Selecting a Procurement Procedure for Highway Construction Projects

Departments of transportation (DOTs) have the ability to select a variety of project procurement procedures. The industry has evolved from the one-size-fits-all low bid procurement process. To maximize the success of alternative procurement methods, DOTs should make the choice early in the project development process. This decision is often made simultaneously or immediately after the project delivery selection process. Although many tools and guidelines exist to help DOTs select an appropriate delivery method, there is limited research focusing on selection of procurement procedures for highway projects. This paper presents a procurement procedure selection approach that considers project attributes, goals, and constraints, and evaluates these items against different project-specific characteristics, or factors. The goal of the selection process is to assist DOTs in choosing the most suitable procurement procedure for a project. The approach uses a matrix to choose between the low bid, best value, and qualifications-based procurement procedures. The procurement selection research incorporates eight evaluation factors and provides a checklist of opportunities and obstacles for each procurement procedure based on literature, testing, and feedback generated through workshops and discussions with industry experts. Three transportation agencies have successfully tested the procurement selection tool, and one test is presented as an illustrative case study to demonstrate the results of the procurement procedure selection process. Participants of the testing workshops observed that the process creates a consistent and defensible process for selecting procurement procedures. Long term, the procurement selection process provides an opportunity for a better understanding of procurement procedures relating to project goals, constraints and a chosen project delivery method for individual projects.