ProcuTrust: A Trustworthy Procurement and Management System for Building Services by Enabling Blockchain Integration

Abstract

Building services systems (BSSs) require complex procurement and management (P&M) requirements due to multiple stakeholder involvement, extensive documentation, and complex workflows. Blockchain technology (BT) has shown its potential in enhancing project performance through its decentralized structure, immutability, and smart contract functionality, enabling secure, transparent, and automated transactions. Despite growing interest in blockchain within construction, there remains a combined knowledge and empirical gap in the literature, particularly regarding the absence of a single source of truth system in the procurement and management of BSS. This study addresses the gap by developing, testing, and validating ProcuTrust, a blockchain-based system tailored for BSS. The system was developed using integrated blockchain platforms (BPs) Hyperledger Fabric and Hyperledger FireFly, following the design science research (DSR) methodology. Simulations and an expert forum were used to test and validate ProcuTrust. The system architecture, development process, and user interface of ProcuTrust are presented in the paper. The simulation testing and expert forum validation established that ProcuTrust is a trustworthy P&M system for BSS that meets industry requirements. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis of ProcuTrust further analyzed the strengths and opportunities that will benefit the industry, as well as the weaknesses and threats in the system that could be mitigated in the future. ProcuTrust is a unified management system that governs the entire life cycle of the BSS, from procurement to end of life, achieving trust, transparency, and efficiency. The ProcuTrust development process also provides a replicable model and system development process for future blockchain technology-based built environment applications.