Indonesia’s construction sector has been a driving force in its economic growth over the last five years, before COVID-19 pandemic, due to massive government spending on infrastructure development. One of the resulting concerns has been the capacity of public procurement for construction works to select builders capable of delivering quality infrastructures. To address this concern, this paper presents a study to measure the maturity of procurement units for public construction projects. This study aimed to provide information for the Indonesian government in mitigating the risks related to its procurement unit’s capability of delivering its demanding infrastructure projects. This research used the maturity model developed specifically for construction public procurement. There were 48 respondents from the Ministry of Public Works and Housings’ 16 procurement units in 15 provinces. The analyses were conducted using descriptive statistics based on location groupings, overall maturity index, dimensions, and elements. The maturity of procurement units for construction projects remains at the second level of five. The need for further capacity-building programmes for procurement units in Indonesia is still relevant, especially the improvement of procurement planning as the first and most important part of the procurement processes.

Indonesia is an earthquake-prone country. In many earthquakes, the housing sector suffers the most damage. Repairing and rebuilding houses is often the most expensive part of post-disaster recovery, placing a burden on the government. Standards and guidelines for earthquake-resilient houses exist, yet houses continue to be damaged in earthquake events. Although Indonesia has numerous engineers, both experienced and newly qualified, only a few are interested in pursuing and identifying affordable solutions to the housing problems caused by earthquakes that are sustainable and resilient. Moreover, people are unaware of and unable to implement the proposed and promoted solutions. With many people living in earthquake-prone areas with little access to affordable and appropriate technology, the challenge facing Indonesia today is to produce more engineers who have the level of sensitivity, empathy, and passion required to address this great humanitarian need. The promotion of humanitarian engineering to provide appropriate solutions must start early on in higher engineering education.

Lean construction (LC) has gained strong interest and is increasingly deployed in both Indonesia and Australia, two neighbouring countries with different development stages. While one is rapidly developing and the other is a developed country and has a relatively 'mature' construction industry, both face similar productivity challenges. This study uses the Technological, Organizational, and Environmental (TOE) framework to explore factors affecting Lean Construction adoption in both countries. Through multiple case studies of five companies from each country, the results reveal similar TOE factors, with notable differences, particularly in government roles in promoting LC. Overall, Australian firms took a slower, more isolated approach, while Indonesian firms had more interactions and collaborations with academics and professional bodies. This comparison is valuable in identifying converging factors and potential lessons for both countries. We remain hopeful that LC adoption will continue to thrive in the region and look forward to more research and industry case studies emerging.