Contractors tipped on taming cost

Project managers have been urged to adopt efficient management systems to save on time and costs. 

One such tool, according to South African-based Pangea Professional Services, is the Earned Value Management (EVM) system.

EVM helps contractors manage various aspects of a project such as time and cost mathematically and scientifically.

“The benefits of EVM and other performance measurement techniques come from their ability to anticipate the future project behaviour,” said Pangea boss Amir Rezvanian yesterday during a stakeholders’ training in Nairobi organised by Howard Aidevo Consulting.

Howard Aidevo Consulting says it brings world class construction solutions to the Kenyan market through partnerships with global experts such as Pangea.

“Our training arm – Building Capacity for Developing Infrastructure Projects (BCDIP) – aims to build the capacity of local construction managers and contractors to deliver large projects that are currently mostly taken up by foreign firms,” said Howard Aidevo Managing Director Rose Kananu (pictured).

Rezvanian said EVM ensures corrective actions are based on present rather than past performance indicators.

“For example, at just 15 per cent of the project, one can predict if they are on the right track or not,” he said.

He said without EVM, the corrective actions are often based on the project manager’s intuition, instead of reliable and quantitative data.

Rezvanian said the decades-old system entrenches transparency and accountability in project management.

This is accomplished using cost and schedule variance to assess work package performance against the plan.

“The earned value practitioner is then alerted to a potential risk area whenever that task or task area cost or schedule variance exceeds a predetermined value,” he said.

The consultant said the system can be applied in various construction projects in both public and private sectors. However, it has not been widely adopted, with only a few western and African countries leading the way.