Proposed Structure for the Supervision and Administration of Major Works Contracts: A Major Case Study in Mozambique.

The responsibility for the construction, maintenance and management of Mozambique's national road network was devolved to the "Administracao Nacional de Estradas" (ANE)-National Roads Administration- in 2000. This body is currently implementing an ambitious programme for the construction and maintenance of the country's trunk and secondary roads, with a budget of USD 1.7 billion to be expended over the next 10 years and funded by the Government of Mozambique and the international donor community. At any one time there are a large number of major works contracts, each valued in excess of USD 20 million, in progress throughout the country. From experience on previous similar projects in the preceding decade it has become apparent that the traditional model of supervision has not provided an acceptable level of control and contract administration, due in part to the remoteness of such works from the centre of authority and decision making (government, and funding agencies). The relatively poor level of infrastructure, both physical and communications, has exacerbated the problem to such an extent that when major problems arise the response of the appropriate authorities can be delayed and incomplete. With specific experience on projects funded by the European Union through the European Development Fund (EDF), and operating under the EDF regulations and conditions of contract, a new structure for contract supervision and administration has been developed, incorporating ANE's head office, ANE's provincial delegations and the consulting engineers. This structure has been based on the following principles: Delegation of appropriate authorities to the Supervisor and Supervisor's Representative; Separation of the Technical and Administrative functions assigned under EDF conditions; Retaining sufficient Technical competencies at site level (Resident Engineer and site staff); Allocating the Administrative functions to a Project Manager, based in Maputo but spending at least 1 week/month on site. The structure, functions, duties and authorities of the various members of the supervision team are defined and explained in this paper using the case histories of recent works. For the covering abstract see ITRD E135448.