Pure CM Use in Public Works: FY2026 Survey Results
Overview
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism published the results of its FY2026 survey on the use of pure construction management (CM) in public works. Since the 2014 revision of the Public Works Quality Assurance Act, CM adoption has generally increased, and it is used in many cases from early stages such as basic planning and basic design. In building projects, about 90% of clients are municipalities, designated cities, and other public institutions; schools, government buildings, hospitals, and similar facilities account for about 60% of project uses. In civil engineering, many projects have been carried out in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, with Tohoku accounting for about 70% of the total. For disaster recovery projects, municipalities in Ishikawa Prefecture were included among users for the first time, and use in new construction and maintenance projects has also increased in recent years. The survey covered work awarded through FY2025 and received 852 valid responses.
Key points
- Since the 2014 revision of the Public Works Quality Assurance Act, CM adoption has generally increased.
- In building projects, about 90% of clients are municipalities, designated cities, and other public institutions, while schools, government buildings, hospitals, and similar facilities account for about 60% of uses.
- In civil engineering, Tohoku accounts for about 70% of all projects, and use in new construction and maintenance projects has increased in recent years.
- There were 852 valid responses: 599 for building projects and 253 for civil engineering projects.
Overview
The Act on Promoting the Quality Assurance of Public Works provides for the use of people capable of properly carrying out procurement-related duties and positions the CM method as one contract method suited to the scope of support required by the client. The CMR maintains technical neutrality and undertakes all or part of tasks on the client's side, such as considering designs and procurement methods and managing schedules and costs.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism organizes usage guidelines and case studies, focusing on the pure CM method, which has many examples in public works, and publishes survey results on its use.
Impact
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism says it will continue to inform local governments and other relevant bodies of the findings.
Details
The survey used questionnaires sent to companies belonging to industry associations. The Japan Construction Management Association handled building projects, and the Association of Japanese Consulting Engineers handled civil engineering projects. It covered pure CM work on public projects that met the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's definition and had been awarded by the end of FY2025, including work still in progress.
In many cases, the method is used from early stages such as basic planning and basic design. Civil engineering projects are concentrated in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, and municipalities in Ishikawa Prefecture were included among users of the method for disaster recovery projects for the first time. Disaster recovery accounts for many projects by category, while use in new construction and maintenance projects has increased in recent years.
There were 852 valid responses (49 companies): 599 for building projects (23 companies) and 253 for civil engineering projects (26 companies). The previous survey had 654 responses (47 companies): 438 for building projects (21 companies) and 216 for civil engineering projects (26 companies).