Are monitoring and incentives the only mitigation to the buyer agency problem in complex infrastructure developments?

In purchasing, agency theory is applied to address aberrant behaviour by the supplier, examined in high volume or contract value industries. Amortised over the length or scale of a continuous relationship, sunk monitoring and incentive costs are recovered through more effective goal alignment between buyers and suppliers. Peripatetic prime contractors deliver one-off complex infrastructure developments globally. Prime buyers source from original equipment manufacturers, relationships which can be transitory and transactional. This study conducted interviews with buyers from power plant construction projects and reports on a new to literature response to agency problems- the use of supply brokers as workarounds.