Improving long-term performance in highway projects is an imperative goal for public administrations. Project delivery and procurement methods might provide an opportunity to align design and construction processes with this goal. Previous studies have explored whether project delivery methods impact the long-term performance of highway projects. However, these studies did not focus specifically on how core elements within the procurement might relate to long-term performance. Thus, this research aims to fill this gap by exploring to what extent and how long-term evaluation criteria are considered in design-build best-value procurement of highway projects. To this end, content analysis was conducted on 100 projects procured between 2009 and 2019 by 19 DOTs across the U.S. The analysis of 365 evaluation criteria found that (1) roughly 11% of them related to long-term performance. (2) The weight given to these criteria in the overall technical proposal was lower than 30%. (3) Sixty-five percent (65%) of long-term evaluation criteria focused on design while 15% related to materials and technology, respectively. The results of this study are a first steppingstone to initiate a deep exploration of the relationship between procurement practices and actual project performance. Currently, with sustainability and life cycle assessments being top concerns in infrastructure projects, this line of research might be of particular interest to DOTs and highway agencies across the U.S. and worldwide.
The authors wish to acknowledge the California State University Transportation Institute Consortium (CSUTC) and the Fresno State Transportation Institute (FSTI) for funding this research. Also, the authors want to thank all the Department of Transportation officials that helped this research by providing knowledge and information.