Key Performance Indicators in Highway Design and Construction

Abstract

AASHTO has expressed the need for formalized and effective performance-based management in highway projects. Performance measures and key performance indicators (KPIs) are widely used by international highway agencies to manage performance in public–private partnership contracts, with great success. Performance measures have been used by a number of U.S. state departments of transportation (DOTs) to manage highway agency performance, but the use of formalized KPIs is limited. This research presents information from four detailed design–build (DB) case studies. The case studies were selected from DOTs with mature performance management systems to determine how contractor performance is managed during design and construction. The research found that although performance measures were used in the majority of the case studies, formal KPIs were not. This paper provides a description of practices for managing performance during design and construction and how the current practices and DB requests for proposal offer state DOTs the opportunity to implement KPIs effectively. The results include examples from each case study revealing how the opportunities for design and construction KPIs are aligned with higher agency-level performance measures. The findings and these relationships were determined for six different performance areas common to design and construction: (a) cost and schedule monitoring, (b) quality monitoring, (c) safety management, (d) public information management, (e) environmental stewardship, and (f) traffic reliability during construction. Results of this study may assist agencies and researchers in developing a more standard form of performance management.