Integration of Construction Supply Chain Management and Project Controls for Improved Cost Performance in Mega Projects

Cost escalation in megaprojects is frequently recorded as a project-controls problem although a material proportion of its antecedents originates outside the conventional cost ledger: in supplier capacity, procurement decisions, fabrication readiness, delivery uncertainty and poorly sequenced site work. This integrative review examines how construction supply chain management (CSCM) can be connected to project controls to improve the timeliness and reliability of cost decisions. Thirty DOI-identifiable publications dated 2020–2025 provide the core analytical literature, complemented by critical examination of the managerial mechanisms linking procurement and production information to schedule and cost forecasts. The review adopts thematic synthesis rather than a statistical meta-analysis because the publications differ in design, context and outcome measures. Four interdependent mechanisms emerge: a common work-package data structure; supplier-informed lookahead and change control; reconciliation of earned value, commitments and remaining exposure; and governance that assigns accountability for corrective action. An integrated control architecture and an explicitly hypothetical, internally reconciled numerical example illustrate how cost signals can change when upstream commitments and schedule consequences become visible. The argument is not that technology independently creates savings, but that decision quality improves when trusted supply-chain evidence is translated into actionable project forecasts. The paper develops research propositions and a validation agenda for complex, multi-contractor delivery environments, while identifying contractual, data-quality and organizational conditions under which integration may fail.