ABSTRACT

Awarding is preceded by a selection process, which rejects all contractors beyond defined price or capacity thresholds. The large number of available contractors is hence reduced to a short list.  In Uganda, despite all the above methods, the common method of awarding a contract is the Least Cost selection or price based method, which has inherent flaws of high competition and minimum performance. Despite this extensive regulatory framework providing the different contract award methods, the least cost method seems the most commonly used method. This has resulted into several contractors being awarded contracts that have cost the District more than was budgeted for and contracts exceeding the contract completion dates, and at times poor quality work. The study thus assessed alternative contract award methods and contractor performance. The study was guided by specific objectives that were; to determine the most commonly used contract award methods in selecting contractors in construction projects, to determine the factors for the choice of contract award method and determine the impact of the choice of contract award method on contractor performance, and to develop a framework to enhance the use of the alternative contract award methods for better contract performance in Oyam District. The study was based on a triangulation approach whereby both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to analyze the data in order to reach logical conclusion of the findings. Quantitative data was collected through use of questionnaires. During the analys ....