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Construction procurement processes, contract fundamentals and responsibilities, contract administration, integrated project delivery, analysis of trends in procurement and contract administration.
Most construction professionals recognise the issue of poor performance within the construction industry, where too many projects fail or suffer significant financial loss. These problems often begin early in the project lifecycle, particularly with the procurement of services.This course aims to provide advanced knowledge and understanding of construction procurement systems and how they shape contract administration within construction organisations. The course enables students to evaluate procurement methods critically, understand the implications of project delivery models, and apply legal and administrative principles to manage complex construction projects.Students will integrate theoretical knowledge with real-world case studies to enhance their professional judgement, problem-solving capabilities, and communication skills. Key concepts are contextualised within the New Zealand construction environment, including contract forms such as NZS3910 and contemporary Māori organisational engagement.The course aligns with NZQA graduate profile outcomes by supporting students to:• Demonstrate mastery of advanced construction procurement and contract administration knowledge, including the interaction between legal frameworks, commercial practice, and institutional governance structures.• Apply systems thinking to construction procurement by analysing projects as interconnected legal, economic, contractual, and organisational systems across the full project lifecycle.• Critically evaluate procurement systems using legal, economic, and institutional governance lenses, including risk allocation mechanisms, incentive structures, information asymmetries, and potential market distortion effects.• Evaluate governance risk within procurement environments, including authority–responsibility alignment, accountability structures, and the institutional stewardship of standard form contracts.• Conduct independent research or inquiry into a significant construction procurement or contract administration issue, synthesising literature, policy, and practice.
Critically evaluate various construction procurement methods and project delivery systems, including their legal and commercial implications.Analyse and compare construction procurement methods and project delivery systems as integrated legal, commercial, and socio-technical systems, identifying their structural strengths, weaknesses, and risk profiles.Evaluate procurement strategies using economic reasoning, including incentive alignment, transaction cost considerations, risk pricing, and behavioural responses of market participants.Apply advanced knowledge of construction contract administration, particularly NZS 3910 and related standard forms, to manage variations, claims, payment mechanisms, and dispute processes in complex projects.Interpret and apply New Zealand legislation, regulations, and standards relevant to procurement and contract delivery, including the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, assessing their implications for risk governance and professional accountability.Identify and assess governance risks arising from procurement design, including misaligned authority and responsibility, information asymmetry, and institutional conflict of interest.Design procurement approaches that integrate tikanga Māori and Māori organisational engagement in a manner that is legally sound, commercially coherent, and culturally competent.Conduct independent research into a contemporary procurement or contract administration issue, producing a structured, evidence-based written analysis suitable for professional or academic dissemination.Collaborate in multidisciplinary contexts to develop defensible procurement recommendations grounded in legal reasoning, economic logic, and governance analysis.Reflect critically on ethical, legal, and professional responsibilities in construction management, including the implications of procurement design for market behaviour, public accountability, and long-term sector performance.
Subject to approval of Programme Director
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Teaching is delivered in intensive blocks comprising several hours of lectures each day. Each session will involve computer-based presentations, interactive components, and worked examples.Depending on the assigned lecture venue, recordings will be made available via the University’s Learn platform. Depending on the allocated room, the lectures will be recorded by the University lecture recording service and made available through the Learn website.
Eric Scheepbouwer
Daniel van der Walt
• For changes in dates, venues etc., please check the university website, the Learn website (learn.canterbury.ac.nz), and your student mail. • For general questions about the course, private matters etc., please contact the course coordinator, assoc. Prof. Eric Scheepbouwer, preferably via email; please see him in his office E404). • For questions about the course material and /or assignments, please contact the respective lecturer. • Information about assignments and projects will be placed on the Learn website, including additions, subtractions, or changes in hand-in dates. • Once you are enrolled in the course, you will have access to the Learn website. If the lecturers need to connect with the students, they will use the list of enrolled students that have access to the Learn website.
• Participation and Professionalism (10%)– Active engagement in class activities and group discussions. Emphasis is placed on participation rather than the accuracy of responses.• Group Assignments (20%)– Collaborative problem-solving task designed to leverage diverse backgrounds and experiences.• Minor Individual Assignments (20%)– Literature-based investigations of relevant topics.• Major Research Project (50%)– A 4,000-word individual research report. This assignment requires original analysis and aims to make a meaningful contribution to the existing literature.
All notes and presentation material will be uploaded on the Learn website.No specific textbooks are required for this course. This is a course in construction procurement; most books you can find online or in the library can be read to support your learning, but when in doubt, ask.
This course has no prerequisites or co-requisites and may be taken as a standalone course or as part of a postgraduate qualification, such as the Master of Engineering Studies (endorsed in Construction Management). It runs for one semester and carries a weight of 0.125 EFTS (approximately 120 hours of student workload).This course is suitable for professionals in the construction sector and engineering students.
Domestic fee $1,344.00
International Postgraduate fees
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
This course will not be offered if fewer than 5 people apply to enrol.
For further information see Civil and Environmental Engineering .