Study Of Design Management In International Hydropower EPC Project Based On Partnering

There has been a growth in international projects implementing the EngineeringProcurement-Construction(EPC)project delivery method.Currently,most of the overseas hydropower EPC projects delivered by Chinese businesses has a large Chinese construction company as the general contractor.The Chinese construction companies lack design management experience,therefore,it is necessary to select an appropriate design firm as a partner in order to successfully complete the project.Extant literature focuses on partnering between the EPC project owner and the general contractor,but does not have the research perspective on partnering between the construction company general contractor and the designer,and lacks a systematic analysis on the process and mechanisms of how the partnering between the general contractor and the designer can influence design management and project performance.Therefore,this study establishes an international hydropower EPC design management theoretical model from the perspective of contractor-designer partnering by incorporating the Modern Organizational Theory and the Stakeholders Theory.The theoretical model was validated and analyzed using data from questionnaires,interviews of project professionals and typical international hydropower project case studies with the method of PLS-SEM.The main conclusions are described as follows:1)The study proposed and validated an international hydropower EPC management theoretical model,and revealed the influence mechanism of contractor-designer partnering to the design management process and the project performance.The research provides significant practical and theoretical guidance on international hydropower EPC design management.2)Survey results show that the main design management problems faced by international EPC hydropower projects include the unfamiliarity with the differences between foreign and Chinese technical standards and regulations,insufficient depth of preliminary design,design schedule and quality problems,design interface management,and incentives for design optimization.3)Partnering has a significant direct positive influence on interface management,and the same relationship exists between interface management to preliminary design,interface management to final design,preliminary design to final design,and final design to project performance;Partnering can reduce regulatory costs,enhance interface management,then improve preliminary and final designs,thereby improving project performance.4)Partnering has a significant direct positive influence on technical improvements,and the same relationship exists between technical improvements to final design,and final design to project performance.Partnering can promote the optimization of the internal review process within the contractor-designer partnership,and enhance the cooperation with external consultants to optimize and improve the quality of the final design,ensuring the best project performance.5)Partnering has a significant direct positive influence on contract management,and contract management has a significant direct positive influence on project performance.Partnering improves the clarification of design responsibilities and depth in contract terms between the contractor and the designer,reducing the uncertainty and avoiding extra costs and delays.6)The general contractor should strengthen the information collection during the preliminary stages of the project and pay close attention to the influence of standard differences,laws,and regulations on design management.7)Construction companies as the EPC contractor should also focus on reasonably risk sharing and equal interest distributions when partnering with designers,and establish effective communication and optimization mechanisms to realize the integrated management of E-P-C.8)During design management,design interface management should be enhanced.Timely communication should be made with the owner and consulting engineers.It is also important to take full advantage of internal and external resources in order to improve technical design schemes.Contractors should pay attention to contract management,enhancing contract senses,especially in preliminary bidding related design work.