Browsing by Author "Aboagye, Jones Nyame"

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    An investigation of the contract management system for community based infrastructure projects – A Case Study of Social Investment Fund - SIF
    (SEPTEMBER 2015) Aboagye, Jones Nyame
    The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), initiated in 1998, led to the institution of the Social Investment Fund (SIF) which has been providing social, infrastructure and economic services to communities within Ghana. The infrastructure provided under the SIF include classroom blocks, school workshops, libraries, community clinics, teachers’ and nurses’ quarters, water and sanitation projects. Social Investment Fund (SIF) infrastructural projects are community based which are demand driven by the communities. Globalisation, advances in technology, coupled with the increasing demand for quality and changes in the economy are some of the challenges facing the Construction Industry. As variety of projects is implemented by these bodies through community contracting, there is the need for the various stakeholders to cooperate as a seamless provider of design, construction and maintenance services. To this end, a good contract management system for SIF will provide a properly laid down and adequate procedure for procuring community based donor funded infrastructural projects with the aim of value for money and achieving project objectives. The study employed a questionnaire survey of 180 major stakeholders of SIF using systematic and purposive sampling techniques. This included 72 contractors, 8 consultants and 100 zonal officers, community elders and District Assembly Officers. Descriptive analysis and the one sample T-test were employed in the analysis of the data obtained from the field. The findings show that SIF has no formal system of contract management and respective beneficiaries are usually left to design their respective systems of managing the implementation the sub-project. SIF awards contracts to all classes of contractors depending on the size of the projects. Community involvement in SIF projects has usually been limited to community contributions. SIF do not organise any formal training and education for communities. It is recommended that SIF must establish a desk for contract management specialist (CMS) at the FMU who will be solely responsible for the development and review of all sub-projects on matters relating to contract management. SIF must develop more effective working relationship between all parties to enable proper co-ordination and monitoring of the sub-projects.