Resilient Contractual Architecture in Public Road Projects: Optimizing Price Adjustments under Humanitarian Engineering Principles

Abstract

Traditional price adjustment mechanisms in public road infrastructure projects exhibit structural constraints that affect contractual financial stability and, consequently, the continuity of critical works serving vulnerable populations. In the Peruvian regulatory framework, rigid application of polynomial formulas and conventional grouping of Unified Construction Price Indices (IUPC) have generated discrepancies between real market fluctuations and recognized contractual adjustments. This research introduces a resilient contractual architecture model that strategically reorganizes technical index grouping as a financial balance and risk management instrument, incorporating humanitarian engineering principles aimed at territorial sustainability. A quantitative explanatory cross-sectional design was applied to three national road projects executed in 2021 under contracting modality. Monthly adjustments, deductive adjustments, bid variation effects, and an optimized index-grouping configuration were analyzed against executed adjustments. Findings reveal strong statistical associations between optimized index structuring and improved financial consistency across projects. The evidence suggests that technically restructured adjustment systems reduce contractual distortions and strengthen alignment between physical progress and economic compensation. The study concludes that price adjustment optimization should be understood not merely as an accounting refinement but as a structural resilience mechanism that safeguards continuity of essential public road infrastructure in territorially vulnerable contexts.