Delineating criteria for subcontractors registration considering divergence in skill base and scales

Subcontracting is a long-established practice in the construction industry to capitalise on the skills of trade specialists and to cope with the fluctuating construction demand. This mechanism if managed properly could lead to an improvement in quality and reduction in project time and costs. However, in the absence of a rational framework for evaluating subcontracting, it is difficult to ascertain whether the subcontractors appointed are capable of completing the subcontracted tasks satisfactorily. With an increasing awareness of the problems caused by inferior subcontractors, some countries maintain a centralised subcontractor registration system so as to eliminate those incompetent subcontractors from being invited from bidding for a subcontract. To improve the transparency and objectivity of subcontractor registration necessitates the establishment of a set of evaluation criteria. Yet, as the types and sizes of subcontracting firms are so diverse, it is unsure whether a generic set of evaluation criteria can be applied universally. This paper reports the results of a survey aiming at identifying the key criteria for subcontractor registration. This paper examines the perceptions of different project stakeholders, and the differences between subcontractors of various scales and levels of skill are also highlighted.