Performance Goals

Performance Contracting Framework
Fostered by Highways for LIFE

Performance Goals

Process

The basis of any performance contract is the set of performance goals that defines what the contractor is to achieve under the contract. Development of these goals is time-consuming, and needs to be a group activity within the agency. A goal development process is described in the figure and subsections below.

Figure 3. Process for Defining the Performance Goals and Measures
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Flow chart showing the process for defining performance goals and measures.

The project team followed a similar process (with the exception of not performing the final two steps) to develop a sample set of performance measures and goals. This sample set of goals is presented in the Sample Materials section following the description of the process.

Initial Brainstorming Sessions - What is the Owner Agency Trying to Achieve with This Project?

In defining performance goals, the first internal stakeholder brainstorming session should be focused on defining what the Owner Agency is trying to achieve with the specific project.

For HfL efforts, the general goals have already been defined at a high level. These include improving safety, reducing congestion due to construction, improving quality, and improving user satisfaction. However, the challenge here is to define the specific goals that the Owner Agency will use to judge success on its project.

In performing this step, the Owner Agency should cast a broad net in the brainstorming session and keep asking, "What have we missed?" The Owner Agency should document all of the ideas that are put on the table, whether or not they seem like good ideas at the time. As the Owner Agency moves through the process, it can always discard ideas that do not fit.

The brainstorming ideas at this stage will form the basis of the performance goals. Remember to focus on WHAT to achieve, not HOW to achieve it. The HOW will be up to the contractor to determine.

Goal Format and Writing

Once the Owner Agency has its goal ideas from the initial brainstorming session, the Owner Agency needs to consider a number of format issues for turning the ideas into goals. The first is whether the goal set should be detailed or higher-level general goals. The Owner Agency would go the detailed route if it is looking to drive the contractor's work plan at the detailed level. The Owner Agency will have a good idea from the brainstorming session which way to go. If the Owner Agency had many detailed ideas, it would likely go the detailed route. If the Owner Agency had more general ideas, it would go the higher-level general route.

The next issue is whether the Owner Agency should make the goals subjective or objective. Objective goals are generally preferable, especially if there is a national standard process available for measuring performance. Some goals, however, will need to be subjective. That is fine as long as the rating/scoring process is well defined. This will protect both the contractor and the Owner Agency.

What Makes a Good Goal?

Once the Owner Agency has its draft goals down on paper, the question to ask for each goal is, "Am I SMART?" The acronym is as follows:

I - Is the goal something that the contractor can influence?
S - Is the goal specific?
M - Is the goal measurable?
A - Is the goal achievable?
R - Is the goal results-oriented?
T - Is the goal timely?

If the answer is yes to each of these questions for a draft goal, then the goal is likely a good one. If the answer is no, consider revising the goal into a different form or deleting the goal.

Two other questions to ask include:

Has the goal ever been measured before?
Is there existing infrastructure in place to measure performance?

These last two questions are not go/no go questions, but the answers can impact the amount of effort needed to evaluate performance.

The Owner Agency will also need to make sure that the goals do not conflict with their standard specifications. If they do, the Owner Agency can modify the standard specification language in the solicitation package.

Organizing/Categorizing Goals

Once the Owner Agency has its draft set of goals, the Owner Agency needs to consider how to organize/categorize the goals. A good way to categorize the goals is by benefit category such as safety, construction congestion, quality, user satisfaction, etc. Another way is to categorize by infrastructure type.

The Owner Agency should place the goals into the various categories, and generate new categories for any goals that do not fit.

Performance Measures vs. Performance Goals vs. Levels of Performance

First, here are some definitions:

A performance measure is a set of defined outcome-based conditions or response times that project personnel (Owner Agency and contractor) use to evaluate the success of the contractor.
A level of performance is a defined condition or response time.
A performance goal is the minimum acceptable level of performance for a given performance measure.

The Owner Agency will need to decide whether it will use pass/fail performance goals or multi-level performance measures.

Pass/fail goals are easier to define, but do not provide as much information on performance. For example, did the contractor just fail the goal or did they badly fail? Did they just pass another goal, or did they truly go the extra mile and exceed the requirement?

If the Owner Agency uses pass/fail performance goals, then the "performance measure" and the "performance goal" are the same thing. If the Owner Agency uses multi-level performance measures, then the measure will include multiple levels of performance. A level of performance is a defined condition or response time. In the multi-level case, the performance goal is the level of performance that is considered a "pass."

If the Owner Agency chooses the multi-level route, the "goal" remains the passing level, and the Owner Agency defines "levels of performance" for the other levels. The Owner Agency will want to make sure that no matter what the outcome, it will fall in to one of the levels of performance. Thus the highest level and lowest level should only have one threshold boundary. The Owner Agency should consider defining a "rejection" level to specify at what level the work is rejected and must be re-done.

The set of "levels of performance" including the "goal" makes up the performance measure. If the Owner Agency chooses the pass/fail route, then they can just stick with the goal.

Establishing the Baseline and Testing the Goals

A large part of determining whether a draft performance goal is achievable - both from the Owner Agency's perspective as well as from the contractor's perspective - is to compare it to the baseline conditions. For example, if the site is experiencing heavy congestion now with no construction in place, it is likely unreasonable to set a goal of no congestion during the construction period. The Owner Agency should compare each goal against the baseline conditions and results achieved in other innovative projects. If the goal seems unreasonable, the Owner Agency should adjust it.

Defining/determining the baseline conditions can involve using available historical information such as crash rates at the site or field data collection to determine current traffic patterns. This will cost money and time, but the information has multiple uses. By providing this baseline information to the contractors as part of the solicitation package, it helps them to better establish their risk level, which helps to get a more accurate price. The Owner Agency will also need this baseline information during the contract to measure performance for some of the defined goals. A number of goals in the sample materials provided in the following section compare performance to "pre-construction" conditions at the site.

Lessons Learned from Real-World Performance Contracts

The following lessons have been learned in real-world performance contracts:

The goals MUST be something that the contractor can influence.
Take advantage of the experience of others - do not start from scratch
Identify the PM/PE/COTR and involve him/her throughout the entire process
Performance goals form the basis of the contract
Sources of performance measures and goals include:
- Agency Goals
- Common industry standards
- Research
- Measures/standards from other agencies/contracts
- Subject matter experts
- Brainstorming/working sessions
Make sure that you cover everything
Focus on what to achieve, not how to achieve it
Include time-response goals as appropriate
5-level measures are more informative than pass/fail measures
Consider the possibility of using surrogate measures if the primary measure is not practical to measure in a timely manner
Test the goals in the field before advertising your RFP/IFB
When nearing completion of the draft set of measures/goals, it is important to sit back and think, "What have we missed?"
Defining performance measures/goals is an iterative process
Getting reviews/approval/buy-in from the offices that will be impacted is very important
Clearly define what it means to meet the performance goals
When developing performance goals, it is important to consider how they will be measured/ evaluated and define this in the solicitation. These issues are primarily covered under measurement methodology.
- Who will collect and analyze the information?
- Is specialized equipment required?
- How often will performance be evaluated?
- Will the evaluation be subjective or objective?
- Who pays?
- What happens if a performance goal is not met?
Total Quality Management and the Environmental Management System are both aimed at creating measures for performance. Expertise and experience in these arenas could help in performance contracting.

Sample Performance Measures

The following table provides a sample menu of performance measures developed for use on construction projects. This set is largely focused around the overall Highways for LIFE goal set. Each agency will need to develop a set of goals that suits their specific project. This sample menu will provide a head start, and will help to accelerate the process.

The sample performance measures are categorized by benefit category (i.e., safety, construction congestion, quality, time, cost savings, customer focus/user satisfaction, environmental, and innovation), and each performance measure has 5 levels of performance. The "Good" or "4" level is the performance goal, or "pass," which denotes the acceptable level of performance.

For general construction projects, and for HfL projects using performance contracting, owner agencies are encouraged to use this sample set of performance measures as a starting menu, and to develop their project performance measures and goals using a subset of these sample measures and goals. All numbers/values presented are samples and must be set to appropriate levels for the locality and the specific project. Owner agencies should also pay close attention to the "Notes" column for each performance measure for important information on each measure.

This sample set of performance measure and goals should greatly accelerate the process of performance measure and goal definition, because the Owner Agency will not need to start from scratch.

One item to stress is that whatever goals are chosen, they must be under the influence of the contractor for that specific contract.

Table 1. Sample Performance Measure/Goal Menu
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Category	Element	PM #	5 - Excellent	4 - Good	3 - Fair	2 - Poor	1 - Very Poor	Notes
Table Notes: These measures, goals, and values have not been tested and are shown as an example starting point for consideration. The Quality Index is an issue that needs to be addressed by the research or construction community. The primary issue is how to come up with a series of goals/tests that are indicators of durability and the associated lifecycle costs. The index should be tied to what the contractor gets paid, and could eventually be used in the pre- qualification process for future contracts (would need to be a national measure). This would make a good NCHRP project.
Safety	Injuries - (Workers) Contractor / Sub- Contractors on site personnel, Government represent- atives, Consultant, Vendors, Delivery Personnel	1	Incident Rate (IR) for Worker injuries is less than 2.0	Incident Rate (IR) for Worker injuries is less than 4.0	Incident Rate (IR) for Worker injuries is less than 5.5	Incident Rate (IR) for Worker injuries is less than 6.5	Incident Rate (IR) for Worker injuries is greater than 6.5	Each State Agency shall establish a target Incident Rate to be used for each project based on local and Statewide available Incident Rate data analysis. The shown Incident Rates are shown as an example.
	Vehicular Crashes	2	Site Crash Rate during construc- tion divided by the Crash Rate prior to construc- tion is less than 1.0	Site Crash Rate during construc- tion divided by the Crash Rate prior to construc- tion is equal to 1.0	Site Crash Rate during construc- tion divided by the Crash Rate prior to construc- tion is less than 1.2	Site Crash Rate during construc- tion divided by the Crash Rate prior to construc- tion is less than 1.3	Site Crash Rate during construc- tion divided by the Crash Rate prior to construc- tion is equal to or greater than 1.3	Each State Agency / Contractor shall record the Crash Rate during construc- tion. For long term projects, the annual Crash Rate during construc- tion should be used and divided by the Crash Rate prior to construc- tion. For short term projects, the overall Crash Rate during construc- tion should be used. The "Site" extends upstream of the work zone, since crashes often happen upstream of the work zone due to queuing. Disincentives should not be applied to this Performance Measure.
	OR
	Vehicular Crashes	3	Work zone crash rate 20% less than precon- struction crash rate	Work zone crash rate equal to precon- struction crash rate	Work zone crash rate 20% higher than precon- struction crash rate	Work zone crash rate 30% higher than precon- struction crash rate	Work zone crash rate more than 30% higher than precon- struction crash rate	Each State Agency / Contractor shall record the work zone Crash Rate during construc- tion. For long term projects the annual work zone Crash Rate during construc- tion should be used for comparison with the Crash Rate prior to construc- tion. For short term projects the overall work zone Crash Rate during construc- tion should be used. Disincentives should not be applied to this Performance Measure.
	Speed Band	4	95% of the motorists travel at the posted speed limit or less	85% of the motorists travel at the posted speed limit or less	75% of the motorists travel at the posted speed limit or less	65% of the motorists travel at the posted speed limit or less	Less than 65% of the motorists travel at the posted speed limit or less	The speed band category was added to promote monitoring and enforcement innovations by the contractor in an effort to keep the drivers safely within the speed band. For the contractor to implement enforcement activities, the contractor may need to work through the DOT.
		AND
		5	No one travels more than 10 mph over the posted speed limit.	No one travels more than 15 mph over the posted speed limit.	Less than 5% of drivers travel more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit.	Less than 10% of drivers travel more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit.	More than 10% of drivers travel more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit.	This measure was added to promote monitoring and enforcement innovations by the contractor in an effort to keep the drivers safely within the speed band. For the contractor to implement enforcement activities, the contractor may need to work through the DOT. Level 5, as presented, may not be achievable. The Owner Agency has the flexibility to adjust these parameters because they may not be realistic for some situations.
Construc- tion Con- gestion	Travel time / delay during construc- tion	6	No motorist delay (as compared to precon- struction travel time)	Rural: Average motorist delay less than 15 minutes (as compared to precon- struction travel time) Urban: Average motorist delay less than 20 minutes (as compared to precon- struction travel time)	Rural: Average motorist delay less than 20 minutes (as compared to precon- struction travel time) Urban: Average motorist delay less than 30 minutes (as compared to precon- struction travel time)	Rural: Average motorist delay less than 30 minutes (as compared to precon- struction travel time) Urban: Average motorist delay less than 45 minutes (as compared to precon- struction travel time)	Rural: Average motorist delay ≥ 30 minutes (as compared to precon- struction travel time) Urban: Average motorist delay ≥ 45 minutes (as compared to precon- struction travel time)	Specify days that are excluded - for example, holidays, weekends, etc., and whether the contractor can work on those days. Good baseline information is needed for this measure. Delay value can be scaled based on project / traffic characteristics If the Owner Agency is concerned with total delay to the public, then this measure also should be applied to the alternate routes.
		OR
		7	Average travel time through the work zone is at least 10% less than the established target	Average travel time through the work zone is equal to or less than the established target	Average travel time through the work zone is 10% higher than the established target	Average travel time through the work zone is 20% higher than the established target	Average travel time through the work zone is greater than 20% higher than the established target	Specify days that are excluded - for example, holidays, weekends, etc., and whether the contractor can work on those days. Good baseline information is needed for this measure. The intent of this performance measure is not to encourage speeding. The Owner Agency must take this into account when setting the target.
		OR
	Queue Length During Construc- tion	8	No queue	No stopped queue (speed less than 10 mph)	Rural: < ½ mile stopped queue (speed less than 10 mph) Urban: < 1 mile stopped queue (speed less than 10 mph)	Rural: < 1 mile stopped queue (speed less than 10 mph) Urban: < 2 mile stopped queue (speed less than 10 mph)	Rural: ≥ 1 mile stopped queue (speed less than 10 mph) Urban: ≥ 2 mile stopped queue (speed less than 10 mph)	Specify days that are excluded - for example, holidays, weekends, etc., and whether the contractor can work on those days. Might not be implementable for heavy traffic areas, as they may already be experiencing significant queues. Indicate allowable queue times to the contractor Specify if the contractor needs to take action if the queue goes above a specified level.
		9	No queue	Rural: < ½ mile moving queue (travel speed 20% less than posted speed) Urban: < 1 ½ mile moving queue (travel speed 20% less than posted speed)	Rural: < 1 ½ mile moving queue (travel speed 20% less than posted speed) Urban: < 2 mile moving queue (travel speed 20% less than posted speed)	Rural: < 2 mile moving queue (travel speed 20% less than posted speed) Urban: < 3 mile moving queue (travel speed 20% less than posted speed)	Rural: ≥ 2 mile moving queue (travel speed 20% less than posted speed) Urban: ≥ 3 mile moving queue (travel speed 20% less than posted speed)	Specify days that are excluded - for example, holidays, weekends, etc., and whether the contractor can work on those days. Might not be implementable for heavy traffic areas, as they may already be experiencing significant queues. Indicate allowable queue times to the contractor Specify if the contractor needs to take action if the queue goes above a specified level.
		OR
		10	Peak period queue length is less than typical precon- struction peak period queue length	Peak period queue length is equal to typical precon- struction peak period queue length	Peak period queue length is 25% greater than the typical precon- struction peak period queue length	Peak period queue length is 50% greater than the typical precon- struction peak period queue length	Peak period queue length is more than 50% greater than the typical precon- struction peak period queue length	Specify days that are excluded - for example, holidays, weekends, etc., and whether the contractor can work on those days. Implementable for heavy traffic areas that may already be experiencing significant queues. Good baseline information is needed for this measure.
	Incident Clearance Time	11	Non-injury incidents are cleared from the travel lanes within 15 minutes	Non-injury incidents are cleared from the travel lanes within 20 minutes	Non-injury incidents are cleared from the travel lanes within 30 minutes	Non-injury incidents are cleared from the travel lanes within 60 minutes	Non-injury incidents are not cleared from the travel lanes within 60 minutes	Specify days that are excluded - for example, holidays, weekends, etc. Need to contractually / legislatively ensure that contractor can clear the road Owner agency can pick the clearance times that are most appropriate for their locality Contractor and Owner Agency need to work closely with the appropriate law enforcement agency to establish protocols and to define responsibilities If incident clearance in the project locality is entirely the responsibility of law enforcement, then this PM should not be used.
	Capacity	12	Capacity in the work zone [or work zone and alternate route(s)] during peak traffic periods is greater than or equal to the precon- struction capacity	Capacity in the work zone [or work zone and alternate route(s)] during peak traffic periods is greater than or equal to 90% of the precon- struction capacity	Capacity in the work zone [or work zone and alternate route(s)] during peak traffic periods is greater than or equal to 80% of the precon- struction capacity	Capacity in the work zone [or work zone and alternate route(s)] during peak traffic periods is greater than or equal to 70% of the precon- struction capacity	Capacity in the work zone [or work zone and alternate route(s)] during peak traffic periods is less than 70% of the precon- struction capacity	Good baseline information is needed for this measure. Applies to peak traffic periods only.
Quality	Quality Index¹	13	The Contractor achieves a Quality Index Score of 1.0	The Contractor achieves a Quality Index Score of 0.8	The Contractor achieves a Quality Index Score of 0.7	The Contractor achieves a Quality Index Score of 0.6	The Contractor achieves a Quality Index Score of less than 0.6	The Quality Index will be computed based on the Contractor's performance on project- specific quality goals defined and weighted by the Owner Agency. The index is not an override of whether the product is acceptable or unacceptable. The Quality Index score will range from 0 to 1.0 Example goals and topics that can be used to feed the quality index include: Durability- related goals for various pavement types Density and Mat uniformity Embankment quality Bridge quality Others Different infrastructure components can have their own quality index, with an overall quality index computed through a weighted average (similar to the process described under the Measurement Methodology Section). Alternatively, the quality index can be the % of tests passed of an aggregate number of key tests. In this case, the value for level 4 should be increased and a rejection level defined. The Quality Index needs to be carefully considered, because you do not want a high index for a bad project.
	Pavement Smoothness	14	Inertial Profile, IRI less than 45 inches per mile	Inertial Profile, IRI less than 48 inches per mile	Inertial Profile, IRI less than 60 inches per mile	Inertial Profile, IRI less than 80 inches per mile	Inertial Profile, IRI greater than or equal to 80 inches per mile
	Pavement Noise	15	Noise less than 94 dBA based on On-Board Sound Intensity (OBSI) Method	Noise less than 96 dBA based on OBSI Method	Noise less than 100 dBA based on OBSI Method	Noise less than 110 dBA based on OBSI Method	Noise greater than or equal to 110 dBA based on OBSI Method
Time	Overall Project schedule	16	Project completed ahead of the contract completion date by 20%	Project completed ahead of the contract completion date	Project completed on the contract completion date	Project completed 1 month after the contract completion date	Project completed more than 1 month after the contract completion date	Using this measure may discourage the contractor from submitting an aggressive schedule. Need to account for extra working days caused by the State. This measure fits well with A+B bidding, but if you have A+B, you might not need this measure. An agency can use liquidated damages for exceeding schedule, or no excuse bonus for completion ahead of schedule (Florida has a good example). The Contractor should beat his initial proposed time to work completion The designer should do a critical path analysis to get a more realistic completion date.
	Overall Project schedule	17	Reduce contractor's actual days on the road by more than 20% compared to the State DOT MAX working days	Reduce contractor's actual days on the road by 20% compared to the State DOT MAX working days	Reduce contractor's actual days on the road by 10% compared to the working days	Contractor's actual days on the road is the same as the State DOT MAX working days	Contractor's actual days on the road is greater than the State DOT MAX working days	Need to account for extra working days caused by the State. The designer should do a critical path analysis to get a more realistic completion date.
	OR
	Schedule Improve- ments	18	Reduce working days to complete project by more than 20% when compared to the State DOT's MAX working days.	Reduce working days to complete project by 20% when compared to the State DOT's MAX working days.	Reduce working days to complete project by 10% when compared to the State DOT's MAX working days.	Project is completed in the same number of working days as the State DOT's MAX working days	Project takes more working days than the State DOT's MAX working days	"Excellent" can be changed to "on time" if accelerated delivery proposed. Need to account for extra working days caused by the State. The designer should do a critical path analysis to get a more realistic completion date. Some States use contract completion date instead of Max working days.
		OR
		19	Achieve a score of < 0.8 using the equation "Actual Working Days divided by State DOT MAX working days"	Achieve a score of < 1 using the equation "Actual Working Days divided by State DOT MAX working days"	Achieve a score between 1 and 1.1 using the equation "Actual Working Days divided by State DOT MAX working days"	Achieve a score of greater than 1.1 and less than 1.25 using the equation "Actual Working Days divided by State DOT MAX working days"	Score is greater than or equal to 1.25 using the equation "Actual Working Days divided by State DOT MAX working days"	Need to account for extra working days caused by the State. The designer should do a critical path analysis to get a more realistic completion date.
	Scheduling Milestones	20	Complete all major milestones on time, some ahead of schedule	Complete all major milestones on time	Complete 80% of major milestones on time	Complete 50% of major milestones on time	Complete less than 50% of major milestones on time
	Scheduling	21	Work is performed 24/7 until the project is complete	No contract days where no work is being performed when work is able to be performed and traffic is impacted in the work zone	2 contract days where no work is being performed when work is able to be performed and traffic is impacted in the work zone	7 contract days where no work is being performed when work is able to be performed and traffic is impacted in the work zone	More than 7 contract days where no work is being performed when work is able to be performed and traffic is impacted in the work zone
Cost Savings	Contract cost savings due to value engineering	22	Reduce actual contract growth by achieving a score of < 1 using the equation of final cost divided by original contract allotment	Eliminate actual contract growth by achieving a score of 1 using the equation of final cost divided by original contract allotment.	Minimize actual contract growth by achieving a score > 1 and ≤ 1.1 using the equation of final cost divided by original contract allotment.	Achieve a score > 1.1 and ≤ 1.25 using the equation of final cost divided by original contract allotment.	Actual contract growth is greater than 1.25 using the equation of final cost divided by original contract allotment.	Control overall costs through value engineering, improved proposals, etc. Create an environment where value engineering is encouraged. DOTs must be engaged in the design process; better plans will bring reduced prices. Cost growth issues due to design errors should not count against the contractor. Cost growth due to DOT changes should not count against the contractor
Customer Focus / User Satis- faction	Customer Satisfaction	23	Based on survey results, 95% of travelers were satisfied with their driving experience during the project	Based on survey results, 80% of travelers were satisfied with their driving experience during the project	Based on survey results, 70% of travelers were satisfied with their driving experience during the project	Based on survey results, 60% of travelers were satisfied with their driving experience during the project	Based on survey results, less than 60% of travelers were satisfied with their driving experience during the project	In the preliminary stages, involve customers (i.e., outreach, PR, communications via websites) Consider how often you want to survey the public; it may be costly to survey often, but you need a feedback mechanism (i.e., websites, call in numbers) Community opposition may be a factor for low scores; address opposition in partnering meetings
Environ- mental	Watershed Quality Manage- ment	24	Reduce sediment loads to 10% less than the precon- struction conditions	Reduce sediment loads to 5% less than the precon- struction conditions	Control sediment loads to the level necessary to maintain the precon- struction conditions	Demonstrate an increase of sediment loads to 2% above the precon- struction conditions	Demonstrate an increase of sediment loads to > 2% above the precon- struction conditions
	Recycling and Reuse	25	Capture and recycle / recover 100% of recyclable materials used on the project	Capture and recycle / recover 90% of recyclable materials used on the project	Capture and recycle / recover 80% of recyclable materials used on the project	Capture and recycle / recover 60% of recyclable materials used on the project	Capture and recycle / recover < 60% of recyclable materials used on the project	Getting permits for recycling facilities in some areas may be challenging Reach for zero waste to avoid landfill use Spec would need to give flexibility to the contractor in picking materials
	Construc- tion Noise	26	Noise due to construc- tion work ≤ 90 dBA 100 yards from the construc- tion site.	Noise due to construc- tion work ≤ 95 dBA 100 yards from the construc- tion site.	Noise due to construc- tion work ≤ 100 dBA 100 yards from the construc- tion site.	Noise due to construc- tion work ≤ 105 dBA 100 yards from the construc- tion site.	Noise due to construc- tion work > 105 dBA 100 yards from the construc- tion site.	This applies to both day and night work.
Inno- vation	Implement- ation	27	Implement- ation of project innovations is greater than the project goal	Implement- ation of project innovations is equal to the project goal	Implement- ation of project innovations is greater than or equal to 90% of the project goal	Implement- ation of project innovations is greater than or equal to 80% of the project goal	Implement- ation of project innovations is less than 80% of the project goal	The Owner Agency must provide a receptive environment to innovation and have a process for approving proposed innovations. Innovations will include innovative practices and technologies proposed by the contractor at the proposal / bid stage and during the course of the contract. It also includes value engineering proposals.