Efforts to improve quality in highway construction embrace many aspects of the construction process. Quality goals include enhanced efficiency and productivity, optimal cost and delivery time, improved performance, and changes in attitude-promoting a team approach and focusing on the highway user as a valued customer. One facet of this comprehensive quality effort is the ongoing development of alternative contract management techniques, specifications, and bidding strategies designed to improve the quality of construction, save time, manage risk, and ultimately provide better performing pavements and bridges at optimal cost. State highway agencies (SHA’s) are increasingly turning to contracting methods designed to reduce project delivery time and shift more responsibility for workmanship and quality to the contractor. Although SHA’s are increasingly implementing innovative contracting methods, the criteria for implementation vary widely among SHA’s, and the effects of implementation have not been comprehensively explored and disseminated to the highway industry. This study was undertaken to determine which innovative contracting methods have the greatest potential for widespread use in the U.S. highway construction industry, and when and how to effectively implement these methods.
This document is a technical summary of the Federal Highway Administration report "Alternative Contracting Method Performance in U.S. Highway Construc...
Caltrans intends this manual as a resource for all personnel engaged in contract administration. The manual establishes policies and procedures for th...
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United States Department of Transportation
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