Construction contractor's perspective on web-based advertising of public sector construction contracts

Despite a number of articles on the legal issues surrounding web-based advertising and e-procurement very little has been published on the softer issues surrounding its introduction. This paper seeks to fill that knowledge gap by identifying whether this is desired from a contractor perspective. The seventy contractors surveyed showed that contractors were in favour of advertising construction contracts electronically, publishing the status of these, showing who has won the contracts after the competition has been completed and were supportive of the integration of an e-mail notification system being built into the website. Cost and time savings, a central repository for contract advertisements, the flexibility improvement and improved visibility are identified as the drivers towards the introduction of such a system. The results show that 80% of contractors are satisfied that all investigated aspects of a web-based contract advertisement site for construction contracts under the European threshold would be beneficial. They are aware of the benefits, not only to them but also to the client. This paper also reports the results of a SWOT analysis: (strengths; weaknesses; opportunities and threats) to web-based advertising of contracts. The strengths identified in the SWOT analysis far outweigh the weaknesses and the opportunities overshadow the threats.