They say necessity is the mother of invention. State Departments of Transportation are faced with necessity of unprecendented proportions. Consequently, they now thinking differently about how they want to manage their infrastructure investments. The DOT vendors who understand this will enjoy a substantial competitive advantage in winning bids.
WIth US infrastructure investment requirements at historic levels, DOTs recognize that they need to manage more information more efficiently than ever before. Product tracking solutions solve this problem.
There are three specific drivers that are moving DOTs toward product tracking systems:
1. Paper Mountains
As vendors know well, DOT's perform extensive testing. The results need to be documented and retained. In the case of concrete, the products are inspected and concrete samples are tested for breakage during the curing process. When a product is manufactured using an information tracking system, the vendor can provide QC information electronically and the DOT can store its test results in an associated file. The costs in time, expense and lost information from paper records are eliminated.
2. More with less
DOT's must manage $3.6 Trillion of infrastructure investment through 2020 under shrinking (or, at best, stable) operating budgets. To make matters more difficult, DOTs will experience significant loss of institutional knowledge over the next 5-10 years as long-time employees of the Baby Boomer generation retire. Vendors who offer product tracking as part of their value-add will help the DOTs manage both of these issues.
3. FHWA Buy America
In order to qualify for Federal Highway Administration funding support of infrastructure projects, state DOTs must demonstrate that all steel and iron products have been manufactured in the US. This, of course, is the most immediate driver while states compete for federal funding that is in short supply. Vendors who help their customers win federal funding support will be highly valued.
As we have written before, DOTs have embraced Idencia as a concrete tracking solution and system for tracking steel products. If you would like to learn more about how Idencia can make your company more competitive in DOT bids with no capital investment, please download our Idencia Primer ebook or click on the icon below to schedule a consultation:
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