Economic Analysis of Construction Industry Institute Benchmarking Data

Principal Investigator:
Robert E. Chapman, Office of Applied Economics, 301-975-2723

Co-Investigators:
Harold E. Marshall, Office of Applied Economics, 301-975-6131
Chi J. Leng, Office of Applied Economics, 301-975-4522

Sponsor:
Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL)

Objective:
Provide economic support to BFRL in two related areas. First, represent BFRL on the Construction Industry Institute (CII) Benchmarking and Metrics Committee (BMC). The CII BMC seeks to define key performance metrics and a process to collect and correlate them with related project practices. Second, identify CII data and practices that can provide baseline measures and measures of progress of construction industry performance. Use these data to measure the economic value of CII best practices and CONSIAT-related research with respect to reductions in delivery time, reductions in construction cost, and reductions in construction worker illnesses and injuries.

Approach:
In FY 2004, R. Chapman will continue to represent BFRL on the CII BMC. Chapman’s work on the CII BMC will focus on ensuring that CII’s extensive data collection effort continues to have a focus on those project outcomes—reductions in cycle time, reductions in construction cost, and improved safety for construction workers—which are of mutual interest to BFRL and CII. Chapman will continue to provide guidance in analyzing data received from CII member organizations and will participate actively in the development of new metrics for measuring performance and/or process improvements. Second, Chapman will continue his analysis of the influence of CII practices focused on integration and automation technologies on project outcomes—cycle time, construction cost, and construction worker safety. The project team will then prepare a draft journal article analyzing the impacts of the use of integration and automation technologies in commercial buildings on project outcomes and submit it to a suitable journal for publication.

Recent Results:
Produced two CONSIAT impact studies (NISTIR 6501 and NISTIR 6763) and an ISARC 2002 article summarizing these impact studies which include key sections drawing on CII BMC data. Co-authored an article on the impacts of design/information technologies in industrial facilities. The article has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. Led the CII BMC team responsible for analyzing data from nearly 1,000 CII member organization projects. Developed statistical measures for reductions in delivery time and reductions in construction worker illnesses and injuries as they apply to CII member organizations; prepared text to describe these measures in the CII BMC’s Annual Report.