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FOREWORD Highway administrators, engineers, and researchers often face problems for which infor-
mation already exists, either in documented form or as undocumented experience and prac-
tice. This information may be fragmented, scattered, and unevaluated. As a consequence,
full knowledge of what has been learned about a problem may not be brought to bear on its
solution. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked,
and due consideration may not be given to recommended practices for solving or alleviat-
ing the problem.
There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway administrators and engi-
neers. Much of it derives from research or from the work of practitioners faced with problems
in their day-to-day work. To provide a systematic means for assembling and evaluating such
useful information and to make it available to the entire highway community, the American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials--through the mechanism of the
National Cooperative Highway Research Program--authorized the Transportation Research
Board to undertake a continuing study. This study, NCHRP Project 20-5, "Synthesis of Infor-
mation Related to Highway Problems," searches out and synthesizes useful knowledge from
all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from
this endeavor constitute an NCHRP report series, Synthesis of Highway Practice.
This synthesis series reports on current knowledge and practice, in a compact format,
without the detailed directions usually found in handbooks or design manuals. Each report
in the series provides a compendium of the best knowledge available on those measures
found to be the most successful in resolving specific problems.
PREFACE Performance-Based Maintenance Contracting (PBMC) provides incentives and disin-
By Jon Williams centives to achieve desired outcomes or results from the maintenance contractor. This
is distinct from the more usual practice for highway maintenance contracting--low bid
Program Director
combined with method specification. This report explores experience with PBMC in places
Transportation where it has been adopted, including such issues as whether it has the potential to reduce
Research Board costs and improve maintenance levels of service. Methods for implementing PBMC are
also discussed. The report is likely to be useful for those agencies who are evaluating
whether to include PBMC in their highway maintenance program.
Information for this study was gathered by literature review of international experience,
domestic U.S. state experience, federal government experience, and warranty contracts, as
well as surveys conducted of state transportation agencies, Canadian provincial agencies,
and a sampling of private firms. The surveys were augmented with individual interviews.
William A. Hyman, formerly with Applied Research Associates, collected and synthe-
sized the information and wrote the report. The members of the topic panel are acknowl-
edged on the preceding page. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records
the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the
time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will
be added to that now at hand.
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