Empirical Assessment of the Operational Realities of Best-Value Procurement in Design-Build Transportation Projects

10 pages•Published: June 2, 2026

Jeongyoon Oh, Yejee Paik and Baabak Ashuri

Abstract

Although best-value (BV) procurement has been increasingly adopted in design-build (DB) delivery, empirical evidence on the practical implementation of BV principles remains limited. This study examines the use of BV in DB projects by testing three hypotheses concerning (i) the extent of price dominance in BV evaluations, (ii) differences in schedule and cost outcomes across procurement methods, and (iii) variations in evaluator scoring patterns. Data from 42 highway construction projects (26 BV and 16 low-bid [LB]) were analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlation, independent-samples t tests, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. The key findings show that final evaluation rankings in most BV projects exhibited perfect alignment with bid price rankings, indicating that award decisions were largely price-driven. No statistically significant differences in schedule growth were observed between price-dominant BV and LB projects; however, price-dominant BV projects exhibited lower cost growth, which reflects a partial influence of non-price criteria during pre-award planning. Furthermore, evaluator scoring patterns did not differ significantly between price-dominant BV and LB methods, as reflected in award margins and evaluation score variability. This study provides empirical insights into how BV procurement operates in practice, revealing constraints that limit value-oriented decision-making and underscoring the need for more robust evaluation approaches.

Keyphrases: best value procurement, design build, pre award evaluation practices, project performance, scoring behavior

In: Wesley Collins, Anthony Perrenoud and John Posillico (editors). Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference, vol 7, pages 813-822.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/xX6D
	https://doi.org/10.29007/vmvd

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{ASC2026:Empirical_Assessment_Operational_Realities,
  author    = {Jeongyoon Oh and Yejee Paik and Baabak Ashuri},
  title     = {Empirical Assessment of the Operational Realities of Best-Value Procurement in Design-Build Transportation Projects},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference},
  editor    = {Wesley Collins and Anthony Perrenoud and John Posillico},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Built Environment},
  volume    = {7},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2632-881X},
  url       = {/publications/paper/xX6D},
  doi       = {10.29007/vmvd},
  pages     = {813-822},
  year      = {2026}}

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