Journal of Civil Engineering Vol 68 No 2

2 The Journalof theSouthAfrican InstitutionofCivilEngineering , which is distributed internationally, is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY-NC-ND). Readers may therefore freely use and share the content as long as they credit the original creator and publisher, do not change the material in any way, and do not use it commercially. Copyright of this article remains with the authors. Chiloane-Nwabueze S, Fitchett A, Glendinning A. The development of a framework to register, grade, and assess contractors’ performance. J. S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Eng. 2026:68(2), Art. #1701, 18 pages. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2309-8775/2026/v68n2a1 DR SALOME CHILOANE-NWABUEZE is the Head of Integration, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Bulk Water Services Business Unit at Rand Water, which is responsible for informing continuous improvement in bulk water supply. She holds both an MSc and a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Witwatersrand. Her academic interests are in the areas of project management, water engineering, and wastewater engineering. She is actively involved in the water sector, research, and guiding postgraduate students. ORCID iD: orcid.org/0000-0002-1033-523X Contact details: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Witwatersrand Private Bag 3 Wits, 2050 South Africa salomenwabueze@gmail.com PROF ANNE FITCHETT is a retired Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her PhD was on employment creation. Her research specialisations are in project management, environmental engineering (specifically stormwater management) and innovative structural systems, especially those using cement-stabilised earth construction. ORCID iD: orcid.org/0000-0003-4676-296X Contact details: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Witwatersrand Private Bag 3 Wits, 2050 South Africa anne.fitchett@wits.ac.za ADV. ALISTAIR GLENDINNING has 32 years’ experience in project management and law and has worked on some of the largest multi-disciplinary projects in South Africa from the consulting, contracting, and client perspectives. He has extensive experience in the fields of construction, engineering, and labour law. His strength lies in the integration of the technical and legal elements of the engineering process, whether at concept, design, construction or implementation phase. In addition, he can accurately impart advice on the existence of contractual breaches, possible ramifications, and the assessment for the speediest resolution thereof. Contact details: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Witwatersrand Private Bag 3 Wits, 2050 South Africa glendinning.aj@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Economic development can be measured by the physical development of infrastruc- ture such as bridges, roads, and buildings (Alzahrani & Emsley 2013). According to Thwala (2005), investment in infrastruc- ture has huge potential to redress the high unemployment and poverty levels in South Africa. The aim of all parties – including client, contractor, consultants, suppliers, and end users – involved in a construction project in either the public or private sec- tor is to complete the project on schedule, within the planned budget, with the required quality, and in the safest manner (Abiodun et al 2017). However, this is not always the case, as contracts are sometimes awarded to contractors who cannot deliver the project outputs (Mohlala 2015). The Construction Industry Development Board (2011) indicates that the failure rate of infrastructure projects in South Africa has greatly increased. Factors such as time, cost, quality, and client satis- faction are some indicators used to meas- ure performance in a project environment (Cheung et al 2004). Unfortunately, most contractors in government infrastructure projects fall short when assessed against these indicators (Mohlala 2015). Among many other failures experienced in the South African construction industry is the failure to complete projects within the agreed schedule and period and against the required quality standards (Dithebe et al 2022). Contractors responsible for the failures are required to rectify work done, which in turn increases the cost of the project, resulting in both cost and time overruns. Unsurprisingly, most South African contractors who have implemented TECHNICAL PAPER JOURNAL OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERING ISSN 1021-2019 (print) | ISSN 2309-8775 (online) Vol 68 No 2, June 2026, Pages 2–19, Paper 1701 The development of a framework to register, grade, and assess contractors’ performance S Chiloane-Nwabueze, A Fitchett, A Glendinning The construction sector plays a key role in the economic development of a country. The management of this sector is thus crucial in maximising both the performance of the sector and the economy. South Africa’s construction sector has some level of inefficiencies that could be improved to enhance the sector’s performance outputs. To achieve this, the study reviewed the literature on relevant key concepts and developed a questionnaire and framework using the Analytical Hierarchy Process. In the study, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to key participants in the industry to establish whether there is a need to enhance the current registration, grading, and performance evaluation of contractors in the construction sector and to establish relevant criteria. The grading and performance assessment of contractors is a multi-criteria decision- making process. This paper applied the Analytical Hierarchy Process to develop a framework to register, grade, and assess the performance of contractors. From the 149 respondents, the results received from the questionnaires have revealed that improving the current contractor grading system, construction entry requirements, efficacy of the grading system, and efficacy of the grading and performance evaluation criteria may lead to enhanced contractor capabilities and project performance, which is the outcome variable. Thus, the paper proposes a system for registering, grading, and assessing the performance of contractors in the infrastructure construction sector. Keywords: construction sector, grading system, multi-criteria decision making, contractor grading, performance assessment