Title: A practical framework to facilitate the presence of operation and maintenance contractors in the pre-occupancy phases: a case study

Authors: Nazanin Kordestani Ghalenoee; Ehsan Saghatforoush; Hamidreza Athari Nikooravan; Christopher Preece

Addresses: Department of Project and Construction Management, Mehralborz Institute of Higher Education, Tehran, Iran ' School of Construction Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa ' School of Architecture, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran ' Centre on Sustainable Built Environment, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: With population growth, demand for constructing infrastructures increases, as well as the costs associated with their operation and maintenance (O&M). One of the major measures in this regard is absence of O&M contractors in the early project phases. This project aims to present a framework to facilitate the presence of O&M knowledge in the early stages of design and implementation. In this qualitative study, data are collected from a case study. First, the researcher identifies barriers and solutions to the presence of O&M contractors using meta-synthesis approach. Then semi-structured interviews with a population of ten different stakeholders of inter-urban Iranian road infrastructures are used to match the literature data with the conditions governing real projects. This study concludes in a framework having processes that O&M contractors can apply which by taking their advantage, many duplications due to lack of knowledge are reduced and chance of success in project is increased.

Keywords: operation and maintenance; O&M; contractors; road infrastructure projects.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPOM.2018.093989

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2018 Vol.10 No.3, pp.222 - 241

Received: 21 Aug 2017
Accepted: 14 Mar 2018
Published online: 10 Aug 2018 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article