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Construction
Historically, cost was the major factor in determining the winning
contractor to construct Florida’s highway projects. “Low Bid” has
long been the norm for doing business at FDOT, although we recognize
that factors other than cost are equally important. Years ago we
were given the right to evaluate "project specific" innovative
contracting practices, having the potential to reduce the life cycle
cost of projects while maintaining product quality. Finally we
recognize that items such as quality, delivery time, safety,
life-cycle costs and use of new or improved technologies are also
valuable.
Since
1990, FHWA has been evaluating methods for improving the efficiency
of delivering transportation improvement projects under the
Special
Experimental Projects 14 Program. The SEP-14 program has
provided the State DOTs with a vehicle for evaluating various types
of non-traditional contracting on Federal-aid highway contracts. The
objective of SEP-14 is to evaluate project specific innovative
contracting practices that have the potential to reduce the life
cycle cost of projects, while maintaining product quality. Three of
the four experimental techniques originally identified have been
declared operational (cost-plus-time bidding, lane rental and
warranty clauses).
In 1996,
the Florida Legislature authorized the Department to use Alternative
Contracting techniques intended to control time and cost increases
on construction projects.
In 1995, the Florida Legislature authorized the Department to use
the Design-Build
process for buildings, major bridges, and rail corridor projects. In
1996, this authority was further expanded to include all project
types as a part of the "innovative" practices package. The
Department is required to comply with the annual contracting
monetary cap set by the statute for Innovative Contracting.
