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Chapter 6: Observations, Recommendations & Implementation

This scan team reviewed and documented the policies and strategies used in Europe to determine risk assessment and administer warranty contracts. The European hosts prepared formal presentations and written documents for technology transfer to the United States. In addition, the hosts provided the team with candid insights regarding the successes and challenges that they face with their warranty programs. Throughout the study, team members discussed their observations and critically evaluated which of the techniques and strategies used in the host countries could be practically and successfully implemented in the United States. Team members met at the end of the study to review their findings and developed the following summary observations, recommendations, and implementation strategies. These observations, recommendations, and implementation strategies are those of the scan team and not FHWA.

Summary Observations

The European and U.S. transportation communities are quite similar in terms of the political, financial, and resource challenges that they face. However, the European transportation agencies are better leveraging the innovative management techniques, technical innovations, and financing capabilities of the private sector. There is a more spirited effort of partnership and collaboration between the public and private sectors in Europe than in the United States. The summary observations are listed below to provide a context for the recommendations and implementation strategies.

Similar Transportation Needs

Long History of Material and Workmanship Warranties

Purchasing Performance in Addition to Materials

Best-Value Procurement

Public-Private Partnering

Motivation for Alternative Contract Methods

Balanced Contracting Approach

Financing

Outsourcing of Maintenance

Recommendations

The European host countries all believe that their long history of warranty application has improved the performance of their highway and trunk road systems. Their warranty systems continue to evolve through a customer-focused partnership between government and industry. Best-value procurement and prequalification are vital elements of the warranty system. Material and workmanship warranties are in use on all short-term warranties. Five-year performance warranties are in use when the contractor completes some level of design. The long-term performance warranties include design, construction, and some type of planned maintenance. The Europeans hosts use all of these warranties in balanced contracting approaches.

This scan team, which was composed of members from Federal, State, and local agencies, industry, and academia, offers the following recommendations on the basis of its observations of successful warranty programs in Europe:

Federal Government

State and Local Government

Industry

Implementation

The scan team formed a small group to develop a scan technology implementation plan (STIP). The plan outlines a series of activities to disseminate, test, assess, and implement the techniques and strategies discovered on the study. These activities focus on awareness, understanding, commitment, and action. The STIP Team includes Monte Symons, FHWA; Steve Bower, Michigan DOT; Gerald Huber, Heritage Research Group; and Jim Wood, City of Dallas.

STIP Observations

The STIP Team developed the following list of observations relevant to the implementation plan:

  1. Each country has a long history of involvement in asphalt warranties, and all believe that warranties have improved the quality of the system.
  2. All five countries use a best-value system in lieu of the low bid only to determine contractors on warranty contracts.
  3. There is a direct relationship between contractor involvement in construction and materials specifications and length of warranty period. Short-term warranty periods (1-2 years) have limited contractor involvement, and in the longest warranty periods the contractors are allowed to use most of their own specifications materials.
  4. Pavement condition and performance criteria have been established from historical records.
  5. Contract responsibilities are specific and generally hold contractors responsibility for only those items that are under their control.
  6. Contractor responsibility for pavement maintenance is a part of all warranty contracts if pavement performance criteria are not achieved or maintained.
  7. The relationships and cooperation between owner agencies and warranty contractors is significantly different than in the United States.

STIP Recommendations

The STIP Team believes that substantial change in existing contracting processes in the United States is required to implement ideas and concepts identified during the Asphalt Pavement Warranty Scan. To accomplish these changes, the STIP Team has identified a change model that consists of activities associated with (1) awareness and understanding of the scan findings, (2) commitment of agencies and industry to some underlying warranty contract principles, and (3) specific actions that will facilitate more widespread and common use of asphalt warranties. The following tasks and subtasks are proposed to implement the findings:

Task 1.0 - Widespread Distribution of Scan Findings
  1. 1.1 Provide support for members to make presentations on the scan findings to targeted audiences, such as industry associations, key industry/owner technical working groups, agency technical and management groups (estimated 15 to 20 presentations).
  2. 1.2 Develop and distribute glossy brochure summarizing findings and recommendations.
  3. 1.3 Develop a detailed implementation plan that provides documentation of benefits based on sound business principles from both the owner and contractor perspectives.
Task 2.0 - Trial Use and Evaluation of Asphalt Pavement Warranty Contracts
Task 3.0 - Specific Actions for Implementation
  1. 3.1 Provide uniform pavement performance evaluation of trial and innovative contracts that use asphalt pavement warranty concepts.
  2. 3.2 Document and distribute cost-benefit information on trial contracts.
  3. 3.3 Prepare and distribute asphalt pavement warranty guidelines.
  4. 3.4 Prepare policy guidance documents for justification of asphalt pavement warranty contracts for Federal, State, and local projects, with examples.

Conclusions

U.S. highways agencies are continuously striving to improve the performance of their pavements while reducing life cycle costs through the use of appropriate technologies and contracting mechanisms. These agencies are striving for these improvements in an environment of diminishing agency personnel and increasing traffic demands. The scan team believes that these agencies will realize benefits from the use of warranty contracting, but they will need to develop new roles and responsibilities alongside the private sector in an environment that appropriately allocates risk.

The scan team members strongly recommend that the innovative ideas described in this report be considered and evaluated for use in the United States, because they could improve the performance of our pavements and create an environment of long-term partnership between the public and private sectors. The true value of this information will only be realized when these recommendations are shared, evaluated, and, as appropriate, put into place. The challenge ahead is to find champions to test these ideas and disseminate the results in the hopes that the U.S. highway industry can benefit from the experiences of its peers in Europe.

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Page last modified on November 7, 2014
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