Best-Value Process Implementation at the City of Peoria: Five Years of Research Testing

Authors: Kenneth T. Sullivan, Ph.D., M.B.A., John Savicky, M.S., and Brad Carey, M.S.

 

The City of Peoria is Arizona’s ninth largest city. It covers nearly 178 square miles and is home
to over 153,000 residents. The projected 10 year growth of the City is estimated to be over
204,000, which has prompted a significant expansion of the City’s municipal services and
facilities. In an attempt to efficiently meet the demands of the projected growth, the City of Peoria
partnered with the Performance Based Studies Research Group out of Arizona State University in
2004. The objective of the partnership was to test and implement a best value structure within the
City’s construction program, specifically as applicable to capital projects. This paper presents a
five year summary of the test implementation results, the evolution of the best value structure
within the city, project performance, service expansion to include non-construction projects, and
lessons learned from the research. The research effort has included $385,691,802 in total projects
awarded and implemented under the best value structure, with documented performance increases
in cost metrics, schedule metrics, and customer satisfaction.

Keywords: organizational performance, best value, construction efficiency, design efficiency,
risk management