Selection and evaluation of alternative contracting methods to accelerate project completion.

This synthesis summarizes the state of practice in the process of selection of alternative contracting methods that can potentially accelerate project completion. It also identifies driving factors for selecting one type of alternative contracting technique over another. In this study accelerated project completion is defined as earlier completion date through faster http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_syn_379.pdfconstruction, expedited project development, shorter duration of project closeout, or a combination of these attributes of project completion. Based on a survey results, five alternative contracting methods are perceived to show the highest potential for accelerating project completion. These methods are listed in order of highest relative potential to accelerate This report may be accessed by Internet users at project completion as follows: • Design–Build • Incentives and Disincentives • Cost-Plus-Time Bidding • Interim Completion Dates • No-Excuse Incentives. From the perspective of survey respondents, the selection of these methods is driven primarily by the requirement to meet a critical completion date. Information for the study was based on the “Primer on Contracting” published by the FHWA on behalf of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Construction. Additional information was obtained through a review of literature and a survey of the members of the AASHTO Subcommittee on Construction in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Stuart D. Anderson, and Ivan Damnjanovic, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, collected and synthesized the information and wrote the report. The members of the topic panel are acknowledged on the preceding page. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand. (Author/publisher)