Project Management and the Basrah Children's Hospital: What Went Wrong?

摘要

In November 2003, Congress appropriated $18.4 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq, with $50 million authorized for the construction of a modern pediatric hospital in Basrah, a project touted by First Lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Tasked with this project was the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with Project HOPE invited to participate in order to provide major medical equipment and properly trained staff. USAID awarded the hospital's construction contract to Bechtel National, Inc. in August 2004, with an intended completion date of 31 December 2005. By early 2006, the project had not been completed due to problems related to continuing delays and ballooning costs. As of 31 August 2006, all work was halted and completion of the project transferred to the US Army Corps of Engineers. This paper will use the example of the Basrah Children's Hospital as a Project Management case study, examining and analyzing the project from that perspective. First the concept, techniques, and practices of "good project management" will be discussed in detail. Then those concepts will be applied to this case in order to determine what went right and, more importantly, what went wrong. Finally a recommendation will be made as to how this project could have been appropriately managed, in order to prevent similar mistakes from being made in the future. Concepts such as the project manager tasks of planning, monitoring and controlling, and project risk will be applied in analyzing this case study.