Survey Responses Regarding Current Issues and Approaches for: PriceSupply Issues, Alternate Bidding

1
Survey Responses Regarding Current Issues and
Approaches forPrice/Supply Issues, Alternate
Bidding Issues, Practices for Increasing
Competition
AASHTO Subcommittee on Construction Contract
Administration Section January 2009

• Prepared by . . . .
• Claude Oie, Nebraska DOR Ellis Powell, NC DOT
• Jeff Benefield, AL DOT
• Jerry Yakowenko, FHWA

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Transportation Agencies Responding 40 (37
States, 3 other)
DC
Ontario Ministry of Transportation
NY State Bridge Authority
Puerto Rico
3
Have you experienced project delays resulting
from material shortages of any of the following?
(Select all that apply)
Number of Agencies
4
Have you granted contract time extensions or
issued any suspensions of work for specific
material shortages in the past year?
Yes LA, OH, MT, UT, KS, CO, NV, WV, FL, WA, TX,
CT, NYSBA
5
Selected reasons for time extensions

• Time extension granted for specialty steel (not
  industry wide)
• We suspended time on one project until the spring
  of '09 due to availability of polymer modified
  asphalt.
• Time extensions have been granted for
  approximately 6 projects.
• We allowed the contractor time before we issued
  the Notice to Proceed for asphalt materials to
  become available.
• Granted time extensions to allow for material
  availability (certain steel piling sizes)
• Have granted time extensions to contracts when it
  was demonstrated that the contractor did
  everything reasonable to obtain materials needed.
  We had a refinery change production rates for
  asphalt binder products which impacted three
  projects. We made adjustments to time and other
  suppliers were able to accommodate the shortfall.
  

6
Has your state terminated any contract for public
convenience or cancelled any contracts due to
material supply issues?
Yes UT 2 contracts
7
Has your state developed a state-wide policy for
substitution of binder where polymer modified
asphalt cement is unavailable?
Yes OH, MO, NJ, CO, TX, CT
8
Has your state used state-furnished material to
address material availability issues?
Yes VT and KS structural steel for fast track
projects WV allow limited use of state
stockpiles for certain traffic control and
electronic devices NYSBA selected bridge
components
9
Does your state use alternate pavement type
bidding procedures?
10
If so, approximately what percent of your paving
projects use alternate pavement type bidding?
Number of Agencies
11
If alternate pavement type bidding is used, do
you use a bid adjustment to account for
life-cycle-cost differences between bituminous
concrete pavements and Portland cement pavement
sections?
Yes LA, MT, UT, MO, KS, CO, MI, MS, FL, AL, ONT,
NYSBA
12
If a bid adjustment is not used, which of the
following might describe the industrys opinion
of this procedure?
Number of Agencies
13
Does you state use alternate bridge type bidding?
14
Approximately how many contracts per year use
alternate bridge type bidding procedures?
Number of Agencies
15
Selected comments on alternate bridge bidding

• Seems to be very effective in obtaining lowest
  cost.
• This is used almost exclusively on design-build
  projects where the proposer can propose bridge
  type as part of their bid.
• It engages the contractors and results in a more
  competitive nature and innovative solutions which
  in turns means a lower cost to taxpayers.
• Allows the contractor more flexibility and may
  save some money. Allows for innovation.
• Works well on larger structures.

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Does your state use bid alternates (contractors
choice) for
Number of Agencies
17
Which of the following techniques have been used
to increase competition in your state? (Top ten
listed)
Number of Agencies
18
Indicate the top five most frequently used
techniques to increase competition and the extent
of use in your construction program (percent of
program)