A Probabilistic Method for Forensic Cost Estimating of Infrastructure Projects

To determine the existence of overpricing in infrastructure projects a deterministic approach has been typically used by the Brazilian Federal Police. Yet, Judges have often found it too difficult to determine if overpricing had occurred as contractors have tended to claim their projects were ‘uniqu...

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Main Authors: Signor, R., Love, Peter, Olatunji, Oluwole, Marchiori, F., Gripp, W.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/29015
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author Signor, R.
Love, Peter
Olatunji, Oluwole
Marchiori, F.
Gripp, W.
author_facet Signor, R.
Love, Peter
Olatunji, Oluwole
Marchiori, F.
Gripp, W.
author_sort Signor, R.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description To determine the existence of overpricing in infrastructure projects a deterministic approach has been typically used by the Brazilian Federal Police. Yet, Judges have often found it too difficult to determine if overpricing had occurred as contractors have tended to claim their projects were ‘unique’ and therefore subjected to price increases. Consequently, Judges have had to consider the likelihood of an error occurring, which has more often led to application of the in 'dubio pro reo' principle. To address the pervasive issue of overpricing in Brazilian infrastructure projects, a novel and robust probabilistic method that utilizes ‘distribution fitting’ using empirical data to forensically determine its occurrence is presented. Considering the limited research that has examined forensic cost estimating in construction, it is promulgated that the proposed approach can be used to support the legal fraternities worldwide to obtain a criminal conviction for overpricing of public infrastructure projects.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-290152017-09-13T15:51:38Z A Probabilistic Method for Forensic Cost Estimating of Infrastructure Projects Signor, R. Love, Peter Olatunji, Oluwole Marchiori, F. Gripp, W. To determine the existence of overpricing in infrastructure projects a deterministic approach has been typically used by the Brazilian Federal Police. Yet, Judges have often found it too difficult to determine if overpricing had occurred as contractors have tended to claim their projects were ‘unique’ and therefore subjected to price increases. Consequently, Judges have had to consider the likelihood of an error occurring, which has more often led to application of the in 'dubio pro reo' principle. To address the pervasive issue of overpricing in Brazilian infrastructure projects, a novel and robust probabilistic method that utilizes ‘distribution fitting’ using empirical data to forensically determine its occurrence is presented. Considering the limited research that has examined forensic cost estimating in construction, it is promulgated that the proposed approach can be used to support the legal fraternities worldwide to obtain a criminal conviction for overpricing of public infrastructure projects. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/29015 10.1016/j.apm.2016.05.025 Elsevier restricted
spellingShingle Signor, R.
Love, Peter
Olatunji, Oluwole
Marchiori, F.
Gripp, W.
A Probabilistic Method for Forensic Cost Estimating of Infrastructure Projects
title A Probabilistic Method for Forensic Cost Estimating of Infrastructure Projects
title_full A Probabilistic Method for Forensic Cost Estimating of Infrastructure Projects
title_fullStr A Probabilistic Method for Forensic Cost Estimating of Infrastructure Projects
title_full_unstemmed A Probabilistic Method for Forensic Cost Estimating of Infrastructure Projects
title_short A Probabilistic Method for Forensic Cost Estimating of Infrastructure Projects
title_sort probabilistic method for forensic cost estimating of infrastructure projects
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/29015