Enhanced Product Evaluation Tools for State Transportation Agencies to Overcome Commonly Faced Challenges

Abstract

Most state transportation agencies (STAs) maintain a qualified product list (QPL), which serves as the primary tool for project managers to select products, materials, and equipment during construction or other maintenance projects. The QPL is continuously updated with the help of a product evaluation program (PEP) to ensure quality products, continuous availability, and high performance. The construction sector demands a systematic and streamlined evaluation process to introduce new and innovative products in the marketplace. The literature review helped to identify the fundamental attributes of effective evaluation, which assisted in the development of a consolidated evaluation framework. The last major study conducted in PEP management was in 2004. Through a national study of PEPs in the United States, this paper builds on previous work and identifies the best practices to achieve an efficient evaluation program and provides the reader with a streamlined product evaluation form, past performance product evaluation survey, and product evaluation checklist (copies of these research tools are included in the Supplemental Data). This study also found that employee satisfaction with the performance of PEP could be increased by the appointment of additional staff members with full-time PEP duties and a readjustment of the time spent in initial and technical review.