FTA Oversight Procedures - Federal Transit Administration - U.S. ...

U.S. DOT Federal Transit Administration
TPM-20 Office of Engineering
Project Management Oversight
Oversight Procedure 32E - Project Delivery Method Review
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1.0 PURPOSE
The purpose of this Oversight Procedure is to describe the review, analysis and recommendation
procedures and reporting requirements expected by Federal Transit Administration (FTA) from the
Project Management Oversight Contractor (PMOC) with regard to the Grantee’s plan for project
delivery.
This review is meant to determine whether the delivery method or methods selected are appropriate to
the project or corresponding project element and whether the Grantee has the technical capacity and
capability to successfully implement the selected methods. For these purposes, Project Delivery
Method is defined as the overall approach selected by the Grantee to contract for those services
necessary to place the project in revenue service. The proposed definition would include engineering
services, construction services, procurement of vehicles, procurement of “owner furnished materials”
such as rail materials or other long lead-time items, and potentially the operation and maintenance of
the completed system. The definition would also include the segmentation of the project into logical
segments or contract packages and the procurement method selected for each package.
2.0 BACKGROUND
The typical New Start project is the sum of several discrete elements, including but not limited to
professional services such as engineering and construction management, equipment such as rail transit
or bus rapid transit vehicles and non-revenue vehicles; materials such as rail and ties, the construction
of various things ranging from the rail way or road way to stations to maintenance facilities, the
acquisition of rights-of-way, the administration and management by the grantee’s staff, and insurance.
The largest proportion of the project’s budget is associated with the design, and construction or
acquisition of the capital elements of the project, including those services necessary to design the
facilities. The focus of this review is on the Grantee’s plan for acquiring the capital elements of the
project.
A variety of project delivery methods or contracting techniques are available to Grantees. The most
common method involves the use of a design consultant to prepare drawings and specifications which
are attached to contract documents and then used to solicit competitive bids for construction. This is
often referred to as design-bid-build. Other alternative contracting methods include design-build,
design-build-operate and maintain, and the construction manager at-risk or construction
manager/general contractor (CM/GC) approach. All of these delivery methods are viable and have
been used successfully, however, some work better than others in particular situations. For example, a
transit station parking garage might be a good candidate for design-build because the owner’s primary
concern is functionality, whereas a church would not be a good design-build candidate because of the
parishioners’ need for control of the ornate architectural design.
OP 32E Project Delivery Method Review
Revision 0, June 2008
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