ASSESSING THE SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF TERM CONTRACTS: A CASE STUDY OF KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

Term contracts enable employers to expeditiously respond to small works, particularly for maintenance, within a fixed term at agreed rates. However, some organisations are still wary of the inherent difficulties associated with procuring small works. The procurement of contractors to implement urgent repairs and reactive maintenance has proven to be problematic because the work cannot be readily defined or measured at the outset of the project. And yet, the Kruger National Park (KNP) continues to use the term contracts model despite the challenges posed by this model. The research used semi-structured interviews to establish the critical success factors (CSF) for implementing term contracts using KNP as a case study. The data was analysed using a code-to-theory model for qualitative enquiry. The findings of this study identified planning, communication, project characteristics, stakeholder involvement and the project manager’s competence as CSF for the implementation of term contracts to achieve effective procurement and operations management practices. Project managers raised a concern with the lack of monitoring tools during the implementation of the term contract, especially with regard to measuring the performance against the set objectives of empowerment of local contractors. However, the measures for project success were found in the traditional methods, which include cost, quality and time, as well as present practices involving safety awareness, environmental impacts and dispute resolutions. For term contracts to be successful, effective management programmes would let the KNP identify innovative and resourceful operational programmes that will enable project managers to understand their strengths and weaknesses.