Combining project delivery system selection with project scheduling in the public infrastructure sector

Project delivery systems (PDSs) play a crucial role in determining a construction project’s success, yet their selection often relies on subjective judgements, leading to issues such as delays, cost overruns and quality deficiencies. While several tools have been developed to guide this decision, owner qualifications, available resources and project scheduling were often overlooked, despite their strong correlation with the PDS selection. This study proposes a decision support tool combining PDS selection and project scheduling through a multi-objective optimization model. The tool assists in assigning the most suitable PDS for each construction project while considering human resources and deadlines. The tool also includes both traditional and collaborative PDSs to align with evolving industry needs. A public infrastructure case study demonstrated the tool’s effectiveness by evaluating multiple scenarios and analysing the impact of PDS selection and scheduling decisions on the project completion. Results highlight the influence of owner preferences and project objectives on the outcomes, emphasizing the need to align decisions with project goals. By integrating PDS selection with project scheduling, this research fills a gap in the literature and offers a practical, data-driven approach to improving decision-making in construction project management.