ICYMI: USDOT Launches New Center Focused on Delivering Infrastructure Projects on Time, on Task, on Budget

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation has launched the Project Delivery Center of Excellence to help recipients of federal infrastructure funds deliver projects more efficiently and effectively, from concept to completion. The Center will serve as a central resource for innovative practices and will bring project managers together to enable knowledge sharing and peer-to-peer learning.

“This USDOT Project Delivery Center of Excellence that we are launching is important because it is so important to deliver good projects well— meaning on time, on task, on budget,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “I know that in the months ahead the Center of Excellence at Volpe will only continue to grow and evolve in this purpose of better supporting project delivery staff, project sponsors, and everyone working on this both inside and outside the department.”

Since President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021, USDOT and the entire Biden-Harris Administration has hit the ground running to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure—and is already delivering major progress.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is delivering tens of thousands of new transportation projects across the country, and this announcement will help us deliver on time, on task and on budget,” said Senior Advisor to President Biden and White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu. “The Department of Transportation’s Project Delivery Center of Excellence will be a key nexus for exchanging ideas, knowledge and best practices to continue to improve and make our transportation system better for all.”

“We’re honored to host the Project Delivery Center of Excellence at the USDOT Volpe Center and look forward to continued collaboration with the Department’s Operating Administrations, because we believe that the most effective project delivery happens before your project even begins,” said U.S. DOT Volpe Center Director Anne Aylward. “We want this resource to be useful, so we will partner with federal, Tribal, state, and local Bipartisan Infrastructure Law project sponsors to grow the Center of Excellence to ensure good projects are delivered well—and that means on time, on task, and on budget.”

Among the initial plans for the Project Delivery Center of Excellence:    

• Simplifying the contracting process by providing newer, less experienced grant recipients with an off-the-shelf, high-quality model that they can use to ensure consistency and quality in design and construction contracts.
• Centralizing Project Delivery Methods Best Practices and Convening Information Exchanges
• Providing a central repository and disseminate national best practices and case studies in successful, innovative project development, project delivery, and cost containment efforts.
• Working in partnership with the American Society of Civil Engineers and Association of Consulting Engineering Companies to develop and distribute templates and model language for transportation construction contracts. 

Learn more about USDOT’s Project Delivery Center of Excellence here.

As part of the launch, Secretary Buttigieg joined University of Oxford Professor Bent Flyvbjerg, author of How Big Things Get Done and Megaprojects and Risk. Their conversation was the first in a new virtual leadership event series, Delivering the Benefits of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). 

A recording of this webinar is available here.

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