Project Proposal: Implementing School Construction Projects in a Stability Program

1. Project Management Application School Project Case Study

1.1 Proposed Project Assessment The proposed project assessment is conducted to determine the competitive situation surrounding the project and will describe the project business needs and present the projects business case. 1.1.1 Competitive situation The competitive analysis is focused on the growth of the building construction market and its prospects in Afghanistan with particular attention to the eastern region of the country. This proposal will focus on the situation surrounding the construction of school project type. This includes an analysis of equipment, materials, cost of services, the impact of the building construction developments, the issues and risks involved, and the opportunities for project participants and leading stakeholders or players, and a profile of major building construction projects will also be highlighted. Since the end of the Taliban rule in 2001 the building construction market in Afghanistan has continued to improve in growth as regards to availability of expertise workmanship, materials and equipment and standardized construction practices and methods. It must be said that although, building construction in the country is different from that of the US or the UK/Europe and other parts of Asia, there is now being developed and published set and approved building codes and local expertise capable of applying these codes in the designs and construction practices. Unlike in the past (USAID/Afghanistan, 2012), there are building codes published by the Ministry of Works and Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, respectively, that provides guidelines for minimum standards and practices for building construction. Even though most parts of these codes have only local applications, the government did also commission the use of standards and specifications from the international Building Code, US codes such as ACI, ASTM, etc., the British Standards, Eurocodes as well as codes from India, creating the means to blend local construction regulations with that of internationally acceptable design and construction practices. As the inflow of money continues to increase in Afghanistan the building construction industry is expected to grow as construction companies and other international funding agencies bring in international design and construction engineers and experts as well as other building construction companies from Australia, parts of Asia, Europe and also the Americas. These businesses, INGOs and other private agencies are not employing the local designers and builders, they but also providing them training and capacity building

in applications of project management for construction. The issues worth considering are reduction of corruption within Afghanistans building construction industry and the overall security problems that continues to engulf this central Asian nation. Corruption, which at times involves international partners, is high on the rise requiring so much control mechanisms and hold points that not only prolongs the timeframe to complete projects but has also demand the presence of international experts which in turn puts building construction project cost as high as the having to put the budget of two schools into one school; denying several communities direct access to education facilities. This also increases the risk of performance, finance, politics, and technical and operational situations. Performance is impacted by way of project scope and nature as well as duration making projects started before winter and flood seasons to have to take breaks in order to reserve soil and foundation stability. On the financial side contractors increase their profits or even terms of payment or bring questions to their operational creditworthiness. Politically there may interference and disturbance from politicians that creates problems in getting permits, licenses or keeping tender or vital information confidential. Technical risk brought about may impact the technology best fit for the project and the risk from operators can stretch as far as to providing insurance or making project owners to only consider hiring constructors with influence in the project area. With control or management of corruption and risks, building construction project brings the opportunity for community leaders, key stakeholders and people to become a part of construction projects undertaken in the communities, bringing in income for locals and enabling local craftsman to be trained as operations and maintenance personnel and provide the means for the buildings and their related structures to be operated and maintain successfully over a longer period of time. Overall, Afghanistan building construction industry has grown progressively for the last ten years, and it continues to grow because of the numerous billion of dollars being pumped into the country to improve civil infrastructure and buildings. Construction works are ongoing because of international aid and donation and it is projected that as the Afghan economy turns around people will still carry out construction. However, what is certain is country's economy and security will remain entwined; with neither able to being secured without the other (John Sullivan, 2011). These are the forces driving the building construction industry making stability to be the key objective and the application of construction one of its tools towards successfully stability and prosperity. For this project proposal for the construction of a school, the competitive situation is even more pertinent as the located for this proposed school is security and culturally pruned. In eastern Afghanistan the culture of the people makes it demanding to always employ people from the region, be they qualified or corrupt. This makes recruitment a difficult task for construction project managers as not only are the people insufficient on

comparison to the amount of projects available, those who are available resist being employed in rural areas making urban areas choc-a-block, and those taking post in the rural areas are difficult to monitor from the fact the locals do not want to work with foreigners, who are key representatives of funding agencies that fund over 98% of the building construction projects. This however makes competition amongst funders, developers, designers, constructors and project managers balanced. Most contractors, designers and constructors alike, carry the same performance expertise and the only criteria mainly considered during vetting are anti-terrorist affiliation, anti-corruption records, working strategy and performance record, and financial stability and capacity. 1.1.2 Business Need The business needs provide the decision of priorities and go/no for projects (Elizabeth Larson, 2010), it determines and analysis the problems and opportunities in undertaking a project thereby assisting decision-makers decide the best course of action. However, in order to make these decisions there has to be available to the construction project manager vital construction information (David Scott, Michael Kwan Wah Cheong and Heng Li, 2009) such as exiting community master plans, existing surveys data, as-built drawings and specifications as well the available of construction materials, tools and equipment and the quality of workmanship and the available technology and even legal and regulatory requirements. The need for school buildings in Afghanistan cannot be overemphasized as the country, under the Taliban rule underwent maintenance neglect and also the country had gone through a devastating civil war that damaged nearly 90% of the civil engineering system (The USAID, 2006) For this proposed school construction there were readily available information of existing terrain and conditions of the projects proposed location. The construction project manager had to rely on verbal information concerning soil condition, earthquake and ground movement intensities. There were no exiting drawings of schools in the areas; and the program strategy insisted initial designs and procurement strategies be developed by the community leaders themselves. The only information useful to the construction project manager was from construction engineers that had worked in the areas and newly developed national school building standards. However, the opportunity provided was the construction engineers used the community leaders proposal as a design concept and collaborated with UNICEF, other education infrastructure service providers to develop a more defined technical design. Another key opportunity was the regulations to use community leaders design brought together the leaders and members of the construction project managers design team and local leaders in a forum that allow the design team to train the local leaders in the processes of construction project inception, feasibility and strategy development. Through these forums future proposals coming from community leaders became more defined and entails most the information needed to establish a business case and plan, execute, monitor and control and close the school building project successfully.

1.1.3

Business Case The business case explains why the project is being undertaken, what the project is and then makes a financial case that includes a judgment for the investment (Lester, 2007). This school construction project is required to enable students from the local community have access to a school without having to travel five kilometers every day to the nearby community to attend classes. Also the government had recruited and train teachers to administrate the school and it was only the buildings and facilities remained to begin conducting the school. More importantly, the community leaders consider the school a key factor for stability. The project is to deliver an environmental examination report with a measures and mitigation plan that will be approved to carry out the design and construction deliverable of buildings that shall include six classrooms, separate restrooms for teachers, students and administrator, a 50-seater library, 3 offices for the principal, vice principal and teachers respectively, a drinking water well connected to a reservoir and restroom for both students and instructional and administrative staff, garbage disposal unit, mosque, playground and assembly point, a parking lot. The facilities shall be enclosed with a stone masonry boundary with entry gates for both vehicles and pedestrian. Other deliverables include furniture and a made-simple operations and maintenance training program and manual. The projected cost for this project is $120,000.00 (One Hundred and twenty Thousand US Dollars), with an anticipated duration of six months to complete. Quality standards for this school construction are that is must meet the minimum standards provided by the governments Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Developments school location regulations and facility requirements, such as a mosque on campus. It is to be built to the International Building Code and meet minimum American Concrete Institutes earthquake engineering structural specifications. The project performance criteria includes:

Requirements the community must propose the school; the school must be endorsed by the governments ministry of Education; there must be mosque in the school grounds, all materials and skills available in the community must be used by the contractor and must be part of the construction service agreement and the school must be enclosed with a boundary wall. These terms are non-negotiable Goals the design team worked with the community to develop the final design; the site and design and construction meets the minimum environmental protection conditions; the students and school administration appreciate and approve the end product; the school have personnel and community members trained in the schools facility operations and maintenance; exits and entries during emergency and normal school hours should be effective and safe; and UNICEF, considered the key donor to the school must approve of the design principles and final product.

Targets the acres of land provided for the school is the minimum enclosure; the contractor works hand-in-hand with the community leaders in selecting workers and local materials; the test results indicate the parameters targeted during design; and the funder, students, school administration, government and community leaders are involved in monitoring and controlling the achievement of requirements, goals and indicators Key performance indicators the community leaders express appreciation for the school and do continue taking their grievances to the government; the community see the government as the legitimate source for solving their basic needs; the student population continues to increase during and after construction as compared to before; and the sources of instability and insurgent activities decreased.

The success criteria for the school construction project was that is should be accepted and appreciated and used for the intended purpose by the community; and people of the community on the increase turned away from seeking assistance from the Taliban, increase is taking grievances to the national government, the school facilities meets all the quality measures, and the final audit shows compliance to all financial requirements of the funder. 1.2 Project Scope of Work The prosed project shall design and construct a Senior High School to be located in an area of 22500 sq. meters in Asadabad Township, khas Kunar District, in Kunar Province in Eastern Afghanistan. The project type shall be a new facility that shall include six classrooms, a library, 3 offices, a drinking water well connected to a reservoir and restroom, three separate restrooms, garbage disposal unit, a mosque, playground and assembly point, a parking lot, a boundary with vehicles and pedestrian gates, furniture and a made-simple operations and maintenance training program and manual. The project shall be titled: Proposed Asadabad High School Construction Project. The lead agency is Development Alternatives Initiatives (DAI) and the name of the project manager is John Constance. The project codes shall be the Standards for rural Rehabilitation and Development (NSP), the International Building Code (IBC), UNICEFs Child-Friendly School Manual (CFS), American Concrete Institute (ACI), and the Indian Building Standards (IBS). 1.3 Project Organisation, The range of structures requires distinctive requirements (Sommer, 2009). This project required experts in program management, project management, planners and architects and constructors. Although this organization is created on the basis of the PMBOK (2008, the objective of achieving stability has made phase a bit different. This project is organized under the following phases, and activities and roles and

responsibilities: PHASE 1 -SITUATIONAL AWARENESS (ON-GOING) The construction project manager is not involved as this phase in conducted by the community leader and lead agency program management team. PHASE 2 -ACTIVITY SELECTION (24 HRS TO 2 WEEKS) - The construction project manager is also not involved as the roles and responsibilities are done by the community leaders and lead agency program management team PHASE 3 -ACTIVITY DEVELOPMENT (1 TO 4 WEEKS) - The construction project manager establishes the design team and collaborates with the community leaders and conduct detailed field and site assessment and develop the detailed technical design PHASE 4 -ACTIVITY APPROVAL (2 DAYS TO 1 WEEK) - clearing and emailing PDF, CSV, and budget; updating DSF Book, confirming receipt, updating activity Tracker. The project construction manages is not involved in the process. PHASE 5 IMPLEMENTATION (DEPENDS ON ACTIVITY) - The construction project manager conducts construction supervision and check quality and environmental mitigation efforts and submits progress reports to grants management team. PHASE 6 -EVALUATION AND CLOSEOUT (1 TO 2 WEEKS) - initiating close-out report; reviewing program and financial documentation, evaluating project implementation reports against impacts identified in DSF effects matrix, The construction project manager is not involved. 1.3.1 Stakeholder Analysis and Map The key stakeholders for this project include the community leaders, the school administration, and the national government. Others include USAID, UNICEF, and DAI. The community leaders, school administration, and the national government are all beneficiaries. Others include USAID the project funder for design and construction, UNICEF the project operations and maintenance funder, and DAI the construction project management contractor. Beneficiaries priorities include the community must propose the school; the school must be endorsed by the governments ministry of Education; there must be mosque in the school grounds, all materials and skills available in the community must be used by the contractor and the school must be enclosed with a boundary wall. These terms are non-negotiable. The funder priorities include construction management team work with the community to develop the final CFS design; the site and design and construction meets the minimum environmental protection conditions and American standards; the community

accepts and use the facility as intended; and increase seeking assistance from the national government, and increased stability and no insurgency in the community; the school have a O&M training program and manual. Construction project management contractor subcontractor selected in an open and collaborative effort; all quality plans are achieved, the funder and beneficiaries accept the facilities and all audits are declared satisfactory. 1.4 Legal and Regulatory Environment In the project area, it is not required that an engineer be licensed. However, all relevant design codes, standards and permitting is required, and there exist several qualified design and construction professionals in the country allowing for design and construction services to be procured in-country. It is a legal requirement that all projects undergo environmental screening and produce mitigation measures for both environmental and social issues. There is also adequate capacity and resources available in the project areas and its environs. The project stakeholders must be identified including the funder, construction management services provider, contractors and infrastructure or building owner. All works must be coordinated with all stakeholders. There must be written agreement with the building owner obligating each party to accept and approve the project technical design, attend inspections and create punch listings, sign certificates and handover documents 1.5 Contracting processes, approaches, and documents This project uses the two-stage tendering process using firm fixed-price contracting approach and documents, and combines the labor laws of Afghanistan with legal and contractual regulations and laws of the United States of America. The documents reflect common assent, consideration, capability and aptitudes of the parties, and lawful object (Lowe, 2007). The typical documentation includes the contract agreement, broadspectrum specification and scope of work, general conditions of the contract, special conditions of the contract and various administrative and coordination procedures required under the agreement. However, due to the numerous insecurity in the project locations, and the continuous recording of property theft which lead to lost by the sub-contractor, and the continuous stop of works due to floods and heavy rain and winter snow and snow melts; and that Afghanistan happens to be a muslin country, it is recommended the contracts be of the commercial type of contracts used in muslin countries (McCormack, 2009), this will not only reduce or eliminate disputes and claims but improve the contractual relationship and help to increase stability amongst or from all Afghan parties involved in the project.

Bibliography A Guide to Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) Fourth Edition 2008 Project Management Institute, 14 Campus Blvd., Newton Square, PA 190733299, USA David Scott, Michael Kwan Wah Cheong and Heng Li, (2009) Web-based construction information management systems [Online] Available from: http://www.icoste.org/ICMJ %20Papers/AJCEBVol3No1Scott.pdf John Sullivan (2011) An Economic Handover in Afghanistan [Online] Available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-sullivan/an-economic-handover-ina_b_842196.html Lester, A. (2007) Project management, planning and control: managing engineering, construction and manufacturing projects to PMI, APM and BSI standards. 5th ed. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp.17-19. Sommer, H. (2009) Tasks of project management In: Project management for building construction. 3rd ed. London: Springer, pp.95-159. The USAID (2006) Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) [Online] Available from: http://transition.usaid.gov/index.html UNICEF (2008) Child-friendly schools (CFS) [Online] Available from: http://www.unicef.org/esaro/5481_child_friendly_schools.html USAID/Afghanistan (2012) manual for Construction Methods for Building in Afghanistan [Online] Available from: http: //pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADK928.pdf