Abstract

The construction public sector in Egypt, like most countries in the world, is tendering its projects through the traditional paper-based tendering procedure, which has many weaknesses including bureaucracy and lack of transparency. Due to the considerable volume of projects tendered each year, it was therefore essential to study the possibility of implementing another more efficient procedure that would overcome the inefficiencies of the paper-based tendering procedure. The main aim of this research is to improve the uptake of E-Tendering in Egypt through highlighting the best technical/operational practices that should be adopted, identifying the barriers, challenges and concerns of the Egyptian tenderers and providing solutions to address them. An identification and analysis of the current level of adoption/implementation of E-Tendering in Egypt is carried out through thoroughly examining the literature and through conducting two semi-structured face-to-face expert interviews. The findings show that there is evidence that Egypt is moving steadily but on a slower pace towards adopting E-Tendering within the governmental entities, especially that, so far, few steps/measures were taken in this regard towards the Egyptian tenderers. Hence, the barriers and concerns to the implementation of E-Tendering in many foreign countries have been thoroughly examined through the literature review. 19 challenges are highlighted and categorized into 4 categories: security challenges, user acceptance and staff resistance, accessibility issues and legal barriers. These challenges are then examined and ranked with respect to their importance by a panel of 15 academic and industry experts to identify whether or not they will face the Egyptian tenderers. The most important highlighted barriers are the SMEs access difficulties (Relative Importance Index RII%= 88.33%), the expected technical malfunctioning of the portal (RII% = 86.67%), the reluctance/resistance to change (RII% = 80%), the breach of confidentiality of information (RII% = 76.67%), the electronic signature problems (RII % = 76.67%) and the document tampering (RII% = 75%). In addition, literature is carefully examined to point out/come up with solutions/recommendations to the barriers, challenges and concerns of the tenderers in Egypt. The effectiveness of these solutions/recommendations is thoroughly analyzed by the same panel of experts. The findings showed that the identified barriers are completely neutralized and successfully addressed by the presented solutions/recommendations, hence, they should be adopted and implemented since improving the uptake of E-Tendering in Egypt is only achievable when addressing the needs of its stakeholders and especially the tenderers.

Degree Name

MS in Construction Engineering

Graduation Date

2-1-2015

Submission Date

January 2015

First Advisor

Waly, Ahmed Fathi

Committee Member 1

Hassanein, Amr

Committee Member 2

Darwish, Ahmed

Extent

148 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Library of Congress Subject Heading 1

Internet in public administration -- Egypt.

Library of Congress Subject Heading 2

Electronic contracts -- Egypt.

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

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