Factors Affecting the Selection of In-House and Outsourcing Road Maintenance Methods and Assessment of Their Benefits

Abstract

In the United States, for road maintenance activities, state departments of transportation (DOT) use either in-house resources or outsource to private contractors under various methods, such as method-based contracting (MBC), performance-based contracting (PBC), the hybrid method, lane rental, cost plus time, or incentives/disincentives, etc. In a literature review, factors were identified that affect the selection of the maintenance methods as well as their benefits. This study conducted a survey with state DOT maintenance engineers, and asked them to rate the factors and benefits. This study identified which factors were more important to state DOTs when assigning maintenance work to in-house staff or to private contractors. Statistical test results showed that the top two ranked factors influencing the selection of in-house (MBC and PBC) were availability of DOT staff and DOT staff have specific skills for jobs. Regarding the levels of satisfaction with benefits, on average, the respondents were significantly more satisfied with using in-house resources than with MBC or PBC methods. The study also determined the levels of satisfaction with quality of work that state DOTs and private contractors had with these methods.