Implementation of a Project Management System for Improvement to City, State's Design and Construction Capital Project Delivery

Abstract

Over the last three years, the City of City, State has been in the process of changing the methods used for capital improvement project delivery of Public Works and other departmental projects. This change was necessary to reduce a backlog of more than 400 projects with budgets of over a half billion dollars. It has shifted the capital improvement project delivery from a “multi-departmental” style of delivery to a “project management” style of delivery through the infusion of private consultants into the City’s staff for a unique public private partnership. This collaboration has allowed the infusion of innovative best management practices into the City’s organization. This change has also increased the capital improvement project delivery in City, State from an average of 30 to 40 Public Works’ style construction contracts a year to more than 100 construction contracts each year over the last two years. These changes in project delivery have been made with great fanfare of what has been accomplished but it has been completed inside the City’s structure without much advertisements of how the internal processes have changed. This document will define the former and current project delivery systems utilized by City, State. It will then document the current process with those of other municipal capital project delivery systems. It will define the expected and unexpected benefits of the conversion to the project management style of the project delivery system. The final sections of this document will the key factors for success and pitfalls to avoid during implementation of this style of project management delivery system. These changes from the “multi-departmental” style of management previously employed by the Public Works Department to the “project manager” style of management employed by the Capital Improvement Management Office has allowed the City to complete hundreds of backlog of projects. This change has allowed the City to infuse hundreds of millions of dollars through construction alone into the City’s economy. The success of this program has allowed the City to continue its progress toward creating a better community for its citizens and a modernization of its project management practices.