Importance of Noncost Criteria Weighing in Best-Value Design–Build US Highway Projects

Abstract

United States highway agencies use best-value procurement with a fixed price to select design builders. This method enables public agencies to choose the best proposer by assessing several factors in addition to price. Theoretically, considering cost and noncost factors in the selection enhances the probability of selecting the proposer that provides the best value for each dollar spent. However, bidding results from the last 15 years show that 80% of best-value procurements are awarded the proposer with the lowest bid. The selection seems thus to be biased toward price. This research explores the balance between cost and noncost components in best-value procurement by identifying how weights and scores influence the selection. This analysis aims to determine the ranges of weights that better balance cost and noncost factors in the weighted-criteria best-value procurement. This study characterized a first-of-a-kind data set of 882 noncost scores and 1,158 cost scores from 347 best-value highway projects. The study applied simulation to the weighted-criteria award algorithm to explore the balance between cost and noncost factors and derive recommendations about making noncost factors more influential. The results show that a weight of cost higher or equal to 57% will result in the lowest price selection. Highway agencies should be aware of how weights and scores impact the best-value selection to align these elements with their selection objectives.