San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury
• 2016-2017
An Innovative Approach to Cost and Scheduling Challenges in County Capital Projects
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 6 findings
F1
The first public announcement of the cost and schedule of an approved project is an initial estimate, which is usually lower than the eventually approved budget for the project based on the building contract costs and similar factors. The Board of Supervisors adopted the 2016-17 CIP on February 21, 2017, without discussion of any of the issues or statements discussed here. 17
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Recognizing that many County residents and taxpayers are concerned about capital project development costs and delays, the County should keep the public abreast of the extent of its efforts to ensure financial rigor in the management/delivery of capital projects.
F2
Major factors contributing to the increase in final cost/completion over original estimates include the passage of time between initial estimates and the execution of project contracts, changes in the cost of funds, late-discovered need for changes of design, unavailability of necessary materials, unexpected construction/labor problems, and changes in relevant regulations.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Recognizing that many County residents and taxpayers are concerned about capital project development costs and delays, the County should keep the public abreast of the extent of its efforts to ensure financial rigor in the management/delivery of capital projects.
F3
The reporting of final project completion sometimes includes statements that give rise to speculation that projects are not well managed.
Related Recommendations (2)
R1
Recognizing that many County residents and taxpayers are concerned about capital project development costs and delays, the County should keep the public abreast of the extent of its efforts to ensure financial rigor in the management/delivery of capital projects.
R2
Rather than simply stating at the time of completion that a project came in “on-time and within budget,” the County should provide more detailed information in a reader-friendly way, 18 with a goal of diffusing the erroneous perception that project cost-overruns are being “slipped past the voters.”
F4
California law imposes detailed process requirements on all counties awarding building contracts for capital projects, with the clear intent of eliminating the possibility that anyone could allege bias, nepotism, or preferential treatment in the awarding of any public contract.
No recommendations for this finding
F5
As the state authorizes it and as the County proposes to use it, the Design-Build project delivery method has generally proven in practice to expedite project completion and enable more cost-effective contracting with less financial and other risk to the owner.
No recommendations for this finding
F6
While experts generally indicate that the Design-Build method can be useful for all types and sizes of projects, under California law there is a limit: If County policy permits, the County may use Design-Build for any vertical project with a price tag that will exceed one million dollars.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The County should give itself the option to use Design-Build for any project valued above one million dollars (as opposed to the current five million dollar threshold.)
Commendations 1
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CM1The Grand Jury commends the County on its efforts to take advantage of the new opportunity to add the Design-Build approach to its toolbox for managing the delivery of County capital projects. In particular, the Grand Jury agrees with and applauds its decision to take this step carefully, with due consideration and the use of two pilot projects as a means of gaining experience to evaluate the use of the Design-Build delivery method in the future, before making commitments to a permanent change from prior practices.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
San Luis Obispo County
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