BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 732
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 29, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                 AB 732 (Jeffries) - As Amended:  February 26, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                               
          TransportationVote:10-0 (Consent)

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  


          This bill extends the sunset date on a design-sequencing pilot  
          project within Caltans for two years-from January 1, 2010 to  
          January 1, 2012.


           FISCAL EFFECT  


          Negligible fiscal impact for Caltrans to administer up to six  
          additional projects using an alternate delivery method.  Unknown  
          project-related costs or savings from use of design-sequencing.


           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  The vast majority of Caltrans-administered  
            projects are implemented using the traditional  
            design-bid-build approach, whereby complete plans and  
            specifications are prepared prior to the advertising, bidding,  
            and awarding of any construction contracts.  Design-sequencing  
            enables the staging of design activities to permit each  
            construction phase to commence when design for that phase is  
            complete, instead of requiring the entire project design to be  
            completed before commencing construction.

            The first design-sequencing pilot program, for up to six  
            projects and extending until July 1, 2004, was authorized  
            through legislation enacted in 1999.  Subsequent legislation  
            the following year increased the number of projects to 12 and  








                                                                  AB 732
                                                                  Page  2

            extended the pilot program to January 1, 2005.  SB 1210  
            (Torlakson)/Chapter 795 of 2004 established Phase II of the  
            pilot program and authorized 12 additional design-sequencing  
            projects until January 1, 2010.  To date only six contracts  
            have been award under the Phase II pilot program.
           
          2)Purpose  .  Caltrans is sponsoring AB 732 so that it can award  
            the remaining six Phase II projects and garner additional  
            lessons upon which to base its final program evaluation. Based  
            on Caltrans' March 2008 interim report on the pilot program,  
            results thus far, in terms of the impact on project schedules,  
            construction and support cost, and change orders, have been  
            mixed. Caltrans staff acknowledges that not all  
            design-sequencing projects have met with success, and suggests  
            that lessons learned from some early failures caused the  
            department to take a more conservative approach in its use of  
            design-sequencing.  The department nevertheless asserts that  
            design-sequencing has the potential to accelerate project  
            delivery (or avoid project delays) with minimal risks.
           Analysis Prepared by :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081