Performance Based Road Asset Management System, with a case study: Abu Dhabi

Abstract

It is common for road authorities to adopt the traditional method of road maintenance contracts that include a typical arrangement of relationships between the Client, the Contractor and the Consultant. The traditional method of road maintenance contracts has been found ineffective and expensive which caused difficulties in controlling road quality, time to finish, and cost of construction.. Escalation of cost and delays in completion of maintenance projects coupled with, lack of proper training in the public sector are the main problems associated with traditional method of contracting. The Performance Based Contracts (PBC) has been recognized as an efficient method of contracts addressing the limitations of the traditional contracting methods. Unlike the traditional method of contracting, in PBC the contractor is generally free to make the decisions of "what to do", "when" and "how" as long as the specified performance measures are achieved. This will lead to assign the responsibility of completing the contract with its risk of failure totally to the contractors. It has been a challenge for contractors to successfully manage the entire risk of projects particularly with limited resources, limited understanding of PBC, lack of skillful staff, and poor management. In addition, unavailability of accurate pavement condition prediction models to understand and predict pavement performance results in a higher risk to the contractor in PBC. This thesis identifies the main problems and challenges for successfully adopting PBC are discussed and analyzed. In order to assist contractors as well as road managers a methodological framework is developed and examined in this thesis. The developed framework necessitates the identification of many cornerstones to effectively manage viii

Examination of suitability of performance based contracts for the Turkish road maintenance sector

“…In 1988, the first PBC was implemented in British Columbia, Canada. Then, Argentina signed a PBC contract for a 1000 km roadway [9]. In the 1990s, a Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance Contracts program, known as CREMA, was initiated for Latin American countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, and Peru.…”

“…PBC provides several advantages in terms of cost savings [9,10,13,16,17,18,19], use of innovative and efficient methods [1,13], staffing [13,18], user satisfaction [13], and traffic and safety [14]. On the contrary, it also has its challenges and drawbacks such as long-term contract duration, continuity in funding, selection of the right contractor, legislations and regulation, ability and expertise of the staff, asset management, determination of the penalties, warranties, and guaranty [1,9,20,21].…”

“…PBC provides several advantages in terms of cost savings [9,10,13,16,17,18,19], use of innovative and efficient methods [1,13], staffing [13,18], user satisfaction [13], and traffic and safety [14]. On the contrary, it also has its challenges and drawbacks such as long-term contract duration, continuity in funding, selection of the right contractor, legislations and regulation, ability and expertise of the staff, asset management, determination of the penalties, warranties, and guaranty [1,9,20,21]. After the evaluation of these advantages and disadvantages of PBC, it was concluded from the literature review that PBC is significantly promising for both developed and developing countries to maintain the road network on a permanently good level of service.…”

Enhancing road performance measurement in Indonesia: Proposed changes and future directions

“…PBMC was first implemented in Canada in 1988. In 1990, Argentina began using PBMC for a 1,000 km road, applying performance specifications for maintenance and penalty systems for failure to respond within the designated timeframe [5]. In the 1990s, Australia, the United States, Uruguay, Montevideo, Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Colombia), Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, and New Zealand began implementing PBMC.…”