Contractors Pre-Qualification Guideline Used in Contractor Selection for Public Building Project in Southeast Nigeria: A Case Study of Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The incessant poor project delivery of contractors in the execution of public buildings is a reoccurring decimal in various areas of southeast Nigeria and the salient question people keep asking is if the qualified contractor is engaged and by extension the basis of assessment of contractors before engagement? It is in response to this curiosity that this paper set out to evaluate the prequalification guideline/criteria used in engaging contractors in Southeast Nigeria, using Imo state as a case study.  It was pursued, using literature review and field survey entailing the use of a well-structured questionnaire. A total of three hundred and eighty-four (384) questionnaires were distributed with three hundred and fifty (350) returned adequately filled giving a response rate of 91.0% The responses were analyzed using the SPSS software version 25. The result revealed among others; Some of the contracts are not awarded regarding any specific selection guideline but basically on executive awards; in few cases where contractors are selected based on an in-house performance evaluation, the most demanded document arranged in the order of frequency of demand are: financial capacity/Bank support Document'; ‘Building Construction license'. Finally, the study recommendsa thorough examination of contractors at the pre-selection phases before engaging any contractor. This is to ensure that competent and qualified contractors only engage and adequate project delivery within the study area.