Why Value-Engineering Registers Stall

Most organisations that run value engineering keep a register. Few can say what became of the items in it. This report treats the register as an operating artefact rather than a technique, and traces where a logged idea fails to become an adopted change in Indian practice: no named owner, no decision deadline, a saving that belongs to no budget holder, an approval that arrives after the design is fixed, and a reward structure in which the party who saves is not the party who benefits. It is built on the General Financial Rules as updated to 31 January 2026, the Department of Expenditure's Manual for Procurement of Works (Second Edition, 2025), the MoRTH value engineering circular of 2022, Central Vigilance Commission guidance and the Council of Architecture's fee framework.

Part of AECS Research Global's publications programme — drawing on ARG's work across cost management, EPC advisory and integrated project delivery. Download the full report below.