The research project „Indexation as an instrument to account for macroeconomic development for major projects“ is a co-operative research project between the Chair of Management and Logistics from Technische Universität Darmstadt and an international research organisation.

In the context of the co-operative research project it is analysed how indexation can be used as an instrument to account for macroeconomic development for major projects through the example of the construction of an internationally funded research facility. Thereby particular requirements and challenges to plan and manage the budget arise due to the diverse funding and large scale and time frame of the project. An important issue in the budget planning of the construction project is especially the indexation of expenses and contributions. All cash contributions from the member countries and the planned cash requirements for the project have been stated in prices of the base year and in order to index them to current-year contribution, cost indexation is applied per annum. Thereby, the goal is to measure the yearly changes in price, in order to depict the project specific inflation and adjust the budget planning and contributions accordingly to it.

The aim of this project is to propose a new indexation method for escalating planned cash requirements and partner contributions, which have been stated in prices as of the base year, to current-year values. Throughout the project several different options and levels of detail for the new indexation are examined and tested. Conclusively a recommendation for a new cost indexation is proposed.