Meeting the cost demand: A parametric approach to facility assessment and appraisal

Abstract

The US Federal Agencies, including the Federal Highway Administration, recommend and in some case require rehabilitation alternatives before replacing a facility or bridge structure to effectively use available federal funds. The goal of facility management is to assess the structures most critically in need of repair/strengthening, decide the appropriate retrofit, and control cost. A project-level analysis is needed to assess costs associated with alternative repair procedures for specific facility and infrastructure treatments. The objective of this paper is to report the design and conceptual basis of a project-level cost–benefit model for infrastructure and facility management. This modelling approach addresses the process of constructing the repair, providing resulting costs, that build on the patented Parametric Automated Cost Engineering System and contributes new and fundamental interdisciplinary systems-based knowledge applicable to facilities and bridge infrastructure systems. This model design provides: economically smart repair/strengthening options; a fundamentally new process documenting the decision processes; an audit trail on repair alternatives; and the basis for documenting lessons learned. The context of this paper uses the most recent applications to bridge repair, but builds on over 15 years experiences of usage and application of this modelling approach to vertical (buildings) and horizontal (infrastructure) facility management.