INTERVIEW PROTOCOL AND GUIDE

INTERVIEW PROTOCOL

A semi-structured interview protocol was developed with open-ended questions to provide ample
opportunities for interviewees to elaborate. The interview questions provided multiple probes into
the descriptive and theoretical questions posed below. They were designed to elicit how
contractors perform in executing their work.

A 30-minute interview session is set-up by the researcher (interviewer). A face to face and phone
interview is chosen for this purpose as it is convenient for both parties. Prior to the interview
process, an interview guide was developed to ensure the objectives of the interview are achieved.
Once the interview is over, the researcher should thank the interviewee for spending some time
being interviewed.

INTERVIEW GUIDE
Interviewee: _________________________________________________
Project name: _________________________________________________
Company name: _______________________________________________
Phone number: _________________________________________________
Date: _______________________________
Time: ________________
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Introduction:

(Personal background)

Who am I? How far along am I in the program? Ask if it is okay to record the interview?

(Explaining the purpose of the research)

My M.Sc. research is entitled “Performance Evaluation of lowest bidder contractors in public

building construction projects of Addis Ababa Design and Construction works bureau”. This study
determines the contractor’s performance parameters and to be evaluated by the three main stake
holders of the construction project; namely the contractor itself, the consultant and the owner. The

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relationship between the draw backs of selecting lowest bidder contractors and deficiencies in
contractor’s performance are also examined.

Purpose of the interview: (Why the interview is conducted)

This interview is conducted as means to validate the findings from this study. Additionally, it is
the intention of this interview to get some perspectives on Performance Evaluation of lowest bidder
contractors from the three main stakeholders of construction project.

Confidentiality policy:

Interview content will be recorded and reported in a manner that the identity of participants will
not be revealed. If extracts from interviews are quoted in research reports, the names of
interviewees and of people they have mentioned will be changed into fictitious name. The same
procedure will be used for the names of organizations/institutions and place names. When the
research is completed, digital interview files and contact information to participants will be
destroyed. Interview records will be archived permanently by the researcher for scientific research
and references purposes.

Questions:

A. Interviewee background

1. What is your job title and responsibilities?

2. How many years of construction experience do you have?

3. How long have you been working with this company?

4. How any projects have you been involved since you started at this company? (Estimate
number)

5. What are the types of projects that you’ve been involved since you started at this company?
What are the sizes (estimate in million birrs)?

B. Team/Project-related

1. Can you provide further information about this project?

• Location

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 • Project owner

• Duration

• Total project cost and construction cost

• Type of procurement

• Project delivery approach

• Number of employees

• Main key project team members

2. How many reworks found in the course of this project? __________________________

3. What percent of the design has been completed when the project was awarded? At what
point in the design that the construction begins?

4. What do you considered to be the most important factor in being a successful contractor?

5. Can you describe some parameters that the contractor expected to perform?

6. Are there any issues or problems that a contractor faced throughout the course of the
project?

• How did the contractor overcome? Measures taken?

7. From the study that I conducted, I found out that there are 12 factors that are considered to
be the most relevant and important to contractor performance.

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 • What would be your opinion regarding these factors?

• Would you say that these factors are the factors that contribute to the contractor being
as successful?

• What other factors that might be the main contributors to the contractor being as
successful?

8. In your opinion, what is your definition of successful contractor?

9. Do you conduct any contractor performance evaluation throughout the course of the
project?

• If yes, how frequent? What type of assessment tool that you used?

• If no, would you think it would be a good idea to assess the performance of contractor
throughout the construction process?

10. The main success factors (12) for any contractor are selected by the researcher from
different literatures as shown below. During the data analysis process, it is found that the
following are five main success factors selected by the respondents as shown below.

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Main Factors Selected by the researcher

Quality Control የጥራት ቁጥጥር (QC)

Financial Management የፋይናንስ አስተዳደር (FM)

Cost Management የወጪ አስተዳደር (CM)

Schedule Management የጊዜ ሰሌዳ አስተዳደር (SM)

Managerial Capability የአስተዳደር ችሎታ (MC)

Client Satisfaction የደንበኛ (የፕሮጀክት ባለቤት)
እርካታ (CS)
Health & Safety ጤና እና ደህንነት (HS)
Communication & Coordination ግንኙነት እና ማስተባበር (CC)

Business Performance የንግድ ሥራ አፈጻጸም (BP)

Technical Capability የቴክኒክ ችሎታ (TC)

Management of Documentation የሰነዶች አስተዳደር (MD)

Environmental performance የአካባቢ ጥበቃ ሥርዓት አፈፃፀም (EP)

Top 5 Main Factors from Analysis

ጤና እና ደህንነት (HS) 1
የጊዜ ሰሌዳ አስተዳደር (SM) 2
የፋይናንስ አስተዳደር (FM) 3
የወጪ አስተዳደር (CM) 4
የቴክኒክ ችሎታ (TC) 5
• Based on your working experience please give your professional judgement on the top
five success factors weather these factors are basic to evaluate the performance of the
contractors, especially the least bidder contractor.

• In your opinion, would you say the top 5 success factors do have some impact on the
performance of the contractor?

• Can you tell me another success factor to be included as the basic factor?

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 11. What possible drawbacks are expected from the least bidder contractor? Give some
examples. Please_______________________________________________________

12. Is there any method of performance evaluation of contractor? Please

specify__________________________________________________________________

13. Is there anything else you’d like to share with me on how contractors will be successful to
be competent?

Closing remark:

That’s all the questions I have. Thank you for participating in this interview. I would like to thank
you for your time today, and I will certainly get back to you if I have some questions during the
record process of this interview. Before I go, do you have any additional comments or questions?

______________________________________________________________________________