Developing a rational approach for contractor selection based on history of construction quality and long-term performance

t has long been a source of frustration to those involved with competitive-bid pavement projects that owners often treat low-quality construction work no differently than high-quality construction work. To overcome this challenge, Best Value (BV) was adopted to allow additional criteria for the contractor selection process. Although BV succeeds in including parameters other than bid price in the selection process, subjectivity remains one of the main challenges facing the implementation of BV on a large scale. This research aims to develop a rational score for the quality of the contractor's past performance based on a group of quality characteristics using field testing results. Using the collected quality test data, two models are proposed to develop the quality score. The sensitivity of the BV model suggests the use of a bid price weight between 80--90% of the total weight to best represent the importance of the bid price within the contractor selection process. This research studied the expected benefits and costs of using the BV model rather than the low bid system to select the best contractor.;The benefit/cost analysis shows that when the contractor with the lowest bid is selected over the contractor with the highest BV, there is an effect on the International Roughness Index, rutting, and Performance Condition Index for Hot Mix Asphalt overlays on local roads. The study shows that the expected savings when using the BV model in procurement of a pavement project could range between 1.1 and 11.5% for a project with a bid price of...