Developing infrastructure projects using alliances

This research provides a deeper insight into the performance of alliances for the construction of road, rail and water projects. The principle objective of alliances is to align team member expectations so that they work together for the benefit of the project. To date, this has been a challenge, and as such this makes alliances an innovative approach to procurement of infrastructure. The paper reports on a survey of 18 public infrastructure projects across Australia that utilized the alliance form of procurement. The results were based on alliance team interviews, which addressed the most critical management issues impacting on the performance of process. The research identified a sample of stakeholders form alliance leadership teams (ALT) and the alliance management teams (AMT) that had recently completed a major infrastructure projects. Results revealed that communication and trust between the ALT and AMT teams was a major issue that impacted on the effectiveness of the alliance. Furthermore, the research identifies several key factors that were necessary preconditions for successful alliances.