Comparison of Quebec’s Project Delivery Methods: Relational Contract Law and Differences in Contractual Language

Gabriel Jobidon, Pierre Lemieux and Robert Beauregard
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Gabriel Jobidon: CIRCERB–CRMR, Faculty of Law, Université Laval, 2325 Rue de l’Université, Ville de Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Pierre Lemieux: Faculty of Law, Université Laval, 2325 Rue de l’Université, Ville de Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Robert Beauregard: Academic and Student Affairs, Université Laval, 2320 Rue des Bibliothèques, Ville de Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

Laws, 2019, vol. 8, issue 2, 1-75

Abstract: The province of Quebec, Canada, seeks to implement relational alternate project delivery methods to achieve sustainability and energy efficiency in public construction. However, the relational differences between the formal written parts of different delivery methods have yet to be analyzed and understood, as is the case with the relational aspects of contracts and the achievement of sustainable and energy-efficient infrastructure. Using a hermeneutic interpretation of Macneil’s relational contract norms and grounded theory, 26 contracts involving Quebec’s largest public client of vertical infrastructure and representing three different types of project delivery methods (design–bid–build (DBB), design–Build (DB), and construction manager–general contractor/integrated project delivery (CMGC/IPD)) were analyzed using NVivo. It was found that CMGC/IPD is the most relational project delivery method available to Quebec’s public clients, namely because of the public client’s active involvement in the realization process, the increasing complexity of roles, the multitude of common management structures, and the internalization of sustainability measures and conflict resolution. Furthermore, Quebec’s CMGC/IPD was found to be an IPD-ish delivery method, lacking the early involvement of the construction manager and the risk/reward sharing mechanisms necessary to achieve pure IPD status. The findings and theoretical considerations discussed here will help policymakers, contract drafters, and public clients interested in implementing relational contracting practices in public construction projects.

Keywords: public procurement; project delivery methods; integrated project delivery; relational contracts; contractual language; sustainable infrastructure; energy efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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