Implementation of Electronic Right-of-Way Management Systems Versus Paper Systems
1 Introduction and Background
The acquisition of right-of-way for a transportation project faces many challenges:
- Public sector real estate professionals are continuously challenged to "do more with less," as staffing levels have been reduced in many states and outside consultants are being enlisted to perform more work
- Delays in letting and construction can lead to a substantial increase in the total cost of a project and creates accountability issues for the state DOT with policy makers and other stakeholders to whom commitments were made as to when construction would begin
- Since the right-of-way management business processes are highly structured and based on federal and state laws and regulations, states have limited flexibility in how they execute the right-of-way process
- The right-of-way process requires a significant amount of documentation to be developed and, in many cases, exchanged with property owners
- An extensive archive of paper right-of-way documents can make document retrieval cumbersome
The application of technology, including the development of an electronic right-of-way management system, is one potential strategy for assisting state departments of transportation (DOT) with improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the right-of-way management process. While the implementation of an electronic data recordkeeping system has the potential to provide a number of benefits for a state DOT, implementation of an electronic system can be costly and time consuming. In addition, it requires an ongoing investment to operate and maintain the new system.
Recognizing that implementing an electronic right-of-way management system can be potentially costly and complex, the Federal Highway Administration Office of Real Estate Services (FHWA HEPR) retained Parsons Brinckerhoff to develop tangible, easily understandable documentation for transportation professionals in public agencies, at the state and local levels, to use in supporting the implementation of electronic information management systems for right-of-way and related activities. The goal of this research project is to compare and contrast the relative strengths and challenges associated with using both an electronic system and a "paper" system and then to identify and document the business case associated with the implementation of an electronic system.
A number of states have automated their right-of-way management processes to some extent. In 2008, a survey administered to state agencies as part of NCHRP 8-55A: Geographic Information Systems Applications for Transportation Right-of-way found that 86 percent of states that responded (19 of 22) to the survey had an information system that supported automation of the right-of-way function to some extent. Eighty-two percent of the states that responded (18) were planning to expand their right-of-way information system, 50 percent (11) were planning to replace their right-of-way information systems, and 59 percent (13) were planning to add a GIS component.
1.1 Definition of Right-of-Way Management System
For the purpose of this research project, an integrated right-of-way management system is assumed to include the following capabilities:
- Manage transportation project information relevant to the right-of-way acquisition process
- Manage information on individual parcels that are candidates for acquisition
- Support all aspects of the right-of-way acquisition lifecycle, including appraisal, negotiation, and relocation
- Support property management activities, including tracking of leases
- Capture the appraisal, the review appraisal, and the finding of just compensation within the system
- Support residential and business relocation services, including either calculations of relocation eligibility within the system or linkages to external tools/calculators
- Manage and track utility relocations, including managing the details of required agreements with utilities
- Provide integrated workflows which automatically route or move a task to be completed from one step or user to another within the system based on predefined business rules (Example: the assignment of a parcel to an appraiser, the entry of the appraisal into the system, the routing of the completed appraisal to the review appraiser (and return to the appraiser for revision if necessary), and then transmission of the completed appraisal to the individual responsible for approving the amount of just compensation for that parcel)
- Support the creation and management of various required forms and letters by the system based on business rules (for example, automatic creation of a 90-Day or 30-Day Letter or various relocation eligibility worksheets)
- Integrate with an agency's document management system to support scanning and storing of documents during the right-of-way acquisition process and linking to these documents for later viewing
- Integrate with an agency's financial management system to reduce or eliminate duplicate entry required to support various right-of-way payments (property acquisition, relocation, consultant services, etc.)
The remainder of this report documents Parsons Brinckerhoff's research approach and its findings and conclusions from the research study. This report is organized as follows:
- Research Approach-This section outlines the major tasks performed during the project and the approach utilized to complete these tasks.
- Key Findings-This section summarizes findings from the agency survey and case studies in terms of agency experience with the implementation of electronic right-of-way systems, the use of paper based systems, and lessons learned from the perspective of both electronic and paper-based data systems.
- Business Case Analysis-This section provides an example business case analysis that can be adapted by a state DOT and customized to that agency's particular business environment to help to establish the case for implementing a new right-of-way management system.
- Risk and Barriers to Implementation-The purpose of this section is to identify potential barriers that will affect a state DOT's ability to implement or attempt to implement electronic information management systems in their right-of-way offices and propose approaches for addressing and overcoming these barriers.
- Appendices - Appendices include the initial agency questionnaire, detail agency questionnaire used for follow-up discussions, and detailed summaries of each of the agency case studies.
