Integrating whole life cost into the evaluation of design-build in Korea

The Korean construction industry is one of Korea's most important industries accounting for around 10% of the GDP of Korea. Korea has faced a rapidly changing environment in its globalisation and internationalisation processes since the market opened up in 1995. Public clients have increasingly become concerned with the cost of capital construction projects. They have been seeking better value for money with more attention being paid to the whole life cost of projects. The use of design-build (D-B) is on the increase with clients perceiving it as providing better value for money. Procurement based on 'Value for Money' and 'Best Value' is high on the Korean government's agenda in order to achieve the delivery of cost-effective projects, ensure competitiveness, and keep up with high quality of projects. However, what is lacking is an appraisal system that can evaluate bids based upon their whole life. In order to meet public clients' multiple needs, whole life cost (WLC) is one of major challenges for D-B in the public sector as a systematic and holistic approach. The research findings are valuable to a public sector client in Korea who is seeking better value for money, encouraging fairness and transparency and expanding competition based on long-term cost ownership. The contribution of this research lies in the proposed WLC process map for D-B and its identified WLC evaluation stages on this map.