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Survey of Consultant Services Provided for Management and Inspection of Construction Projects. Goal of Survey. Determine how DOTs contract with Consultants DOTs usage of Consultants for Management and Inspection on Construction Projects DOTs Qualifications of Consultants
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Survey of Consultant Services Provided for Management and Inspection of Construction Projects
Goal of Survey • Determine how DOTs contract with Consultants • DOTs usage of Consultants for Management and Inspection on Construction Projects • DOTs Qualifications of Consultants • Authority and Responsibility DOTs delegated to Consultants • DOTs evaluation of Consultant Performance • Determine if Consultants are cost effective
Responses • 33 states responded to the survey
Contracting with Consultants • About 70% of DOTs prequalify Consultants • Prequalification is generally by work categories
67% of DOTs use both project specific and on-call contracts • 21% use Project Specific only • 12% use On-Call only • Project Specific & Initial On Call contracts generally take 2-6 months for DOTs to negotiate • Once On-Call contract is in place it takes less than 1 month to process work order
Types of contracts vary, the most typical types are: • Cost Plus Fixed Fee • Hourly (with Additive) • Fixed Fee (Lump Sum)
DOTs Construction Program • 60% of DOTs programs are under $500 Million • 23% over $500 Million but under $1Billion • 17% over $1 Billion
Usage of Consultants • About 50% of DOTs allow Design Consultants to pursue Management and Inspection of Construction Project contracts • For DOTs that use Consultants – All have their needs meet by existing firms • The number of firms varies from 6 to 500 • Most states have less than 100 firms
Situations that warrant the need for Consultants • Insufficient DOT staff • Specialty Projects • Specialty Expertise • Spike in Workload • Project Size and Complexity
72% of DOTs consider Consultant usage during peak times to be cost effective and efficient alternative to increasing DOT full time employees
Consultants Scope of Work In order of DOT usage • Inspection, Management and Material Tester • Inspector • Tester • Project Engineer/Manager
Experience, Expertise, Qualifications • 45% of DOTs require years of experience to perform certain services • 65 % of DOTs require individual to demonstrate specific expertise • 84% of DOT require specific training or qualifications
Authority / Responsibility • 87% of DOTs do not allow Consultant to be in “Responsible Charge” of projects • DOTs vary greatly in the Authority / Responsibility given to Consultants • Generally it is less than DOT staff
Consultant Performance • About 2/3 of DOTs evaluate performance with company reviews • While the other 1/3 of DOTs use individual review or a combination of company and individual reviews
Costs • Average DOT Labor Additive = 100% • Average Consultant Labor Additive = 149% • Varies from 50% to 204% • Consultant’s employees make an average of 47% more than DOT employees
Consultant staff is an average of 219% more expensive than DOT staff, based on a Hourly to Hourly comparison. • This is without taking into consideration the next slide
Inspection Costs - % of Construction Projects • Only DOT staff – Average 6.75% • Only Consultant staff – Average 11.29% • Combination of staff – Average 8.05% • Generally Inspected by Consultant and Managed by DOT
Decrease in DOT staff • DOTs have decreased staff an average of 10% in the last year • DOTs have decreased staff an average of 13% over the last 5 years
Work Group • Bren George - Indiana FHWA • Brian Lawrence – Maine FHWA • Dennis Largent – Atkins North America • John Eddy - Colorado DOT • Jeff Wassenaar – Colorado DOT • Lewis Cannon – Connecticut DOT • Michelle Page – Utah DOT • Sue Darling – Kansas DOT