The management and execution of large construction projects is a very challenging task because of their multiple components, complexity and singularity. These projects can be composed of various structures or one massive structure built in phases, and commonly share a purpose, resources and stakeholders. The occupation that has been designated to undertake this endeavor is the Construction Program Manager. Many attempts have been made throughout the years to establish the specific responsibilities and functions of Program Managers, but an industry-wide consensus has yet to be reached. The Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) describes Program Management as the practice of professional Construction Management applied to one or more projects, integrating the different facets of the construction process by providing technical and management expertise. The extend of the services provided by the Program Managers have not been standardized, but in a survey done annually by the CMAA and FMI (consulting firm) to Construction Owners (2007) it was concluded that the main functions that Program Manager should be performed by a Project Managers were: construction oversight, design oversight, pre-design planning, procurement oversight, post-construction services, construction performance and design performance. This survey also determined that owners were concerned about the education and skill set of Program Managers.

During the planning phase, Program Managers need to know which project delivery method will be most beneficial to the project. It is very difficult to implement creative strategies in the public sector because there are many constrains established by regulations such as the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Furthermore, there are numerous examples of budget overruns in the public sector, as a product of poor planning, deficient management and lack of exit strategies. One of these examples is Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel Project. The project relied heavily on federal funding and was pushed through by different political institutions, even though president Ronald Regan tried to veto the project because it was “an example of wasteful federal spending”. These officials missed the opportunity of taking advantage of using private funding through a Design-Build-Operate (DBO) or Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM) delivery method and use government funding for other purposes.

Another aspect to take into account is the sourcing strategy. Private companies and public institutions can decide whether to manage the different construction phases with in-house personnel (internal) or hire one or more companies (external). Most private companies that do not have construction as their core business hire external companies to manage and staff a portion of the program, while keeping in house staff in certain key areas such as finances. Private institutions benefit from having different pricing options and the capability of terminating the service in case of a deficiency in performance. On the other hand, public entities have to rely on the capacity of in house employees due to the lack of flexibility to hire external companies to manage public projects. Both private and public organizations tend to use a selective group of companies to outsource parts of the construction lifecycle for cost and performance predictability assurance.