Life Cycle AnalysisLife Cycle AnalysisThe ODOT Way

2003 Transportation Estimators’ Association

Burlington, VermontSeptember 4, 2003

Jennifer McAllister

TEA 2003 – LCCA – J. McAllister

How it Was

• Pavement Engineering Office provided quantities and items

• Office of Estimating supplied unit prices– Based on estimator’s judgment– Completely subjective

TEA 2003 – LCCA – J. McAllister

What Prompted Change?

New pavement selection process required documentation of all aspects, including life

cycle cost analysis. In particular, methodology for determining unit prices.

TEA 2003 – LCCA – J. McAllister

Estimating’s Role

• Document methodology for determining unit prices.

• Determination should be completely objective.

• Remove the “human factor”

TEA 2003 – LCCA – J. McAllister

Disclaimer

“The methods described herein are utilized solely for determining unit prices for comparison analysis and planning, and are not representative of methods used in the preparation of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Official Engineer’s Estimate.” more…

Disclaimer (continued)

“The Engineer’s Estimate is refined as job parameters unknown at the time of LCCA are identified. Some of the parameters impacting the final unit price include anticipated market conditions, seasonality, time restrictions, and material cost fluctuations due to economic conditions.” more…

Disclaimer (continued)

“The Life Cycle Cost unit prices reflected in this study assume equality of these parameters for each scenario, and attempt to eliminate judgments from the final figures.”

Methodology – Warranty Asphalt

• Three year average unit price by county

• Compare each county to statewide average

• Calculate adjustment factor (level the playing field)

• Sort warranty asphalt bid data by county

• Apply adjustment factor

• Find base price for quantity range

TEA 2003 – LCCA – J. McAllister

Methodology – Warranty Concrete

• Compare against non-warranty concrete

• Data not as plentiful

• Fluctuations between counties appear to be minute

• Convert all warranty concrete bids and quantities to 9” thickness & plot the data points

• Determine the equation of the line

TEA 2003 – LCCA – J. McAllister

Warranty Concrete (cont.)Concrete Pavement, 9", Warranty y = 56.611x-0.0712

$0.00

$5.00

$10.00

$15.00

$20.00

$25.00

$30.00

$35.00

$40.00

$45.00

0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000

Maintenance Schedules

• Quantities for future maintenance supplied by Office of Pavement Engineering

• Unit Prices supplied by Office of Estimating

• Same constraints – Prices must be objective for major cost items

• Regression used to formulate matrices for all items

TEA 2003 – LCCA – J. McAllister

Updates to the Process

• Schedule for updating methods and matrices to be determined

• As contents of the data universe expand, methods may be revised

• Objectivity, objectivity, objectivity

TEA 2003 – LCCA – J. McAllister