theoretical and practical level. These difficulties manifest themselves in the views expressed by some specialist contractors, whose voice is all too often overlooked. A number of issues can be seen in the responses of specialist contractors to questions put to them in the quarterly survey of the National Specialist Contractors Council. These include measures of interim payment periods, tender prices, suppliers’ prices, profit margins, contractual behaviour, methods of appointing specialist contractors and the time allowed to price a proposal. These measures can be compared to the state of the specialist contractors’ markets to reveal the underlying causes of main contractor behaviour and treatment of their subcontractors. For example, market constraints in times of economic difficulties may indeed directly affect such behaviour. If the gains and benefits of partnering were truly shared between all parties, then it is significant to note the views of specialist contractors and the fact that the difficulties they face in dealing with main contractors have not diminished over time. Many of the perceived gains have been measured and reported as key performance indicators (KPIs) and these results are compared to the results of the survey of specialist contractors which has been tracked over a number of years. It is shown that the divergence in opinions about the performance of contractors calls into question the gains to the supply chain in the construction sector claimed by the proponents of integrated working. Further, the practice of partnering has not extended its reach throughout the sector that might have been expected. The conclusion drawn is that the drive to partnering has been a marketing exercise by contractors and not matched by practice. Instead it has allowed the strongest players in the building team to continue to take advantage of the weakest members and that the time has come to call the concept of partnering as practiced in the UK a failure.