1667237 - An owner’s review protocol for complex infrastructure project estimates

As public agencies develop complex highways, rail & transit, aviation, and port infrastructure projects, they are increasingly competing in pedestrian and commuter-dense areas. Developing these mega-projects in the past few years has attracted innovative procurement strategies, advanced technologies, and a better systems approach. This has increased the developer’s ability to use innovative project tools and construction means in winning the work. It has proportionally affected the cost estimator’s ability to develop a reasonable project estimate with high confidence at early project definition stages. This paper provides the estimator’s takeaways and a best practice approach from an unbuilt billion-dollar cost estimate developed for a people mover project. It suggests a review protocol for the project owner or owner’s representative during cost estimate development.