| OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program |
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| Web Brief (Mar 07) |
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OBDP works with ODOT to ensure bridge program success.
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A new way of doing business
Bridge Delivery Unit provides effective program management and leadership
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things,” said the late Pete Drucker, famed author and worldwide leader of management thinking.
ODOT set out to do both when the Legislature directed the agency to outsource the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program. We ushered in a new way of doing business, becoming only the third DOT in the country to expedite delivery of a major funding package by outsourcing the program management.
Effective program management has been a primary focus of the bridge program from the start. Faced with the major engineering and logistical task of repairing and replacing hundreds of highway bridges around the state, the agency had to consider how best to manage, oversee and outsource the program. And the answer we came up with would have made Drucker proud: We evolved and adapted.
Adding permanent agency staff for a bonded, termed program was impractical, expensive and, in the long run, counterproductive. Hiring a large staff—early estimates indicated as many as 600 would be needed— would have meant high startup costs and wouldn’t achieve one of the bridge program’s main goals: to build a sustainable workforce.
To complete the bridge program on time and on budget, ODOT assembled a core group to oversee and manage a private-sector program management firm. This meant we could use our experience and expertise to oversee the work. It also allowed the private firm to supervise the workforce to design and manage the bridge construction contracts. With the Bridge Delivery Unit, approximately 20 ODOT staff members oversee the work of more than 400 people outside the agency.
As an agency, we have years of experience in outsourcing individual projects, but the bridge program is a mammoth undertaking. The $1.3 billion program to repair or replace hundreds of bridges requires complex coordination with many partners, internal and external, over a decade and all around the state.
“The nature of the program called for a change in the way we managed infrastructure construction,” said Tom Lauer, statewide project delivery manager for ODOT. “By focusing on program management and oversight, we’re in the best position to use our expertise and oversee all the work across the state. We retain the ownership decisions; we maintain the bottom line. Through our small, dedicated and efficient Bridge Delivery Unit staff, we’ve been able to manage all the aspects of the program. We’re able to work in combination with our private-sector partners to deliver the bridge program efficiently.”
The size, scope and complexity of the bridge program is equivalent to a State Transportation Improvement Program, which effectively doubles the amount of work we deliver each year. Unlike the current STIP, ODOT is delivering the bridge program with a very small staff. With its small core team, the Bridge Delivery Unit is overseeing the bridge program through unique processes and protocols, key relationships with the regions and stakeholders, and the efficient and effective management of contractors.
Outsourced program management has allowed us to be more versatile, to cover more activities, and to provide more insight and guidance to consultants while protecting the state’s investment. By documenting the decision-making process as part of its oversight, it has also built up knowledge that can be transferred throughout the agency.
“As program managers, we can outsource the work and, in a sense, multiply ourselves to cover more ground,” Lauer said. “That’s a huge benefit to the agency, to the state and to the work.”
ODOT is now looking at the program management model for other large construction projects in the future.
“Because of our success with the BDU, if another major challenge comes our way, we can build on this model and be more efficient and more successful,” Lauer said.
The bridge program is one example of how ODOT is leading by doing the right things and managing things right. Which is just how Pete Drucker would have liked it.
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