Siip Report

Group Assignment 1:

Project Procurement Management in the Springfield Interchange Improvement Project

Gabrielle Cugini, Orrin Foster, Nicky Fournier, Malcolm Joseph, and Derrick Gardner

PMAN 641 – Project Procurement Management

Dr. Michael Belak

University of Maryland University College

March 22, 2015

Project Procurement Management in the Springfield Interchange Improvement Project

The Springfield Interchange Improvement Project (SIIP) was a megaproject managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to ease traffic flow and reduce traffic safety issues with a highway interchange south of Washington, D.C. This major construction project ran from 1999 to 2007 and cost $676 million (Weiss, 2007). This paper assesses and analyzes the four major project phases—inception, development, implementation, and closeout—as they pertain to project procurement management.

The Inception Phase

As one of the largest scale projects ever undertaken by the VDOT, the SIIP required expertise, planning, and, above all else, excellence in the area of procurement management. Unfortunately, the inception phase of the SIIP, as seen through the lens of project procurement, had decidedly negative results. In the assessment and analysis for this phase, the procurement management area receives a three (3).

There are two factors that lead to this rating. First, VDOT permitted construction to get underway on several areas of the SIIP before funding was even approved (Kwak, Doherty, Mambelli, Mourad, & Speranzo, 2004). This has two identifiable issues: 1) if funding did not come through for certain areas, it could lead to severe time and cost slip when considering procurement for those and other areas of the project, and 2) this meant that a complete and well-rounded procurement plan could not have been completed (PMI, 2013). Add to this that the VDOT team grossly underestimated the cost of the project due to lack of experience, and the result is a major roadwork...