Gordian Logo RSMeans Data from Gordian

Gordian Announces Harry H. Mellon Award of Excellence in Job Order Contracting Winner

August 5, 2016

Phoenix, AZ -The Arizona Dept. of Transportation received the 2015 Harry H. Mellon Award of Excellence in Job Order Contracting for completion of emergency repairs at seven sites along 24 miles of U.S. Route 89A after flash flooding devastated the roadway. The state agency and local contractor S.J. Anderson Company were honored for innovative use of Job Order Contracting on the $1.6 million project, which was completed in less than one month.

A 200 year monsoon dumped as much as 1.7 inches of rain on House Rock Valley, AZ, in August 2015. Torrents of water damaged the roadway and culvert system designed to channel flash-flood rains under the highway. When skies cleared, ADOT needed a solution to remove tons of sediment that ranged from silt to 15-foot-diameter boulders so repairs to the roadway and drainage system could be completed.

Just 11 days after submitting the price proposal, the contractor began work. Time was of the essence, with a section of the roadway limited to one lane, even as tourist season increased traffic volume. As a result, around-the-clock traffic control was needed throughout the duration of the work. The threat of another monsoon loomed as well.

Dozens of tasks were completed at the seven repair sites, including:

  • Removing sediment and flood debris within reinforced concrete box culverts
  • Breaking boulders into rip rap to protect the roadway and drainage system
  • Building or aligning drainage channels to pre-existing hydraulic conditions
  • Repairing exposed rebar on four reinforced concrete box culverts
  • Re-establishing highway grade height and width, as well as slope dressing
  • Milling old pavement and replacing it with new pavement to match the existing roadway

Use of Job Order Contracting allowed ADOT to quickly re-open US Route 89A by having qualified, local contractors in place before the weather disaster struck, so they were available to start work immediately after the emergency. Job Order Contracting also ensured state and federal procurement laws and codes were followed while labor, equipment and material prices were firm and fixed, even under extreme conditions.

In addition to a National Award of Excellence Winner, judges named five Award of Merit Winners to recognize their demonstration of best practices in Job Order Contracting. Details on those projects are available here.

About the Awards

The Harry H. Mellon Award of Excellence in Job Order Contracting is an annual award recognizing excellent and innovative uses of Job Order Contracting. Judging was conducted by a panel of Job Order Contracting experts and past award winners from all facets of the industry. Projects submitted were judged on their adherence to Job Order Contracting principles, innovation, complexity, special circumstances and overall time and cost savings.

In order to be eligible, projects had to be completed during 2015. Nominations were submitted by government agency owners or contractors. The award program is named for the inventor of Job Order Contracting and co-founder of The Gordian Group and is sponsored by Gordian.

Job Order Contracting is a competitively bid procurement process that building and infrastructure owners use to save money by fast-tracking repair and alteration projects based on locally priced construction tasks and competitively awarded contracts.

Read more about this news:
Good Morning Arizona

The Sedona Eye