Peer Exchange for Improving Accuracy of the Engineer’s Estimate for Highway Improvement Projects

Abstract

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation hosted a peer exchange in 2021 to discuss topics related to improving procedures for developing the engineer’s estimate. The goal was to improve accuracy of engineers’ estimates by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas, lessons learned, and opportunities for the development of state-to-state relationships for continued improvements. Before the peer exchange, invited State Highway Agencies (SHAs) were asked to fill out an online survey to obtain preliminary information about their estimating procedures and practices, organizational approach, measurements of estimating accuracy and bidding history. Representatives from 16 SHAs responded to the survey and representatives from 11 SHAs and the Federal Highway Agency participated in the peer exchange. This article presents the results of the survey and a summary of the discussions during the peer exchange so that other SHAs can learn from them. The peer exchange provided a summary of the state of practice of the SHAs in preparing the engineer’s estimate and identified the following list of most impactful factors for differences between the engineer’s estimate and bidding results: low bid competition, geographic location, outdated data used in historical bid-based estimating, shortage of skilled workers and time, and market volatility. Discussions during the peer exchange uncovered how individual SHAs are approaching and dealing with these factors and those results are presented in the article. Other SHAs will benefit from the summaries of other SHAs’ current practices and the action items Wisconsin Department of Transportation identified resulting from the peer exchange.