Understanding A + B bidding patterns and policy implications for ODOT project lettings.

Details

• Creators:
  Kosmopoulou, Georgia ; Zhou, Xueqi
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Oklahoma ; Langston University
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Construction projects
  • Bids
  • Incentives
  • Disincentives
  • Transportation departments
  • Surveys
  • Recommendations
  • Costs
  • Contracting
  • Procurement
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-OK-14-12
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Oklahoma
• Corporate Publisher:
  Oklahoma. Dept. of Transportation. Materials and Research Division
• Abstract:
  A key challenge for Departments of Transportation around the country is to keep the cost of construction low ; while ensuring that projects will be completed in a timely manner. Those goals can often be conflicting. The ; purpose of this research project was to investigate the empirical relationship between project cost and project ; duration to offer recommendations to the Department of Transportation on the optimal use of time incentives in ; the procurement process. ; We first surveyed all Transportation Agencies on their rules of implementation of A+B and ; incentive/disincentive designs. A complete survey of A+B and I/D letting practice is presented. Policy details such ; as application, scope and parameter choice are included in the report. ; We utilized program evaluation techniques to assess the performance of A+B bidding in comparison to the ; standard contracting low bid practice. Using our statistical knowledge and information on alternative contracting ; methods adopted by ODOT and other state Departments of Transportation, we conducted economic evaluation ; of contracting practices. The end goal was to prepare guidelines for distinguishing between costly projects and ; those that are economically practical to speed up, and help ODOT to improve efficiency in highway construction. ; We found evidence that item bids respond to the time incentive asymmetrically. As an example, items ; 202(C)0184 (Unclassified Borrow) and 619(B)2500 (Removal of Bridge Items) display especially favorable ; reactions to time incentives and hence projects that prescribe such items more heavily are desirable candidates ; for A+B letting consideration. There is evidence suggesting that bids (and the underlying cost) rise less steeply ; than for other items when time is a constraint. Naturally, acceleration on such items may be achieved at a ; relatively lower cost to the state department.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  ODOT SP&R Item Number 2257
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29124/dot_29124_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.24 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:a6c5245b8c564e94994343bdac1f4e2a47dfcaf615b55cab7f73daf2d65198a3