Bill: SB 1294, 84(R) - 2015

Committee

Senate Transportation

Vote Recommendation

Vote Recommendation Economic Freedom Property Rights Personal Responsibility Limited Government Individual Liberty
No Neutral Neutral Neutral Negative Neutral

Author(s)

Robert Nichols

Bill Caption

Relating to certain limitations on design-build contracts for transportation infrastructure projects.

Fiscal Notes

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. 

Bill Analysis

This legislation would amend the Transportation Code by further restricting the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) from entering into cost-saving design-build contracts for highway projects by permanently limiting their annual use to no more than three contracts per year while raises the contract value floor from $50 million to $250 million, preventing the use of design-build procurement for smaller contracts.

Vote Recommendation Notes

This legislation would bar the state from executing long term contracts for road maintenance for more than five years, unless additional contingencies are negotiated. From a cost standpoint, the life time of maintaining a road with a shorter contract will ultimately increase the long term cost of maintaining the road. Agreeing to a longer contract with a higher cost up front but with a more robust infrastructure design plan being executed out of the gate, will save money in the long run.

Essentially, this bill will prevent the state from executing contracts on the most beneficial terms by unnecessarily limiting options for design-build contracts. By requiring that the department not use a design-build method for the construction, expansion, extension, rehabilitation, alteration, or repair of a highway project if the project is substantially designed by the department or another entity other than the design-build contractor this legislation would take good options off the table.

Ultimately, this legislation would undermine limited government by hampering the effective and efficient use of design-build contracting for certain highway projects. For this reason, we oppose SB 1294.


Source URL (retrieved on 03/29/2024 07:03 AM): http://reports.texasaction.com/bill/84r/sb1294?print_view=true