Submitter Response for 2023-D-11
To develop best practices to leverage digital
technologies to improve the Project Development and Delivery Processes for
Transportation Projects
From: [email: peter.healey@dot.ri.gov]
Comments:
Thank
you for your comments.
Labor productivity
is defined by the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics as “the ratio of the output
of goods and services to the labor hours devoted to the production of that
output”. Unlike product manufacturing, the
labor/production time associated with state DOT
infrastructure project development is unique to each project because
each project is essentially a custom build. The problem statement authors
completed a detailed review of the various processes associated with project
development (NEPA, plan development, right-of-way acquisition, permitting,
etc.) and determined that none are truly consistent
between projects. As a result the authors
concluded that it would be nearly impossible to develop a meaningful metric to
describe productivity in a project development context. The authors
therefore suggest that it would be more beneficial to quantify the benefits of
procedural changes in terms of savings in time and money as stated in the
proposal. While the authors would like to develop a productivity metric,
we remain concerned that it inevitably would not be based on
an apples to apples comparison and would therefore be of limited use,
and possibly be subject to legitimate criticism upon peer review.
The problem statement authors have no objection to
increasing the project duration to 24 months and appreciate the reviewers recognition of the effort involved in completing
the proposed research work.
Contact Info:
Peter A. Healey, P.E.
Member,
AASHTO Technical Committee on Project Management
401-563-4039
Review Date: 1/13/2022