JOB ORDER CONTRACTING COST AND BENEFITS ANALYSIS RESEARCH

The Performance Based Studies Research Studies Group (PBSRG) at Arizona State University (ASU) has been studying the cause of increased cost and time in construction and other projects for the last 20 years. Through two longitudinal studies with a group of owners in the state of Minnesota (400 tests over six years) and the US Army Medical Command (400 tests over four years), the client/buyer has been identified as the largest risk and source of project cost and time deviations. This has been confirmed by over 1,500 tests conducted over the past 20 years. The focus of this research effort is to analyze the economic and performance impact of a delivery process of construction called the Job Order Contracting (JOC) process, to evaluate the value (in terms of time, cost, and customer satisfaction) achieved when utilizing JOC over other traditional methods to complete projects. JOC's strength is that it minimizes the need for the owner to manage, direct and control (MDC) through a lengthy traditional process of design, bid, and award of a construction contract. The study identifies the potential economic savings of utilizing JOC. This paper looks at the results of an ongoing study surveying eight different public universities. The results of the research show that in comparison to more traditional models, JOC has large cost savings, and is preferable among most owners who have used multiple delivery systems.