be difficult for owners, contractors, and to the growing number of other participants that include investors and Insurance interests Driven by such factors as new markets, domestic competition, and trade liberalization,U.S.owners and contractors have aggressively pursued international business opportunities and projects. International work quires owners to assess a diverse set of political, geographic, economic, environmental, regulatory, security, and cultural risk factors when contemplating an international capital project. In addition, contractors must consider a similar set of risk factors in determining whether to undertake such projects, and how to price and schedule the work if they do. Organizations are more likely to successfully plan and deliver international ventures when they have a more comprehensive understanding of the commercial, political, construction and operations uncertainties and risks with such project. A limited amount of research has been undertaken to address these issues. Current efforts to assess and evaluate the risks associated with international construction re fragmented and often fail to provide adequate assistance to project managers because few management tools or techniques exist to identify, assess, and help manage the risks Most industry analysts agree that international business opportunities will continue to attract U.S foreign investment and the international construction market will attract U.S. contractors. U.S. Owners aggressively pursue international opportunities to seek out new markets or improve cost effectiveness in manufacturing operations. The globalization of international construction markets provides tremendous opportunities for contractors to expand into new foreign markets(Hann and Diekmann 2002). Respondents to a survey on the future of international construction markets for the next 25 years agreed that American firms in specialized construction services possess a competitive advantage, and will continue to export construction services(Bon 2001) The Center for Construction Industry Studies(CCIS), the Construction Industry Institute(CID), and the Design, Procurement and Construction Specific Interest Group of the Project Management Institute(DPC-SIG) funded our research study in 2000 to improve risk assessment procedures for international construction. CCiS is a multi-disciplinary research program studying the construction industry located at the University of Texas at Austin and is part of the Sloan Foundations Industry Centers program. CCIS was created with a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Construction Industry Institute(Cil) to perform multi-disciplinary, long range studies addressing construction industry challenges in order to complement the traditionally short-term research process employed by Cll and others. This study was sponsored by CCis to focus on it research thrust areas in project execution processes and economics, finance, and dispute resolution. CIl is a research organization whose mission is to improve the competitiveness of the construction industry. It is a consortium of approximately 90 leading owners and contractors who have joined together to find better ways of planning and executing capital construction programs. PMI participation with this research effort was promoted by the interdisciplinary scope of the research, and the desire to continue its efforts to evaluate the changing nature of the project execution process and the implication of these changes on the industry The goal of our collaborative research effort was to develop a risk management process to increase the success of international capital facilities for owners and contractors, with project success defined as budget and schedule achievement, and meeting technical and operational objectives. Principal beneficiaries of the results are project managers in the industrial, building, and infrastructure construction sectors, including both private and public organizations that conduct international operations and activities. The tools and techniques that were developed are relevant to organizations outside of construction given that many project risk issues and factors are generic and systemic Completed in December 2003, our investigation produced the International Project Risk Assessment (PRA) tool(CIl Implementation Resource 181-2 and Cll Research Report 181-11). The tool and supporting documentation provides a systematic method to identify, assess, and determine the relative importance of international-specific risks across the projects life cycle and spectrum of participants to allow for subsequent mitigation. The associated research report describes in detail the research performed including the methodology, data analysis, and value of the research to industry. The IPRa is the first management tool of its kind that allows for the identification and assessment of the life cycle risk issues specific to international construction fo both owners and contractors. Furthermore, the tool is unique because the created Baseline Relative Impact values are based upon empirical data using industry expert inputs reporting on actual projects, and the Ipra identifies the risk factors of highest importance to the project team2 be difficult for owners, contractors, and to the growing number of other participants that include investors and insurance interests. Driven by such factors as new markets, domestic competition, and trade liberalization, U.S. owners and contractors have aggressively pursued international business opportunities and projects. International work requires owners to assess a diverse set of political, geographic, economic, environmental, regulatory, security, and cultural risk factors when contemplating an international capital project. In addition, contractors must consider a similar set of risk factors in determining whether to undertake such projects, and how to price and schedule the work if they do. Organizations are more likely to successfully plan and deliver international ventures when they have a more comprehensive understanding of the commercial, political, construction and operations uncertainties and risks with such project. A limited amount of research has been undertaken to address these issues. Current efforts to assess and evaluate the risks associated with international construction are fragmented and often fail to provide adequate assistance to project managers because few management tools or techniques exist to identify, assess, and help manage the risks. Most industry analysts agree that international business opportunities will continue to attract U.S. foreign investment and the international construction market will attract U.S. contractors. U.S. Owners aggressively pursue international opportunities to seek out new markets or improve cost effectiveness in manufacturing operations. The globalization of international construction markets provides tremendous opportunities for contractors to expand into new foreign markets (Hann and Diekmann 2002). Respondents to a survey on the future of international construction markets for the next 25 years agreed that American firms in specialized construction services possess a competitive advantage, and will continue to export construction services (Bon 2001). The Center for Construction Industry Studies (CCIS), the Construction Industry Institute (CII), and the Design, Procurement and Construction Specific Interest Group of the Project Management Institute (DPC-SIG) funded our research study in 2000 to improve risk assessment procedures for international construction. CCIS is a multi-disciplinary research program studying the construction industry located at the University of Texas at Austin and is part of the Sloan Foundation’s Industry Centers program.. CCIS was created with a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Construction Industry Institute (CII) to perform multi-disciplinary, long￾range studies addressing construction industry challenges in order to complement the traditionally short-term research process employed by CII and others. This study was sponsored by CCIS to focus on it research thrust areas in project execution processes and economics, finance, and dispute resolution. CII is a research organization whose mission is to improve the competitiveness of the construction industry. It is a consortium of approximately 90 leading owners and contractors who have joined together to find better ways of planning and executing capital construction programs. PMI participation with this research effort was promoted by the interdisciplinary scope of the research, and the desire to continue its efforts to evaluate the changing nature of the project execution process and the implication of these changes on the industry. The goal of our collaborative research effort was to develop a risk management process to increase the success of international capital facilities for owners and contractors, with project success defined as budget and schedule achievement, and meeting technical and operational objectives. Principal beneficiaries of the results are project managers in the industrial, building, and infrastructure construction sectors, including both private and public organizations that conduct international operations and activities. The tools and techniques that were developed are relevant to organizations outside of construction given that many project risk issues and factors are generic and systemic. Completed in December 2003, our investigation produced the International Project Risk Assessment (IPRA) tool (CII Implementation Resource 181-2 and CII Research Report 181-11). The tool and supporting documentation provides a systematic method to identify, assess, and determine the relative importance of international-specific risks across the project’s life cycle and spectrum of participants to allow for subsequent mitigation. The associated research report describes in detail the research performed including the methodology, data analysis, and value of the research to industry. The IPRA is the first management tool of its kind that allows for the identification and assessment of the life cycle risk issues specific to international construction for both owners and contractors. Furthermore, the tool is unique because the created Baseline Relative Impact values are based upon empirical data using industry expert inputs reporting on actual projects, and the IPRA identifies the risk factors of highest importance to the project team