E-ZPass: Case Study of Institutional and Organizational Issues in Technology Standards Development

Abstract

During the past 5 years seven toll agencies operating in the greater New York metropolitan area have combined to develop a regionally compatible electronic toll collection system, called E-ZPass. The members of the E-ZPass Interagency Group (IAG) collectively process more than 1 billion toll transactions per year, two-thirds of all toll revenue collected in the United States. E-ZPass illustrates the degree of interagency cooperation necessary for interoperability, as well as some of the challenges to achieving consensus on technical and institutional issues. The IAG faced numerous institutional and organizational issues during the development of the E-ZPass specification. These included separate procurement procedures and requirements of the participating agencies, differences in agency missions, the pace of technological change, and parallel standard-setting efforts at the national level. In the large-scale procurement of cutting-edge technology, the IAG's regionally cooperative effort is unprecedented and provides valuable insights into the conflicts that occur and how they can be resolved.