Project management is an experience-driven and knowledge-centralized activity. The research community studied the project factors and concluded that failure of a project is not on account of a single factor; multiple factors are involved for its failure. The main objective of this paper is to identify the main factors that affect a project and cause its failure, In this regard, data collected from seventeen public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtoon Khwah (KPK), Pakistan by conducting Interview and Questionnaire. To provide the data, respondents were given the choice of being interviewed or self-administer the questionnaires. It is found from the data collected that projects are poorly designed lacking significant aspects of planning such as objectivity, feasibility, appraisal and detail cost estimate. Moreover, monitoring and evaluation of the projects are not properly conducted during whole project life cycle. Therefore, project lacked a quality management system and causes main risk factors for failure. However, change in project scope, design and priorities, poor utilization of management techniques, mismanaged annual plan of operation and diluted resources committed to projects cripple the situation by adversely affecting the performance and quality. © 2012 IEEE.