United States Department of Transportation
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Synthesis on the Best Practices for State DOTs to Determine Project Delivery Time, Project Management, and Ratio of Consultant to In-House Design
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2021-01-01
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[PDF-6.47 MB]
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Edition:Final Report, 1/2019 – 12/2019
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Abstract:Transportation agencies are experiencing unprecedented pressure to deliver projects successfully. An obvious response to this pressure is to improve the project delivery process through the implementation of available successful project management practices. Also, with increasing restraints upon budgets and large workloads, transportation agencies are contracting out portions of their project design and delivery. Understanding these practices plays a vital role in the successful delivery of transportation projects. The overall objective of this project was to synthesize the best practices for departments of transportation (DOTs) project delivery processes by looking at all factors of project delivery, including time estimation, project management, and suggested ratios of in-house versus consultant for project delivery. This study focused on tools, techniques, and processes required to deliver a transportation project effectively, and investigated the impact of design outsourcing on project schedule and cost. To achieve the objectives of this project, the research team first performed a literature review pertaining to transportation project delivery to discover project management dimensions in transportation projects. Then, they designed a survey to identify general project management practices in the DOTs’ delivery process. The research team piloted the survey and then distributed it among state transportation agencies via an online platform. The online survey was performed, followed by a series of interviews, to collect the perspectives of the experts and professionals in state DOT agencies across the nation. The research team analyzed the results of the survey and performed follow-up interviews to confirm the results. A total of 96 completed surveys and 6 follow-up interviews were conducted to collect the required information. Finally, the research team developed a matrix to document their recommendations for the best practices for DOT project delivery processes. The results highlighted 12 project management dimensions in transportation projects including time management, cost management, quality control and inspection, environmental process, right-of-way and utilities, safety, outsourcing, value engineering, change orders, type of contracting, workforce qualification, and operation and maintenance. The results showed that although there is no publicly available manual or guideline for every identified project management dimensions in every state DOT agency, most of the agencies implement them in their transportation projects. In addition, although the results proved that DOT projects use around 40% of the project budget for contracting out some part of the projects and using consultants, this value significantly depends on the project’s characteristics. For example, state DOT agencies prefer to use more outsourcing in larger and more complex projects, especially ones located in an urban area. The results also indicated that the main reasons for state DOT agencies to contract out parts of the projects are (1) insufficient in-house personnel, (2) lack of required particular expertise within the agencies, and (3) time constraints of the project activities.
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