U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
The following list of questions contains six (6) topics that the U.S. panel would like to discuss with you. These questions are intended to clarify and expand upon the Panel Topics of Interest described in the Panel Overview paper. Each of these six topics is subdivided into more specific categories. Use these questions as a guide, but please comment on any innovative techniques, particularly successful experiences or not-so-successful experiences, that our panel has overlooked in the questions.
I-2. What other contracting techniques is your country currently using or considering?
I-3. Were there any governmental or legislative issues that inhibited the use of these techniques? If so, how were they overcome?
Project and Delivery Team Selection
I-4. If your country uses multiple contracting techniques, what are the issues of concern or criteria considered when selecting a particular contracting technique for a project?
I-5. What parameters, in addition to cost, does your country use to select contractors or teams? For example in the United States, we use both "low-bid," which is based solely on price, and "best-value," which is a combination of price and technical factors. Are there other methods for contractor or team selection?
I-6. How are design firms selected when competing on innovative design projects?
I-7. How are construction contractors selected to maximize innovation and/or early completion?
I-8. What have been your most successful contracting techniques? How has their effectiveness been measured? Please comment on cost, time, quality, insurance, bonding, and stakeholder issues.
II-1. Design-build (DB) is a delivery method that utilizes only one contract for both design and construction. These contracts are typically awarded on a lump sum basis. Is your country utilizing the DB delivery method? If not, please skip to the next section.
II-2. Are additional services such as maintenance or operation of the facility being utilized with DB delivery?
II-3. What criteria do your country use to select projects for the DB delivery method?
II-4. What process does your country use to select the DB teams? Does your country use a prequalification or shortlisting process?
II-5. What has been the most successful mix of percentage of plans complete, agency intervention, warranty usage, and incentives?
II-6. Is the design "approved" or "reviewed" by the owner agency as the project progresses? In other words, at what point in the process does the owner commit to the final design?
II-7. How are changes to the contract after award addressed in a DB project?
II-8. How are risks allocated for third-party utilities, right-of-way, and environmental issues?
II-9. How does your country ensure high design and construction quality of the finished product?
II-10. What is the inspection and testing process for the owner? For the design-builder?
II-11. Does the owner have the authority to stop work at any time for quality concerns? If so, what are the contract ramifications of this?
II-12. What have been your most successful DB projects and processes? How has their effectiveness been measured? Please comment on cost, time, quality, insurance, bonding, and stakeholder issues.
III-1. Please describe your traditional method of project financing.
III-2. What alternative financing techniques is your country employing?
III-3. If revenue financing, what is the structure and how does it fit into the project development process?
III-4. Do your country's laws allow for public-private partnerships? If so, what were the major obstacles to initiating these partnerships?
III-5. In what types of public-private arrangements does your country engage?
III-6. Does your government provide any loan guarantees, lines of credit, or tax incentives to sponsors of large surface transportation projects? Are these national or regional?
III-7. What criteria do your country use to select projects for alternative financing methods?
III-8. How are private partners selected? Is there competition involved in creating these partnerships?
III-9. What level of project oversight is employed when using public-private relationships?
III-10. How does your country control the associated risks when using nontraditional methods?
III-11. What is the appropriate length of time that the partnership should be in effect?
III-12. What have been your most successful alternative financing arrangements? How has their effectiveness been measured? Please comment on cost, time, quality, and stakeholder issues.
IV-1. Is your country utilizing performance contracting in lieu of low-bid methods? If so, please describe the specific performance contracting methods.
IV-2. Describe the process for developing performance criteria associated with performance methods.
IV-3. What criteria do your country use to select projects for performance contracting?
IV-4. What are the performance criteria that your country uses for selecting contractors (i.e., cost, technical excellence, management capability, past performance, personnel qualifications, financial capacity, etc.)?
IV-5. Are any unique dispute-resolution techniques utilized with performance contracting?
IV-6. What types of work are being warrantied in your country? Please describe both individual items and entire projects.
IV-7. What are the lengths of typical warranties? How are unique or unexpected loads accounted for on extended warranties?
IV-8. Is the contractor given more control over design and construction details when using warranties?
IV-9. How does your country inspect the warranted work during the warranty period?
IV-10. Who is responsible for routine maintenance and emergency maintenance during the warranty period?
IV-11. Is liability for latent defects cut off at the end of the warranty term? What limitations on liability are included in the contract?
IV-12. Who is responsible for quality control and quality assurance in performance contracting arrangements?
IV-13. How does performance contracting affect inspection requirements?
IV-14. What policies are in place to ensure that contractors are being measured for their performance and not penalized for inadequate designs developed by others?
IV-15. What have been your most successful performance contracting arrangements? How has their effectiveness been measured? Please comment on time, cost, quality, and stakeholder issues.
V-1. Payment for unit of work as bid by the unit price is the traditional method of payment for work in the United States, but this method is not appropriate for some alternative delivery methods (design-build or other innovative contracts). What other processes is your country utilizing to improve the payment process?
V-2. To what extent does your country utilize lump sum bidding? What are the associated payment methods?
V-3. Does your country use actual (reimbursable) cost with a guaranteed maximum price type contracting? If so, what is the process for administering the contract and payments?
V-4. In what cases do the contractor, rather than the owner, conduct the measurements for payments?
V-5. How do you document and pay for traffic control on construction projects?
V-6. In the United States we are employing incentive payments to increase the quality of construction. Does your country utilize incentive payments?
V-7. On what types of work is your country employing incentives and what are the associated measures upon which the incentives are based?
V-8. How does your country determine the amount of the incentive payment such that it will motivate the contractor yet be cost-effective to the owner agency? Are these amounts capped at some maximum value?
V-9. What have been your most successful payment method arrangements? How has their effectiveness been measured? Please comment on time, cost, quality, and stakeholder issues.
VI-1. Asset management involves maintaining and operating existing infrastructure. Please describe the asset management process in your country.
VI-2. What innovative contracting techniques are being utilized for asset management? Are any of these techniques tied to new technologies (sensors, databases, etc.)?
VI-3. What types of work are utilizing innovative maintenance and operation techniques?
VI-4. What provisions ensure that maintenance and repairs are performed? To what extent are bonds utilized?
VI-5. How is competition promoted on maintenance and operation contracts?
VI-6. What is the typical length of operation and maintenance contracts?
VI-7. Are there concerns over "risk shifting" to the industry with long-term detrimental effects on smaller firms and their ability to continue working?
VI-8. What type of referee system is used when differences of opinion arise as to responsibility for failures?
VI-9. What have been your most successful asset-management techniques? How has their effectiveness been measured? Please comment on time, cost, quality, insurance, bonding, and stakeholder issues.
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