An Assessment of Design Errors as Potential Sources of Disputes in Public Projects

Among the main reasons for project failures and disputes are design errors that, in contrast to construction defects, originate from the professional planning stage. This study aims to identify the most frequent design errors in Türkiye’s public procurement projects. The causes of disputes in 130 cases that were referred to the Supreme Scientific Council (YFK) between 2005 and 2020 were examined for this purpose. As Türkiye’s regulatory body for public procurement projects, the Supreme Scientific Council is tasked with examining and resolving disputes between the contractor and the administration on matters specified by the law. The conventional project delivery method, in which the public employer is accountable for design documentation and prescriptive specifications, is a major component of Türkiye’s public procurement system. The most common mistakes found in design documentation are discussed in this article along with their causes and potential repercussions. The findings of the study indicate that insufficient and inconsistent tender documents account for 71% of the fundamental causes of disputes, with inaccurate, complex, and ambiguous design accounting for 26%. The study’s recommendations can assist the government and significant players in the construction sector to create remedial actions to reduce errors and improve the quality of design documents.