1374198 - Factors Affecting Project Cost and Schedule During Covid-19

The coronavirus impacted various sectors and economies around the globe in a very drastic way because of its limitation to manpower, materials, and machines, and the transportation sector is not an exemption. As the industry is the most prominently dependent on labor and material, they have experienced an adverse effect on their economy, causing delays in the schedule and ultimately leading to cost overruns. Although many studies have been conducted to understand the causes of the cost and schedule overruns among different sectors during COVID-19, only a few attempts were made to analyze the perception of subject matter experts. Therefore, this study aims to identify various challenges transportation industry faced during the pandemic and analyze the factors affecting project cost and schedule. An extensive literature search was performed followed by a questionnaire survey. The study’s results revealed that cost overruns due to increased labor wages and changes in contract clauses were identified as the most critical challenges that affected the project cost during the pandemic. While the unavailability of laborers and lack of skilled/experienced workers resulted in schedule overruns, cash flow problems were also found to be potential issue that impacted the project schedule. The results of this study will assist researchers and professionals in the industry to develop preventive measures to manage cost and schedule overruns during any similar pandemics in future.