This research also investigated the critical success factors and barriers to adopting an e-tendering system in the Malaysian construction industry. The five strongly agreed critical success factors of using e-tendering system were revealed as (1) reduce printing costs; (2) avoid crowds; (3) avoid physical contact; (4) reduce physical storage; and (5) reduce time duplicating tender documents.
Introduction
NeTI serves as a platform for the e-tendering process in the construction sector (Ezanee, Norlila and Norshuhada, 2003; Lou, 2007). According to Sydorenko (2017), reducing costs in the tendering process was always the main objective of the governments and construction companies.
Problem Statement
Due to these obstacles, some countries are experiencing slow adoption of the e-tendering system (Chilipunde, 2013). This research also investigated the critical success factors and barriers to adopting the e-tendering system in the Malaysian construction industry during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Aim and Objectives
There are limited studies on the application of e-tendering in the construction industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, this research aimed to examine the different procurement systems used by Malaysian construction companies before and during the Covid-19 epidemic, both traditional and electronic.
Research Scope
This was because the survey aimed to discover whether construction companies had changed their tendering methods and how these changes had been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The aim was to find out why some construction companies used the e-tendering system and others did not.
Research Methodology
To evaluate the obstacles of e-tendering system application
Outline of the Report
This chapter describes the research methods, data collection methods, sampling, research instruments and data analysis.
Summary
Introduction
Traditional Tendering in Construction Industry
- Tendering Methods
- Traditional Tendering Process in Construction Industry
A bid opening form will be prepared before the bids are opened. Each offer will be open, and the offer price will be recorded in a prepared form.
E-Tendering
- E-Tendering System in Malaysia
- Current Status of E-Tendering in Malaysia
- E-Tendering Process
- Tender Invitation
- Registration and Purchase Tender
- Pricing and Upload BQ
- Open Tender Box
- Evaluate Tender
- Tender Award
Bidders can use the registration code to access the system and download tender documents. During the opening of bids, the quantity surveyor will log into the system to transfer submitted tender documents (Tan and Suhaida, 2016).
Comparison of Traditional Tendering and E-Tendering
Bidders can obtain an access key for logging into the e-tendering system and downloading an electronic copy of the tender documentation. The tender documentation shall be submitted before the deadline to the place specified in the notice of public tender.
Critical Success Factor of E-Tendering Application
- Cost Reduction .1 Reduce Printing Cost
- Reduce Management Cost
- Time Saving
- Reduce Time on Duplicating Tender Documents
- Enable Late Adjustments
- Reduce Tendering Period
- Improve Communication
- Quicker Communication Process
- Receive Tender Addendum Immediately
- Improve Transparency
- Increase Transparency of Tendering Process
- Increase Transparency of Communication Process
- Storage of Tender Documents .1 Reduce Physical Storage
- Prevent Data Loss during Transaction
In addition, an e-tendering system can guard against data loss, as the tender documents are transmitted electronically (Sayed, et al., 2020). There was no need to worry about data loss or damage when tender documents were uploaded to the e-tendering system.
Obstacles of E-Tendering Application
- Security and Policy Concern .1 Security of Sensitive Data
- Inconsistency of Government Policy
- Cost of E-Tendering System .1 High Initial Cost
- High Maintenance Cost
- Limited Knowledge and Skill .1 Elder Generation Fail to Keep Up
- Limited Training
- Lack of Knowledge
- Resistant to Change
- Lack of Awareness of Employees
- Comfortable with Traditional Tendering
The process could be paperless and the transaction could be done electronically using an e-tendering system. This prevented the introduction of an e-tendering system and was a major obstacle to the government's efforts to develop an e-tendering system (Nawi et al., 2017). The employer has to invest a lot of money in preparations before officially introducing the e-tendering system.
Smaller businesses would be deterred by high start-up costs, as their capital may not be sufficient to develop an e-tendering system (Tindsley and Stephenson, 2008). Technology advances at a dizzying pace, leaving behind the older generation unable to use the e-tendering system. Based on the statistics, Izzati, Suhaida and Kam (2018) concluded that the existing construction industry was slow to adapt to changes in the electronic tendering system as they had more experience with traditional tendering.
Covid-19 Pandemic
- Construction Industry during Covid-19 Pandemic
- Impact of Covid-19 towards Tendering Process
As the construction industry has been one of the significant contributors to the economy, a complete or partial stoppage of construction on site has resulted in the global economy suffering. Some projects experienced stopped completely in the initial stage of the construction process, but later stopped partially. Eligible tenderers will receive an email with an account number and the Borang Pembayaran Pembelian Tender Secara Atas Talian for online payment of the tender documents.
Bidders must submit a hard copy of the tender documents by hand or through the services of the shipping company (Jabatan Kerja Raya, 2021). Bidders must submit a hard copy of the tender documentation to the location specified in the tender notice during the tender submission process. Online tenders are not truly e-tenders because a hard copy of the tender documents must still be submitted.
Summary
The company continued to use SAP Ariba to manage the e-tendering process from invitation to award during the Covid-19 epidemic to sustain the business. The company also stated that during MCO, the majority of staff worked remotely, allowing them to rethink and improve technology to ensure business continuity, accessibility and security. This pandemic is encouraging people to better use and innovate digital tools to “hyper-collaborate” virtually and exchange information more freely.
According to research by Hansen et al. 2021) in Indonesia, Covid-19 has affected the activities of quantity surveyors, especially tenders, and created an opportunity to implement an e-tendering or online tendering system. In short, it is time for the e-tendering system to be fully used and revamped in the construction industry.
Introduction
Research Methods
- Research Method Used
According to Hennink, Hutter, and Balley (2020), qualitative research is useful for answering "why" questions and identifying problems, as well as. Quantitative research is used when the researcher wants to find out how common the results are by projecting them to the wider population. In this research, quantitative research was chosen to collect data from a large group of people and generalize the results to the population.
This research approach collected data that can be numerically analyzed and evaluated in the form of tables and statistics. Quantitative research approach was used to gain insight into the commonly used procurement system prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic in the population of quantity researchers. The Likert scale was used in the questionnaire to collect numerical data from the respondents.
Data Collection
- Primary Data
- Secondary Data
In addition, it was also used to identify the degree of agreement on critical success factors and obstacles of the application of the e-tendering system, expressed by the target respondents. The questionnaires were distributed to the quantity researchers via email, WhatsApp, Facebook and other platforms. Secondary data for this study came from online journal articles, online journals, online newspapers, e-books, published reports, and published websites.
The library of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman was primarily responsible for providing access to online journal articles and e-books. The conclusions of primary data obtained through interviews and questionnaires were supplemented with secondary data.
Sampling
- Sampling Technique
- Sampling Frame
- Target Respondents
- Sampling Size
Sampling frame is aimed at selecting the specific individuals from the target population who will participate in the questionnaire survey. Quantity surveyors from consulting firms, contracting firms and developer companies in the construction industry constituted three sets of sampling frames in this study. The target respondents for the questionnaire survey were quantity surveyor-related occupations in the Malaysian construction industry.
10 % was used because the lower the level of precision, the more precisely the sample size was calculated. The central limit theorem explains the sampling distribution approaches the standard normal distribution when the sample size is equal to or greater than 30 (Kwak and Kim, 2017). Therefore, the sample size required for the independent categories such as nature of company and work experience should be equal to more than 30 to get a valid result.
Research Instrument
- Questionnaire Design
- Pre-test
The Likert scale presented in Table 3.2 was used for the respondents to assess the level of preference for each system. The Likert scale was used in Sections C and D to enable the respondents to express the level of agreement with a statement. The questionnaire was created using "Google Forms" and distributed to the respondents via email, Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
A pre-test was undertaken before the final version of the questionnaire was distributed to the targeted respondents. This was a test run of the questionnaire to ensure that all questions were clear and without errors. The feedback from the pre-test such as grammatical errors and misleading statements were modified to improve the questionnaire design.
Data Analysis
- Reliability Test
- Descriptive Statistics
- Inferential Statistics
- Mann-Whitney U Test
- Spearman Rank Correlation
Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman rank correlation were the inferential statistics used in this study. The null hypothesis (H0) indicates no significant differences between two independent groups when the p-value is more than 0.05. In contrast, the alternative hypothesis (H1) indicates significant differences between two independent groups when the p-value is equal to or less than 0.05.
The Spearman rank correlation is a non-parametric test to examine the strength of the relationship between two variables (Naoum, 2007). The value of the Spearman rank correlation coefficient, rs, is analyzed based on the strength of the correlation as shown in Table 3.5. In contrast, the alternative hypothesis (H1) confirms a relationship between two variables when the p-value is equal to or less than 0.05.
Summary
When the p-value is greater than 0.05, the null hypothesis (H0) states that there is no relationship between two variables. The Spearman rank correlation was performed in this research to analyze whether there was a positive or negative relationship between the respondents. The reliability test, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were applied to interpret and analyze the data collected from the questionnaire survey.
Introduction
Respondent’s Demographic
Tendering System Used Prior To and During Covid-19 Pandemic The data collected was the tendering systems used by the respondents in three
- Prior to Covid-19 Pandemic
The respondents had to choose only one option when answering the methods used for tender systems and types of tender interviews. The majority of respondents collected tenders from the office for all the projects with a median value of 3.00. The e-mail (median = 2.00) was used for some of the projects to send or receive tender documents.
Most respondents replied that none of the projects used the e-tendering system to send or receive tender documents. In addition, submitting tenders at a specific location had the highest median, 3.00, followed by email and e-tendering systems with median values of 2.00 and 1.00, respectively. In short, before the Covid-19 pandemic, most respondents obtained the tender documents from the office and submitted the tender at a specific location during the tender submission process for all projects.
Tendering System Frequency (n) Percentage (%)
- During Covid-19 Pandemic
- Early Stage of Covid-19 Pandemic
- Later Stage of Covid-19 Pandemic
- Summary of Three Phases
- Preferences for Tendering Methods
- Reliability Analysis
- Critical Success Factors of E-Tendering System Application A total of 14 critical success factors of e-tendering system application were
- Descriptive Test on Critical Success Factors of E-Tendering System Application
- Inferential Test on Critical Success Factors
- Obstacles of E-Tendering System Application
- Descriptive Test on Obstacles of Applying E-Tendering System from Perception of E-Tendering System Users
- Descriptive Test on Obstacles of Applying E-Tendering System from Perception of Non-E-Tendering System Users
- Inferential Test on Obstacles of E-Tendering System Application Spearman rank correlation was conducted to examine the relationship between
- Summary
- Conclusion
- To Compare Tendering System Used Prior to and During Covid- 19 Pandemic
- To Identify Critical Success Factors of E-Tendering System Application
- To Evaluate Obstacles of E-Tendering System Application
- Significances of Research
- Limitations of Research
- Recommendations for Future Research
The median and average of the critical success factors for the use of the e-tendering system are tabulated in Table 4.16. H1 : Both categories of respondents perceived the critical success factors of using the e-tendering system differently, p ≤ 0.05. This research provided an overview of the use of the e-tendering system in the construction industry during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the e-tendering system and email were sparingly used in the early stage of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, this research also provided the critical success factors and barriers in implementing an e-tendering system in the construction industry.
