Abstract:
The procurement process has been a major source of concern to construction stakeholders for the attainment of successful project performance. This is due to the fact that for any particular project to achieve high performance the procurement process must be one that is able to complement the delivery model and form of contract. It also must be able to identify a preferred tenderer or respondent that has necessary attributes imperative for the delivery of the particular work or works. Hence the need to identify the risks associated with the procurement process so as to enlighten stakeholders in order to enhance the attainment of an effective procurement process. This research therefore evaluated the risk impact of procurement process on cost performance of construction projects in Ondo State, Nigeria, using a case study of selected building projects of public tertiary education institutions. The cost data of 63 construction projects were gathered through the use of pro forma to assess the cost performance of the identified projects, while the impact of risk associated with procurement process were obtained through the use of well-structured questionnaires. Data gathered were analyzed using different analytical tools such as; frequency, percentage, mean item score, paired-samples T-Test, Shapiro-wilk Test of normality, Kruskal Wallis Test, Mann-Withney U Test and Cronbanch alpha Test. Findings revealed that there exists an empirical significant difference between the initial estimated cost and the final cost of building projects public tertiary education institutions in Ondo State. Results also showed that the procurement processes with the highest impact on cost performance of construction project are the process of identifying the need and planning the procurement, the process of developing of specifications, and the process of bid evaluation. The study therefore recommends that care must be taken when trying to determine the need as misinterpretation of needs, understatement of the need, overstatement of the need or even inadequate statement of requirements can lead to poor cost performance of construction projects.
