23 U.S.C. § 106 Project Approval and Oversight

LibraryUnited States Statutes
Edition2023
CurrencyCurrent through P.L. 118-34 (published on www.congress.gov on 12/26/2023), except for [P. L. 118-31]
Year2023
Citation23 U.S.C. § 106

(a) IN GENERAL.-

(1) SUBMISSION OF PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, AND ESTIMATES.-Except as otherwise provided in this section, each State transportation department shall submit to the Secretary for approval such plans, specifications, and estimates for each proposed project as the Secretary may require.

(2) PROJECT AGREEMENT.-The Secretary shall act on the plans, specifications, and estimates as soon as practicable after the date of their submission and shall enter into a formal project agreement with the State transportation department recipient formalizing the conditions of the project approval.

(3) CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION.-The execution of the project agreement shall be deemed a contractual obligation of the Federal Government for the payment of the Federal share of the cost of the project.

(4) GUIDANCE.-In taking action under this subsection, the Secretary shall be guided by section 109.

(b) PROJECT AGREEMENT.-

(1) PROVISION OF STATE FUNDS.-The project agreement shall make provision for State funds required to pay the State's non-Federal share of the cost of construction of the project (including payments made pursuant to a long-term concession agreement, such as availability payments) and to pay for maintenance of the project after completion of construction.

(2) REPRESENTATIONS OF STATE.-If a part of the project is to be constructed at the expense of, or in cooperation with, political subdivisions of the State, the Secretary may rely on representations made by the State transportation department with respect to the arrangements or agreements made by the State transportation department and appropriate local officials for ensuring that the non-Federal contribution will be provided under paragraph (1).

(c) ASSUMPTION BY STATES OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SECRETARY.-

(1) NHS PROJECTS.-For projects under this title that are on the National Highway System, including projects on the Interstate System, the State may assume the responsibilities of the Secretary under this title for design, plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and inspections with respect to the projects unless the Secretary determines that the assumption is not appropriate.

(2) NON-NHS PROJECTS.-For projects under this title that are not on the National Highway System, the State shall assume the responsibilities of the Secretary under this title for design, plans, specifications, estimates, contract awards, and inspection of projects, unless the State determines that such assumption is not appropriate.

(3) AGREEMENT.-The Secretary and the State shall enter into an agreement relating to the extent to which the State assumes the responsibilities of the Secretary under this subsection.

(4) LIMITATION ON INTERSTATE PROJECTS.-

(A) IN GENERAL.-The Secretary shall not assign any responsibilities to a State for projects the Secretary determines to be in a high risk category, as defined under subparagraph (B).

(B) HIGH RISK CATEGORIES.-The Secretary may define the high risk categories under this subparagraph on a national basis, a State-by-State basis, or a national and State-by-State basis, as determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.

(d) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SECRETARY.-Nothing in this section, section 133, or section 149 shall affect or discharge any responsibility or obligation of the Secretary under-

(1) section 113 or 114; or

(2) any Federal law other than this title (including section 5333 of title 49).

(e) VALUE ENGINEERING ANALYSIS.-

(1) DEFINITION OF VALUE ENGINEERING ANALYSIS.-

(A) IN GENERAL.-In this subsection, the term "value engineering analysis" means a systematic process of review and analysis of a project, during the planning and design phases, by a multidisciplinary team of persons not involved in the project, that is conducted to provide recommendations such as those described in subparagraph (B) for-

(i) providing the needed functions safely, reliably, and at the lowest overall lifecycle cost;

(ii) improving the value and quality of the project; and

(iii) reducing the time to complete the project.

(B) INCLUSIONS.-The recommendations referred to in subparagraph (A) include, with respect to a project-

(i) combining or eliminating otherwise inefficient use of costly parts of the original proposed design for the project; and

(ii) completely redesigning the project using different technologies, materials, or methods so as to accomplish the original purpose of the project.

(2) ANALYSIS.-The State shall provide a value engineering analysis for-

(A) each project on the National Highway System receiving Federal assistance with an estimated total cost of $50,000,000 or more;

(B) a bridge project on the National Highway System receiving Federal assistance with an estimated total cost of $40,000,000 or more; and

(C) any other project the Secretary determines to be appropriate.

(3) MAJOR PROJECTS.-The Secretary may require more than 1 analysis described in paragraph (2) for a major project described in subsection (h).

(4) REQUIREMENTS.-

(A) VALUE ENGINEERING PROGRAM.-The State shall develop and carry out a value engineering program that-

(i) establishes and documents value engineering program policies and procedures;

(ii) ensures that the required value engineering analysis is conducted before completing the final design of a project;

(iii) ensures that the value engineering analysis that is conducted, and the recommendations developed and implemented for each project, are documented in a final value engineering report; and

(iv) monitors, evaluates, and annually submits to the Secretary a report that describes the results of the value analyses that are conducted and the recommendations implemented for each of the projects described in paragraph (2) that are completed in the State.

(B) BRIDGE PROJECTS.-The value engineering analysis for a bridge project under paragraph (2) shall-

(i) include bridge superstructure and substructure requirements based on construction material; and

(ii) be evaluated by the State-

(I) on engineering and economic bases, taking into consideration acceptable designs for bridges; and

(II) using an analysis of lifecycle costs and duration of project construction.

(5) DESIGN-BUILD PROJECTS.-A requirement to provide a value engineering analysis under this subsection shall not apply to a project delivered using the design-build method of construction.

(f) LIFE-CYCLE COST ANALYSIS.-

(1) USE OF LIFE-CYCLE COST ANALYSIS.-The Secretary shall develop recommendations for the States to conduct life-cycle cost analyses. The recommendations shall be based on the principles contained in section 2 of Executive Order No. 12893 and shall be developed in consultation with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The Secretary shall not require a State to conduct a life-cycle cost analysis for any project as a result of the recommendations required under this subsection.

(2) LIFE-CYCLE COST ANALYSIS DEFINED.-In this subsection, the term "life-cycle cost analysis" means a process for evaluating the total economic worth of a usable project segment by analyzing initial costs and discounted future costs, such as maintenance, user costs, reconstruction, rehabilitation, restoring, and resurfacing costs, over the life of the project segment.

(g) OVERSIGHT PROGRAM.-

(1) ESTABLISHMENT.-

(A) IN GENERAL.-The Secretary shall establish an oversight program to monitor the effective and efficient use of funds authorized to carry out this title.

(B) MINIMUM REQUIREMENT.-At a minimum, the program shall be responsive to all areas relating to financial integrity and project delivery.

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