The civil engineering sector in the Netherlands faces significant challenges, particularly in Renovating and Replacing (R&R) infrastructure from the 1950s and 1960s. These challenges are exacerbated by limited budgets and a shortage of skilled personnel, especially for municipalities, which manage over 80% of civil structures and bear most R&R costs. This research aims to develop a Roadmap to help municipalities prioritize R&R tasks, meet stakeholder
demands, and optimize resources, exploring the challenges, stakeholder roles, current practices, and decision-making processes involved.

The literature review reveals that decisions on infrastructure intervention depend on the asset's condition, available resources, and objectives. Exploratory interviews identify five prioritization approaches for R&R projects: Asset-driven, Importance-driven, Capacity-driven, Area-oriented, and Collaboration-driven. The study also introduces the concept of organizational maturity to assess a municipality's capacity to address the R&R challenge.

The study concludes that municipalities face significant hurdles in prioritizing R&R tasks, including stakeholder management, information management, defining objectives, asset condition assessment, internal coordination, and uncertainties about future demands and political agendas.
To address these, a Roadmap is proposed, guiding municipalities to select prioritization approaches based on their organizational maturity. The recommended sequence starts with Asset-driven for safety, followed by Importance-driven for cultural value, Capacity-driven for compliance, Area-oriented for resident benefits, and Collaboration-driven to leverage market capacity. The study suggests municipalities begin with Asset-driven approaches and incorporate others as they grow in maturity. Additionally, it recommends establishing independent funding for R&R, creating a central information platform, formalizing prioritization processes, forming dedicated teams for urgent projects, and adopting alternative procurement criteria.

The infrastructure of the Netherlands is mostly built in the 1950s and 1960s and is approaching the end of its theoretical lifespan of 80 to 100 years. Due to more intensive use and increased traffic loads many bridges need to be renovated or replaced. National and regional infrastructure managers, such as Rijkswaterstaat, ProRail, provinces, municipalities, and regional water authorities, are tasked with managing these assets with an estimated replacement and renovation cost of 170 billion euros until 2100, potentially reaching 260 billion euros. To first get an insight however into the state of the bridges in the Netherlands, these bridges need to be constructively recalculated.
This research considers practical challenges and solutions related to knowledge management within an inter-organisational programmatic approach for the replacement and renovation of bridges in the Netherlands. This research therefore considers the 'bureau herberekeningen': a recalculation programme organised by Rijkswaterstaat in which ten engineering firms are involved for the recalculations of more than 250 steel, concrete, and moveable bridges. This research aims to inform on what a programmatic approach can consist of, identify possible challenges related to knowledge management in an inter-organisational programmatic approach, and advice on overcoming these challenges.
A literature study was conducted on three topics: the programmatic approach, knowledge management, and inter-organisational collaboration. The programmatic approach is defined as a combination of related projects managed together to achieve benefits and objectives that cannot be obtained by individual projects. The organisation of a program must consider the interrelation of projects, their characteristics, and the nature of the involved organisations. This results in the need for a programme management office for governance and adaptation. Knowledge management at the programme level involves organising activities and systems to facilitate the identification, storage, retrieval, sharing, and use of knowledge, incorporating both social and codified approaches. Network governance is recommended to support the relations in inter-organisational collaboration, focusing on relationships between programme and project managers, the programme and organisational strategy, and among individual projects, while considering the importance of trust, communication, and collaboration.
The empirical study, conducted in collaboration with the Dutch engineering firm Witteveen+Bos, reveals several critical insights. Key challenges include the need for improved collaboration and communication, overcoming competitive barriers to knowledge sharing, and ensuring efficient and less detailed assignment descriptions to maintain project momentum. The study also highlights the importance of fostering a culture of openness, reciprocity, and trust among involved parties to facilitate effective knowledge management.
The findings suggest that the programmatic approach, when combined with knowledge management, can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of recalculations. Recommendations include using technical assessments between engineering firms for knowledge sharing, organising regular collaboration days, and ensuring the pace and bundling of project assignments to make optimal use of the relations between projects.

In traditional models of project delivery, stakeholders have clear assignments of risks, responsibilities, and liabilities. However, in today's large and complex infrastructure projects, these allocations are often uncertain and difficult to determine at the project's outset. Consequently, many of these large projects experience inefficiencies, such as exceeding time or budget. Thus, it is necessary to shift away from a 'predict and control' project delivery approach and adopt a 'prepare and commit' approach instead. Alternative project delivery methods subsequently require other contractor selection tools. This study examines the selection tool of team assessments to evaluate the collaborative potential of project teams during the tendering phase. A team assessment is a tool in which predefined collaboration competencies are assessed by independent assessors using one or more fictitious cases. Prior to constructing the cases the client and assessors identify critical moments that may arise during project execution and integrate these unforeseen moments in the cases. The client should possess a comprehensive understanding of the preconditions and limitations associated with team assessments and identify the project's characteristics and goals. Only then, a proper decision can be made on if a team assessment should be used and how the assessment should be designed and implemented. The crux is that all these considerations should be underpinned and aligned by appropriate substantiation and expert guidance. This thesis provides a framework including preconditions, restrictions, and process steps for the implementation of team assessments. Recommendations for clients, contractors, and assessors involve adequately preparing the assessment, using tailer-made competencies, developing a scoring system in which proper differentiation can be achieved, allocating a sufficient amount of time using a start-up phase to establish collaboration and streamline processes effectively, using lessons learned from the assessment in the design phase, creating consistency by having an assessor as a team coach in the design phase who reinforces the initiated collaboration, properly dealing with team member changes, maintaining a concerted emphasis on collaboration by transparently addressing it, fostering an environment of psychological safety in which mutual expectations and requirements are shared.

The Dutch construction sector is confronted with a complex and challenging situation. The majority of the infrastructural elements in the Netherlands were built in the 1950s and 60s, which means they are approaching the end of their lifespan. This state, in combination with backlogged maintenance and budget cuts, created a significant and urgent renovation and replacement wave that the sector is now facing. Additionally, other challenges like the tightness of the labour market, increasing material prices, the sector’s substantial emissions of CO2 and nitrogen and it’s limited learning capacity only exacerbate the complexity of the situation.

One of the key solutions emerging in this context is the implementation of the contractual portfolio approach (CPA), where multiple works are bundled into one tender. This approach shows potential to efficiently tackle the renovation and replacement task, while at the same time creating a healthier situation in the sector. However, it is a very novel strategy about which both stakeholders and researchers possess limited knowledge. Therefore, this research fills this gap by exploring the implementation of CPA for the civil engineering sector. This exploration is done by analysing what CPA exactly entails, the objectives clients pursue when implementing a CPA and the choice options they have when doing so.

Out of this study, a clear definition of CPA emerges, which is:

The bundling of a logical set of similar works into one initial tender, with the purpose of reaching certain work-transcending objectives.

Next to this, eight main objectives are identified, accompanied by eleven key choice options that clients have at their disposal. These objectives include enhancing standardisation, increasing efficiency and stimulating a learning curve. The choice options, among others, are the selection and award criteria of the initial tender, the composition of the bundling of works and the implementation of performance management. Clients tend to lack a concise list of objectives while at the same time having a shortage of an overarching view on available choice options. Next to this, the links between choice options and objectives bring about certain dilemmas. This happens when a specific choice has a positive effect on one objective, but a negative one on another. As an example, the implementation of performance management provides the client with a certain degree of control over the quality of the portfolio, while at the same time decreasing the contractor’s willingness to invest. Next to these dilemmas, certain situational factors prove to be influential for the effectivity of choice options. For instance, a high complexity of the environment of a work hampers the workflow within a portfolio.

Concluding, clients can adopt the contractual portfolio approach as a way to achieve a variety of objectives. From sustainability to efficiency, and from risk reduction to standardisation. To effectively do this, it is important to explicitly define objectives and limit these to the most important ones. Furthermore, it is important to consider all the available choice options and to position the buttons in a way that it aligns to both the portfolio situation and the specific objectives. Then, it is vital to consider the circumstances of the specific case and to carefully weigh the trade-offs associated with certain dilemmas. Ultimately, clients are advised to use the CPA Decision Guideline that is constructed in this research as a tool that supports the decision-making.

As a result of decreasing competition within the procurement of large construction projects in the Dutch construction sector, the need arises to understand the mechanisms behind the competition. Especially how decisions by clients on the procurement of construction projects impact the number of competitors. When this is understood, clients can contribute to solving the problems in the construction market. In an attempt to supply clients with insights to impact the number of competitors, this thesis tries to answer the main research question "To what extent do client decisions in the procurement of construction projects in the Dutch construction sector affect the number of competitors?".

In an attempt to answer the question, it has been tried to create a model that predicts the number of competitors in the tender phase of construction projects. To be able to make predictions, data on factors that potentially affect the number of competitors is inserted in a regression analysis. Values are included that represent the variables project type, project value, project duration, client, contract type, market conditions, need for work, and tender method. The regression coefficients determined in this analysis can reveal how individual variables affect the predicted number of competitors. But the usability of these coefficients depends on the performance of the analysis set-up, i.e. the used regression model, chosen variables, and input data.

It turned out that the achieved prediction performances were unsatisfactory. The best-performing model reached a prediction accuracy of 44.9%, just 8.7% better than a constant guess. As a result, it is concluded that the relationship between the client factors and the number of competitors could not be quantified. Additional research on the predictability within the data affirmed that it would be hard to make any predictions. The Entropy and Mutual Information within the data, identifying the predictability, showed that the independent variables in the data could only solve approximately 30% of the 'chaos' within the distribution of the number of competitors.

The unsatisfactory model accuracies are an interesting result, given the fact that, for almost every factor considered influential on the number of competitors, a value has been included in the calculations. The question arises whether even a relation exists between client factors and the number of competitors. On top of that, the identified marginal relations pointed at the market conditions as most influential to the number of competitors. Further indicating that clients have a marginal effect on the competition within tenders. Therefore, it seems that clients are unable to solve the decreasing number of competitors in the construction industry.

In order to show the absence of a relation between the number of contractors and client factors, further research is necessary. It is yet impossible to prove this absence because improvements can still be made to the utilized data and methodology.

This study aims to evaluate the effects of the two-phase delivery method, focusing specifically on its potential to address integrated project delivery challenges, and to propose improvements to the use of the delivery model. Using two Rijkswaterstaat-projects as a case study, the research question seeks to enhance the use of the two-phase delivery model in mitigating current procurement issues. The main question of this research is: How can the two-phase delivery model be enhanced to address the prevalent issues in the procurement of construction projects? By evaluating the effects of the two-phase delivery method on (procurement) challenges, recommendations for the improvement of the application at Rijkswaterstaat are given.

The Dutch construction industry faces the recurring issues related to delays and conflicts, resulting in adverse effects on construction projects. Researchers have proposed pain/gain sharing mechanisms as a potential solution to address these issues. However, there is a gap between theoretical suggestions and practical implementation. This empirical study aims to bridge this knowledge gap by investigating the practical implementation of pain/gain sharing mechanisms in the Dutch construction industry. The objective is to explore how these mechanisms can provide value to contractors.

The literature review reveals that the NEC4 contract ECS4 Option C is commonly used for implementing pain/gain sharing mechanisms. Additionally, secondary option clauses such as Option X6 (bonus for early completion) and Option X20 (key performance indicators) are identified. While these mechanisms have primarily been applied in alliances or client-contractor relationships, they can also be adapted for contractor-subcontractor relationships.

Through in-depth analysis of three case studies and eleven semi-structured interviews, it is found that essential conditions for successful pain/gain sharing mechanisms are often missing. Transparency, aligned objectives, consideration of each other's interests, and early involvement of parties are identified as crucial factors for success.

To address the identified gaps in the implementation process, a comprehensive framework is developed, which is well-received by industry experts. The framework aids in selecting the most suitable pain/gain sharing mechanism and ensuring all parties understand its benefits and implications. Two options, an escape plan or commitment to the mechanism, are proposed to provide flexibility.

The developed framework enhances the understanding and implementation of pain/gain sharing mechanisms in the construction industry. By respecting and guaranteeing agreements, the optimal effectiveness of these mechanisms can be realized. This research contributes to bridging the gap between theoretical suggestions and practical implementation, paving the way for more successful construction projects in the Dutch construction industry.

Construction projects have become increasingly complex, requiring effective management strategies to navigate challenges related to project contexts, interdisciplinary integration, and procurement processes. The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) has introduced the two-phase model to address these complexities. This model emphasizes client-contractor collaboration and differs significantly from traditional project management strategies. Emotional Intelligence (EI), particularly the competence of empathy, has been recognized as a valuable factor in improving collaboration and project performance. Additionally, Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) has gained international recognition as a project delivery model involving the contractor earlier in the project. ECI in the Dutch construction sector corresponds to the two-phase model of which the Bouwteam is a known example. This research aims to explore the role of empathy in improving project performance through client-contractor collaboration in the first phase of the two-phase model and provide a practical framework for practitioners. The research approach consisted of selecting four cases to conduct 16 semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data analysis software is used to research the research variables: empathy, two-phase model, collaboration, and project performance.

The research findings reveal two key relationships: the relationship between client-contractor collaboration and project performance and the relationship between empathy and client-contractor collaboration.

The relationship between client-contractor collaboration and project performance: the study indicates that client-contractor collaboration significantly influences project performance in the first phase of the two-phase model. Collaboration affects the actual performance of quality criteria and the perception of time and cost criteria. Key differences in the collaborative process within the two-phase model are a shift towards process-focused outcomes, shared responsibility between the client and contractor, and flexibility in criteria. Affective trust, communication, and cohesion are identified as crucial factors for successful collaboration. Tools such as Project Start-Up and team-building sessions facilitate collaboration and should be utilized to enhance project performance.

The relationship between empathy and client-contractor collaboration: empathy plays a pivotal role in facilitating understanding at the team member and organizational levels, fostering relationships, and promoting collaboration. It is particularly important in project phases where unfamiliarity between client and contractor exists. Empathy influences factors essential to the collaborative process, such as trust, communication, and cohesion. The research identifies factors that influence the occurrence of empathic behavior, including the work environment, team relationships, communication, and team size. A proactive attitude towards empathy and continuous development of empathic behavior are recommended for project success.

The research findings support the hypotheses that client-contractor collaboration and empathy positively contribute to project performance in the first phase of the two-phase model. A practical framework is proposed, consisting of four strategies, to improve project performance through empathy and collaboration. The framework should be applied collectively by project managers at the start of the first phase and throughout the project. Future research should explore quantitative testing of the hypotheses, validate the framework in practice, and investigate additional relevant competencies...

Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects have become an internationally popular model for construction projects, where large risks are bore by the EPC contractor and the subcontractors [Galloway, 2009; Guo et al., 2010]. Risks are inherent to all construction projects, however, the high uncertainties of the international EPC markets, and the complex EPC processes, create for abundant risks which often make it unfeasible for EPC contractors to manage the risks by relying solely on their own capabilities [Wang et al., 2016]. These projects are often of large scale, financially and technically, in
a competitive environment where subcontractors have tight margins and even unrealistic budgeting [Yeo and Ning, 2002]. Furthermore, the concept of risk management is a widely discussed topic in construction literature. However, the effective allocation of these risks to certain parties down the supply chain is
not a popular subject. EPC project environments are known for their adversarial relationships between stakeholders, where subcontractors have demonstrated a certain feeling of distrust within the supply chains [Dainty et al., 2001]. The status quo of these large and complex EPC projects is that the number of subcontractors willing and able to take on the risks of EPC projects is shrinking. There is a need for a more effective risk allocation within the supply chain.

To address this problem statement, this research focuses on analyzing how the risk allocation within the supply chain can improve, in order to improve the project performance for all parties involved. This problem statement is answered through the viewpoint of the contracting strategy used in EPC projects since the contracting strategy is a tool for allocating risks. The final output of this research is a Network Risk Allocation model and recommendations for both EPC contractors and subcontractors. This is attained by conducting exploratory research, consisting of quantitative data gathering, in order
to answer the main research question:

How can risks within EPC projects effectively be allocated among the EPC contractor and subcontractors, to improve project performance through strategic contracting?

This research is divided into three phases. The first phase includes the theoretical background, including a literature review, document review, and exploratory interviews. Phase one dives into the theory around risk allocation, risks in EPC projects, and the supply chain network. Here it is concluded that an effective risk allocation for EPC projects is in the form of a network risk allocation. Phase 2 continues by conducting empirical research in the form of a Case Study analysis. Two projects are analyzed on the basis of their risk allocation. This led to recommendations for effective risk allocation. Phase 3 dives into the development of the solution model: the network risk allocation model. It is found that collaboration in the network is an important element to effective risk allocation, amongst other factors.

To limit the effects of climate change, it is crucial to motivate contractors and the government to reduce emissions at construction sites in the infrastructure sector. This research is an exploratory study on which barriers slow down and which drivers accelerate the transition towards zero-emission construction sites in the Dutch infrastructure sector. The goal of this study was to gain insight into the transition process from a government, contractor and technological perspective. Eventually, actions for acceleration were established to answer the main research question: How can the transition towards zero-emission construction sites be accelerated?

Technologically, the most important barrier is the limited availability of zero-emission construction equipment. Also the costs of zero-emission alternatives are currently too high to be profitable compared to the existing machines functioning on fossil fuels. For motivating contractors, the interviewees indicated the need for incentivizing emission reduction at construction sites by rewarding frontrunners and creating competitive advantage through award criteria in infrastructure projects. The research shows that corporate drivers, e.g. competitive advantage are key internal drivers for contractors. Contractors can accelerate the transition by tendering these emission reduction projects to enhance their competitive advantage. Winning these projects finances the zero-emission equipment and leads to an increased competitive advantage. Contractors could start to increase their experience with available small and medium size electric equipment. The respondents also indicated that the government could play a greater stimulating role than it does at present. As main client it is important that the government challenges the market to operate in a zero-emission way as much as possible. As legislator/policy maker it is important to create boundary conditions for contractors to enable them to invest in zero-emission equipment. More clarity and continuity of future policy plays a significant role for motivating contractors.

When the actions for acceleration are taken, the first step towards an accelerated transition can be made, by slowly changing some of the underlying problems how the construction industry is organised. These are mainly changing the competing market dynamics, the enabling policy environment and increasing the attractiveness of alternative technologies. The government can use policy instruments to incentivize, communicate and cooperate with and enforce the private sector to enhance private emission reduction efforts. Moreover, contractors could also take social responsibility, and not consider emission reduction at construction sites only as a governmental matter. The combination of more intrinsic motivation of contractors and an active use of policy instruments by the government can pave the way for creating more resilient and future-proof ways of construction.

Sustainability is seen as one of the most important challenges faced by the world today (Silvius, 2017). Within EPC companies, there are quite some ambitions at the strategic level to integrate sustainability into project procurement, but implementation at the project level is still quite limited. Additionally, existing literature focusing on sustainable procurement or sustainability within supply chains (i.e., suppliers/(sub-)contractors), in the domain of EPC companies in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry is also quite limited. This research study thus aims to develop a strategy on how EPC companies in the Energy & Chemicals (E&C)/Process industry can integrate sustainability into their project procurement practices, thereby adding to academic literature and practice. To achieve this objective, this research study was conducted in three main phases. In phase one, a thorough literature and document review was conducted, resulting in a conceptual sustainability framework that could be integrated into an EPC company’s project procurement practices such as prequalification and supplier/(sub-)contractor selection. The sustainability framework consisted of a set of sustainability criteria and performance indicators which can be used to assess the sustainability level of an EPC company’s suppliers/(sub-)contractors. In the second phase, semi structured interviews were conducted to understand views from practice regarding the topic of sustainable procurement. Main insights gathered included understanding the enablers and barriers encountered by EPC companies during implementation of sustainability into procurement, the prioritization of the identified performance indicators, incentives to stimulate sustainable procurement and suggestions for improvement. The third and final phase synthesized all the findings gathered so far, to propose a strategy or solution for EPC companies to integrate sustainability into their project procurement practices. This research study concluded by providing a holistic set of recommendations to all actors involved in executing a project, such as clients, EPC companies and supply chain actors on how sustainability can be effectively and efficiently integrated into project procurement practices.

The infrastructure industry is an industry that causes a severe threat to sustainability as it consumes a large amount of energy, resources and materials. The circular economy (CE) provides the opportunity to address this issue because CE is characterised by reducing the carbon footprint, using primary materials and protecting material resources. By recycling construction materials and use second-hand construction materials, it is possible to address this issue.

High reaching ambitions on circularity are created by the Dutch government and public organisations for the infrastructure industry. Researchers explain that public procurement can contribute to achieve these circular ambitions. Especially in the infrastructure sector, public organisations have a large purchasing volume. They can stimulate and create demands for a product that contributes to CE by including it in their procurement. However, because of the developing character of circularity, circular public procurement is a new challenging field that lacks empirical research.

To realise circular procurement in practice, ambitions need to be clearly formulated for a project. This is not yet explored enough, and the question of how to deal with the challenging ambitions in projects is still unanswered. In this research is discovered how public organisations strategize their organisational ambitions on the project level during the preparation of procurement. The strategizing of organisational ambitions on the project level is recognised as a process. Therefore, two real-life projects are analysed by using process research to explore the used strategies.

The research results show us that two public organisations show two different approaches of strategizing in which several contextual factors play a significant role. On the one side, a highly emergent strategy is preferred when it is acceptable to release the organisational boundaries and restrictions. On the other side, a partly deliberate and partly emergent strategy is preferred when it is a situation in which organisational boundaries play a significant role in the innovation process. Eventually, both strategies discovered in the case studies can be applied to determine how organisational ambitions can be strategized on a project level in other situations concerning new initiatives (like circularity in this research).

It is a well-known fact that the construction industry operates under high levels of complexity and uncertainty, which gives rise to challenges such as ineffective communication, lack of trust, insufficient support from the higher management, etc. Collaboration has demonstrated to be a solution to all these problems. In order to stimulate collaboration, there are certain tools such as early involvement of all parties, co-location of all parties, team building activities, hiring a facilitator, etc. which are effective. This research revolves completely around these collaboration tools adopted predominantly in the design phase of infrastructure projects using integrated contract forms. The following contract forms have been studied: Bouwteam (Netherlands), Alliance (Finland) and NEC4 (United Kingdom). The collaboration tools used in these projects have been analyzed and compared, after which recommendations have been proposed to each contract form to enhance collaboration. The goal of this thesis is to stress on the fact that merely introducing the concept of collaboration in the contract does not guarantee the success of collaboration. This thesis calls for more attention to be paid to the recommended collaboration tools even before finalizing the contract form for a particular project.

This research aims to identify gain-and-pain-sharing methods to foster a collaborative environment to create win-win situations and create mutual objectives. To do so, gain-and-pain-sharing methods that can positively influence a collaborative environment are explored. This study is restricted to the Dutch construction sector because it is for Dutch implementation. Second, the research scope includes projects with high complexity because otherwise, gain-and-pain-sharing do not have effects, and most problems arise due to complexity. Lastly, the research focuses on the client side, since the client chooses the type of contract and criteria. The objective of the research is to provide clients with insight into the gain-and-pain-sharing possibilities and practical implementation steps to implement a gain-and-pain-sharing mechanism to incentivise collaboration. In the literature, different definitions of gain-and-pain sharing were identified and combined into the following definition: ‘Gain-and-pain sharing is defined as an agreement that allows the parties in a construction project to share profits or cost savings and to share losses due to errors or cost increases. Mutual benefits are achieved through gain sharing. Benefits could, for example, also be a reward for one’s delivered work, a bonus or recognition, and losses are the risks’. Based on this definition, the following gain-and-pain-sharing concepts were identified: -Bonus-malus; -Sharing of new created benefits; -Risk pot; -Target cost. The different concepts have different effects and different reasons for use as gain-and-pain sharing mechanisms. The way to deploy the mechanism depends on the choice based on the vision and strategy that the client has for the project. These two elements in turn depend on the company and project objectives, project specifications, experience with collaboration concepts, risk aversion, market conditions and one of the most important conditions, the scope certainty. It can be concluded that the gain-and-pain-sharing mechanism is deployed by different concepts for different purposes to incentivise collaboration and create mutual objectives. This coordination for the implementation of the mechanism is custom-made for each project based on a number of steps. The step-by-step plan that supports the implementation of the gain-and-pain-sharing mechanism. The case studies demonstrated that such a mechanism has been successful in those cases and is an added value for collaboration and the realisation of common goals.

The purpose of this research was contributing to better understand the drivers of public authorities in the Dutch infrastructure sector to change their contract strategy. In the awareness of the complex multi-layered phenomena of change in the public sector, this deductive research adopted the theory of Kuipers et al. (2014) and implemented it for a holistic multiple case study. For the concretization of the holistic multiple case study, a total of three cases over different time periods, from Rijkswaterstaat and the Water Authority Delfland have been reviewed. In this, the multi-method qualitative research strategy has been adopted, where both secondary and primary data have been gathered with respect to these three cases. At length, both types of data have been analysed using the concept-driven analysis procedure, modelled accordingly to the five-factor framework of Kuipers et al. (2014). Substantively, the conclusion of this research is two-folded; that public authorities are driven by extrinsic as well as intrinsic drivers. Firstly, in two of the three cases, the effects of the (external) contextual factors could be seen as direct triggers in the process of change. The significance of extrinsic drivers was already traditionally known and corresponds primarily with the institutionalist perspective. Essentially; the predominate presumption that changes are ‘made to’ organizations. Be it that this research found that the conjunction of these triggering factors was less intricated than priorly expected, only one or two macro external factors per case. Secondly, in the remaining case - the intrinsic motivation of the organisation could be seen as the principal driver of the change. This finding is in accordance with the change management perspective. A perspective with its roots in private sector research, that only recently emerged as a theory for public sector research. Principally, this rational-adaptive theory places significant attention on the intentional actions of agents. Herein, the main attention is focused on the roles, activities and behaviours of individuals, rather than an orientation that highlights the personality, character or traits of the leader (Burke, 2017). In view of this, however - this research found that for one case - the intrinsic drive from an organisation was predominately based on the personal believe system of an individual leader. Therefore, for future research, the objectivistic-based positivism philosophy that underlies both previously mentioned perspectives - should be complemented with more a subjectivistic-based research philosophies such as the social constructivism theory. In sum, future research that aims to identify driving factors for specific changes at public authorities, specifically for first and second order changes – should focus on both the macro level and micro level, in order to minimize the possibility of drawing unintentional preclusions. Therein, striking a balance between subjective and objective (primary) data.

In the Netherlands, projects often can be large and complex. This creates problems regarding the responsibilities and the distribution of risks of all parties involved in the project. It is therefore of great importance that the contracts and agreements made are clear and of practical use. In the Netherlands, the UAV-GC 2005 is used to regulate this. However, the UAV-GC 2005 turned out to contain several weak points and that is why in February 2021 a consultation version of the UAV-GC 2020 was presented to improve the UAV-GC. The question according to experts is whether this improvement will solve the problems concerning the distribution of risks and responsibilities. A possible solution to the problems is the NEC 4 ECC contract from the United Kingdom.
Therefore, the following research question was asked:

“What elements or characteristics of the NEC 4 ECC could be of added value to the UAV-GC 2020 for the Dutch construction market, and could possibly complement and be implemented in the UAV-GC 2020?”

During the study it appeared that the structure and clarity in the UAV-GC 2020 can be improved, especially in the division of risks and tasks, which can be better structured. Another improvement that can be made is the communication and provision of information because these are points where communication and provision of information fall short. Finally, the way in which payment is handled in the UAV-GC 2020 can be improved, as payment and costs in the UAV-GC 2020 are currently made and determined in advance and this can be done based on wrong or insufficient information. In the NEC 4 ECC, there are several payment methods and, based on the characteristics of the project, the appropriate payment method can be chosen. This seems to be a great improvement to the UAV-GC 2020, as the way payment is regulated in the NEC 4 ECC will improve cooperation between parties and reduce the likelihood of a dispute arising.

With the answers to the sub-questions and the main questions, it is possible to answer the general research question. It can be concluded that there are three important elements of the NEC 4 ECC that could improve the UAV-GC 2020 and thus be of added value. These are the obligation of communication and continuous provision of information, the various options in the NEC 4 ECC and especially the way in which payment is dealt with in the NEC 4 ECC. The way payment is handled in the NEC 4 ECC could help the UAV-GC with a better allocation of risk and responsibility. It also creates a better understanding of the project and better cooperation between the parties if necessary.

Historical developments and innovations in the field of civil engineering contributed to the state-of-the- art structures that shape our transportation infrastructure network nowadays. By way of contrast, solving the mobility issues of the past, created a challenge in terms of conservation today as many assets are reaching the end of their technical, economical and functional lifetime [Hertogh et al., 2018]. Main challenge arises for public authorities which have to meet safety demands and satisfy user expectations in the context of aging assets, imperfect knowledge on their conditions, limited resources, increasing traffic volumes and threats from climate change. Determining when, what and how has to happen is therefore more complex than simply renewing or replacing assets [Polder et al., 2012; van der Vlist et al., 2015; Nicolai et al., 2016].Together with the evident challenges, the magnitude of the predicted increase of Maintenance, Renewal and Replacement (read: MR&R) projects creates a variety of opportunities. One of the opportunities, is to widen the perspective beyond the boundaries of a single asset. Creation of a holistic view and recognition of portfolio opportunities is considered to be key in realizing strategic and tactical objectives, improved alignment with other projects and realize savings due to a decreased need of resources and selection and procurement procedures [Ferns, 1991; Heising, 2012; Chen et al., 2013]. Realizing the potential while controlling the present challenges is however easier said than done. Public organizations within the Netherlands are currently facing serious difficulties in the implementation of their MR&R projects in a fit-for-purpose manner. Fit-for-purpose, in this sense, refers to choosing the best solution for a problem, given the others alternatives [Koops et al., 2017]. In order to investigate both the complexities and the possibilities of MR&R challenges, the main questions of this research is:”How can decision-making on the MR&R interventions of the emerging set of soon-to-be outdated assets be supported to configure assets in a fit-for-purpose manner?”Since the preferred solution regarding the development of a project is picked during the front-end development (read: FED) of a project, the research is focused on these preparatory phases. During the FED, the problems are assessed, a preferred alternative given the present requirements is selected and further defined before it continues to the consecutive project phases [Weijde, 2008]. To provide support on the related decision-making process, the research is guided by two main deliverables:1. Provide an overview of the main complexities of MR&R challenges which influence the FED process2. Develop a framework to support public organization in organizing their FED process to deal with their emerging amount of aging assets in a fit-for-purpose mannerThe overview of the main complexities public organization face during the FED of their to MR&R challenge was created by a combination of scientific and empirical research. Given the present body of knowledge on MR&R challenges, FED and decision-making complexities, a conceptual framework was created. This functioned as a pair of glasses through which multiple cases were analyzed. By investigating four MR&R cases of Rijkswaterstaat, the Municipality of Amsterdam and the Province of North-Holland individually and jointly, a set of 20 challenges emerged. Altogether, these challenges influenced the opportunity of public organizations in the creation of fit-for-purpose project, portfolio or program configurations during the FED procedure.To create a framework which indicates how to deal with these challenges, seven decision-making dilemmas were identified. These dilemmas indicate the opportunities executive authorities within public organizations have in aligning their FED process to their perceived complexities, requirements and resources. The red cluster marks the dilemmas which influence the physical solution space of MR&R challenges, whereas the dilemmas in the orange cluster determine the design of the FED procedure. Since the opportunity to review and revise made decisions applies on both contextual and procedural dilemmas, the agility dilemmas is present in both clusters.In the end, public organizations in charge simply have two choices: simplification or complexification of the FED process. To deal with the emerging set of soon-to-be outdated assets, the process may be kept simple and foreseeable, but the opportunity to create asset transcending benefits is small. On the other side, an organization may decide to deliberately complicate the configuration process by increasing the amount of elements and related considerations. Given the developed decision-making framework, there are seven options to realize potential integrated benefits. during the FED procedure. With every dilemma, decisions to either simplify or complicate the FED process may be made, which create the opportunity for a public authority to adjust the configuration process to the present requirements, complexities and resources. Observance of the cases and the afterwards validation of the framework however pinpointed the risks of increasing the complexity of the FED process. For example, creation of a separate program and related procedures to deal with the MR&R challenge may result in a reluctant attitude of the involved staff and create an unforeseen amount of interrelations with other divisions in the organizations. Ifthe amount of components and actors involved in the decision-making process increases, also a greater span of control is demanded [Leijten, 2017]. Manageability issues due to the increase levels of complexity may therefore hamper the overall FED process. Therefore, using the developed framework should help decision-makers in public organizations in finding a balance between the potential to create certain benefits and the risk of making the process too complex.In order to improve the validity of the developed decision-making framework, it was first tested in an existing case of Rijkswaterstaat by conducting an imitation experiment. Based on the conditions of the case, decisions on the dilemmas in the framework were made and translated into a FED process. Next to the imitation experiment, an expert review on the framework was conducted. In the presence of representatives of the Municipality of Amsterdam and Rijkswaterstaat, the framework was tested on its completeness, functioning and usability. In the end, both validation incentives confirmed the added value of the decision-making framework as it provides the opportunity for public organizations to align their MR&R challenge and objectives with a FED process design.

When it comes down to building or maintaining civil infrastructure commissioned by a governmental body, a lot has changed during the last couple of years. The government made a turn from all determining body, to a cooperative partner and later even to an organization that’s outsourcing most of the construction and maintenance work to second and third parties. Changing the working methodology requires a change in the contracting strategy. Nowadays, the contract of choice for maintenance used by governmental and semi-governmental organizations is the performance-based maintenance contract (PBMC). There are many risks and important factors that influence the outcome of the use of PBMC in a negative way. Organizations that use them seem to overlook those negative influences and just focus on the potential cost savings. This results to a contract that hasn’t really been updated since it was first introduced. This leaves a situation where the effectiveness of the contract form is less than optimal; the contract does not deliver its full potential and the writers of the contract have no standardized way to approach the PBMC. The goal of thesis is to therefore find a structured way that can assist the contract design teams in making informed decision when drafting a PBMC. In order to find that structured way, the ingredients that would make up the structure had to be found. To achieve that, a literature study was performed in which all the criteria that would influence the outcome of a PBMC where gathered and categorized into five main decision criteria: predictability, plannability, measurability, responsibility and criticality. Next up, the parameters of the PBMC had to be found. These parameters would enable the user of the method to change the way an object would be outsourced based on the five main decision criteria. The parameters that where found are: size/scope, contribution of the contractor and the performance requirements. In order to provide the user with sensible information about a certain object to base their decisions on about the way of outsourcing, a trustworthy and function information gathering tool/method was needed. Within the area of reliability centered maintenance (RCM), the failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) method was found to be very useful to gather the required information to base these decisions on. Another method that was found to be useful was the risk allocation matrix by Brommet. This method was created to give the user insight in possible outsourcing and payment solutions for DBFM contracts, but a redesign of the original matrix proved just as useful in making suggestions about outsourcing and payment methods for PBMC. All this information led to the creation of the decision-support method. This method, which contains 7 steps, was created to help contract design teams in making their initial decision about the way a certain object should be outsourced. The first step is designed to find the necessary information and prepare the risk allocation matrix to make it usable for this specific case. Steps 2 to 7 are designed to give a step by step answer on how to interpret each parameter and to reach a decision on how to outsource a certain part of an object. These steps are repeated for every single part of the object until a suggested outsourcing decision is made for every single part. The decision-support method is tested twice on a real case. During these case studies improvements were made to the initial model. Eventually the method is presented during an expert meeting within Rijkswaterstaat and another set of improvements was implemented. It can be concluded that the method can be successful in helping the contract design team is making a PBMC. Both by using the entire method of utilizing parts of it during the contract design process. The method helps the user to think of more options and assists in weighing these different options against each other. Although, the methods needs further testing and can definitely be improved. The potential of a method like this was definitely recognized during the expert meeting. The last part of the thesis is therefore dedicated to the limitations of the method at this time and the future research and improvements that can be made.

In the past decade the relationship between the client and contractor in the Dutch infrastructure sector has been disrupted. This disrupted relationship can mainly be characterised as adversarial and distrusting. Additionally, this has resulted in a growing number of disputes between the client and the contractor. As a result of the adversarial relationship and the high expenses to resolve the growing number of disputes, construction projects are more likely to face with time and cost overruns. Currently, the Dutch infrastructure sector is searching for possibilities to improve the client-contractor collaboration. In this study the client-contractor collaboration in ECI projects is compared to collaboration in D&C projects. To assess the client-contractor collaboration, the RECAP tool is used. The results of this research are evident. The client-contractor collaboration in ECI projects is better for all collaborative aspects.

This research is based on a new law relating quality assurance in construction that was proposed in 2016. The main aim of the legislative proposal is to improve the quality of construction by privatising the way of assessing quality on the basis of the Building Decree. The problem is that the contractor gets more responsibility in this process through the new law. Since the change in the way of quality assurance asks for a new way of working from contractors the contractors have to adapt their organisations towards this change in responsibility. The changes can be distinguished on a legal implementation and organisational implementation level. This research focuses on the social scientific perspective of this law; being the organisational implementation. Within this organisational implementation, the focus of this research is the organisational culture and structure. The research question is therefore: How can a contractor change its culture and organisational structure, to adopt a pro-active attitude in quality assurance? The research strategy is to perform qualitative research. For this research, the method to be used is doing literature research. The literature research reviews the change based on a why-how-what structure. This literature research results in multiple findings on different subjects. Findings which form the basis of an advice on how to approach an organisational culture and organisational structure change. To validate these findings and the advice, both are submitted to a validation process. The deliverable at the end of the research is the advice for the contractors on how to adapt their organisational culture and organisational structure, which will be reflected in an advice brochure. The conclusions of this research start by describing that current organisations of contractors miss a branch or layer on quality management. To change this, a power strategy or planned strategy should be chosen with unilateral implementation instruments. The change process should, regardless the chosen strategy, be implemented on different levels, which was found to reduce resistance for change. The process of change should be started within a project in which the client is interested in improving quality assessment as well. It is concluded that a manager who stands behind the changes and is committed to those change, should be made in the lead of implementing the strategy within that project.