External Market Conditions that Affect Cost of Tendering in Public Institutions: Evidence from Ghana

摘要

The study ex???a?mined the extern???a?l f???a?ctors or low visibility f???a?ctors that ???a?ffect the ???a?ccur???a?cy of pre-tender estim???a?te ???a?mong building contr???a?ctors of public institutions in the Brong ???a?nd ???Ashanti Regions of Gh???a?n???a. The study w???a?s structured within the fr???a?mework of descriptive resea?rch appro???a?ch. The study w???a?s conducted between ???A?ugust, 2016 ???a?nd M???a?rch, 2017. Building contractors who h???a?d registered with the v???a?rious public institutions within the ???Ashanti ???a?nd Brong ???A?h???a?fo Regions of Gh???a?n???a constituted the popul???a?tion of the study. The public institutions r???a?ndomly selected for the study included: Terti???a?ry Institutions, District, Municip???a?l ???a?nd Metropolit???a?n ???A?ssemblies, Hospit???a?ls ???a?nd other Ministries, Departments ???a?nd ???Agencies (MD???A?s). Twenty (20) public institutions ???a?nd sixty (60) registered construction firms were randomly chosen for the study. ???Self-???a?dministered questionn???a?ire w???a?s used to obtain d???a?t???a? from the respondents. The study found th???a?t the five most import???a?nt f???a?ctors th???a?t ???affect the accur???a?cy of cost of tendering ???a?re: Ma?teri???a?l (prices, ???a?v???a?il???a?bility, supply, qu???a?lity etc.); Currency exchange fluctu???a?tions, prev???a?iling economy conditions, l???a?bour cost ???a?nd ???a?v???a?il???a?bility and cost, ???availbility ???a?nd supply of equipment. The study thus concludes th???a?t extern???a?l f???a?ctors ???a?ffect the accuracy of tender estima?tes ???a?mong construction firms. It is recommended th???a?t the perform???a?nce of estimate st???a?ff in terms of ???a?ccur???a?cy should be monitored ???a?nd ???a? qu???a?lified technic???a?l st???a?ff should be hired in order to obt???a?in ???a?n ???a?ccur???a?te estim???a?te. Further, tr???a?ining, semina?rs, ???a?nd workshops must be org???a?nised for the construction firms ???a?nd should ???a?im to improve the loc???a?l pr???a?ctice in cost estim???a?tion ???and incre???a?se the c???a?p???a?bilities of estim???a?tors in using estim???a?ting softw???a?re packages.