The Asian Development Bank acknowledges that the global construction industry faces many challenges impacting participation in and pricing of large-scale ADB-funded infrastructure projects. The continued effects of COVID-19, higher construction material costs, labor shortages, surging inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, high energy and commodity prices, and supply chain bottlenecks all affect contractors' interest in ADB-funded projects.

As the global construction industry adapts to these ongoing challenges and in conjunction with ADB’s requirement to achieve complete alignment with the Paris Agreement for all sovereign operations1, ADB wishes to conduct small face-to-face focus group consultations with contractors, suppliers, and large project management firms that have either previously participated or are interested in participating in ADB projects to understand their views on how ADB needs to update its practices relating to the traditional project design, market engagement, procurement evaluation methods, contract types and contract management.

ADB acknowledges the need to recalibrate its current thinking on certain contract elements (risk distribution, value engineering, completion bonuses, etc.) to help its borrowers attract the right type of bidders that can deliver quality and value for money under ADB-financed projects. However, to make contract conditions more appealing to contractors and suppliers, it is first necessary to understand their views on risk allocation/ mitigation, profit margins, selection criteria, and other factors.
To this end, ADB is undertaking Pacific roadshows in Sydney, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand.