How did we evaluate these projects?
In each of the highlighted projects, you will find three cost comparisons for each. The difference between those comparisons is:
- Engineer’s estimate: This is the amount the Department expects the work to cost before opening the bids from contractors. This figure is based on the projected cost of all items of work, quantities and recent unit prices for materials.
- Contractor’s bid amount: This is the amount the contractor bid to win the work competing against other contractors. Projects are advertised for competitive bid to pre-qualified contractors and awarded to the lowest responsive bidder.
- Final payment to contractor: This is the amount of payment for the work that was done. Calculations are based on invoices submitted by contractors and on observation and measurements taken by WSDOT's project inspectors. Change orders adding to or subtracting from the contractor's bid amount result from a variety of causes, including design changes during construction, unforeseen site conditions, or variations in actual quantities of materials from the estimates made in the bid documents and advertised for bid.
For some projects, work has been substantially completed and the roadway is open to traffic, but final payment to the contractor has not yet been made.
The following describes how each project was judged in terms of schedule and cost.
Schedule
- Good: The project was completed ahead of, or within, the allowed number of working days specified in the construction contract. In some cases, days were added to the original contract amount to accommodate changes made by WSDOT to the scope of work to be performed by the contractor.
- Fair: The contractor completed the project slightly over the number of working days allowed in the construction contract (within one or two weeks of schedule).
- Poor: The contractor completed the project over two weeks or more beyond the number of working days allowed in the construction contract.
Cost
- Good: The project was completed below or within the engineer’s estimate.
- Fair: Minor plan errors or other unanticipated conditions in the field may have attributed to slight schedule delays or cost increases. Typically, these projects are completed within 10% of the engineer’s estimate.
- Poor: Inadequate or poorly designed plans, and/or poor construction management, led to significant changes in the way the project was constructed (redesign), schedule delays, material overruns and/or cost increases. Typically, these projects are 10% or more above the engineer’s estimate.
- Mixed: The project may have come in over engineer’s estimate or the contractor’s bid amount, but the changes that increased cost were for improvements to the project that either corrected a design flaw, or significantly reduced the impacts to the traveling public.