IDENTIFICATION AND RANKING OF THE CLAIM CAUSES IN THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS OF BUSHEHR PORTS AND MARINE ORGANIZATION

Generally, a claim is defined as the seeking of change by one of the parties involved in the construction process [1]. Also, claims are described as the assertion of the rightto money, property or remedy [2]. Construction claims are considered by many project participants to be one of the most disruptive and unpleasant events of a project [3].Once a claim has been presented, the owner and contractor can come to an agreement concerning the claim and, thereby, create a change order or a modification, or theymay disagree and create a construction contract dispute. Analyzing the various types and causes of claims is an important task to resolving these claims [4, 5, and 6].Claims may result in cost overruns, schedule delays and may jeopardize the working relationships amongst the contracting parties [7]. Due to conflicts and differences over claims, the construction industry is plagued by an adversarial atmosphere between clients and contractors [8]. The claim management process in the construction industry has to be clear and be understood by all parties especially the contractor in order to know how to manage them [9]. Several attempts were made in the literature to study the types of construction claims and determine their main causes and ways of avoiding them. Al-Khalil and AlGhafly determined the most important causes of delay claims in public utility projects in Saudi Arabia based on the frequency and severity of these causes [10]. Scott conducted a survey to investigate the causes and mechanisms that are used to prepare and evaluate delayclaims in United Kingdom [11].