Effects of relationships on public project delivery process in China: a case study

The significance of relationships among contracting parties to a private project has long been recognised. However, it has not been established if public projects can enjoy the full advantages of relationships. This paper reports a case study of the first upgrading project in China’s mass transit rail system, which provides valuable information on how relationships affect the project procurement and project management in a large public project in China. It was found that past good relationship with the client could actually improve the chance of winning a bid in this project, and existing collaboration with the client could also increase the chance of undertaking more work. There was no significant difference in project performance between companies with past collaboration and those without past relationships. However, the project management styles were different. It is suggested that concerted effort should be taken to improve relationships in publically funded construction projects, as relationships do have significant effects.