TECHBRIEF

Research, Development, and 

Technology

Turner-Fairbank Highway 

Research Center

6300 Georgetown Pike

McLean, VA 22101-2296

www.fhwa.dot.gov/research

Addressing Challenges and 

Return on Investment (ROI) 

for Paperless Project 

Delivery (e-Construction)

FHWA Publication No. FHWA-HRT-16-068

FHWA Contact: Richard Duval, HRDI-20, (202) 493-3365, 

richard.duval@dot.gov

This TechBrief summarizes a program case study that 

highlights the transformation and automation of the 

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) 

construction process through the development of 

advanced mobile applications, automated workflows, and 

their integration with collaboration tools and payment 

systems to improve overall efficiency. PennDOT projects 

significant monetary benefits due to operational and timesaving efficiencies achieved through implementation of 

e-Construction practices. This TechBrief provides an overview of e-Construction as a national practice, summarizes 

PennDOT’s history and approach to technology implementation, and describes the investment and benefits realized 

during a 3-year period. This TechBrief aligns with the 

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) research project 

Addressing Challenges and Return on Investment (ROI) 

for Paperless Project Delivery (e-Construction), which 

assesses how transportation agencies are transitioning 

to a more electronic/paperless project delivery system 

(e-Construction) and documents the costs, benefits, and 

challenges during the transition. It is offered as a general 

aid for those organizations considering starting similar 

programs or enhancing existing ones and provides a 

case study of how State transportation departments may 

expand their use of e-Construction practices. 
2

Introduction

e-Construction is 1 of 12 innovations in 

FHWA’s third round of the Every Day Counts 

(EDC-3) initiative. As part of the EDC-3 

initiative, FHWA has initiated a research 

project to document the costs, benefits, and 

challenges of implementing e-Construction. 

This case study describes PennDOT’s 

e-Construction practices and is part of 

the overall research project to develop 

implementation guidance. This guidance 

will include an approach to calculating a 

return on investment (ROI) that agencies 

will then be able to tailor to their own 

construction program based on their 

specific processes. 

PennDOT is considered a national leader 

in e-Construction, having made significant 

strides in transforming and automating the 

construction administration process, which 

eliminates the paper-based environment.(1)

However, the real value realized from 

e-Construction is the significant gain in 

process efficiencies. This TechBrief provides 

an overview of PennDOT’s well-established 

processes for electronic submittals 

of all contract documents for the entire 

project construction phase through the 

use of collaboration tools and automated 

workflows using mobile technology 

to streamline and expedite contract 

inspection and administration. PennDOT’s 

implementation of collaboration tools and 

mobile technology resulted in increased 

efficiencies—specifically, operational and 

time savings. Operational savings include 

reduction of paper, field inspection diary 

books, and mileage for trips to/from the 

project office, while time savings include 

improved workforce usage for field 

inspections.

Overview of E-Construction

Background

The construction process is traditionally 

paper-intensive, starting with paper plans 

that are used at every step of construction. 

1 E-mail message to author, April 5, 2016.

“PennDOT’s e-Construction efforts are transforming our field 

construction inspection and management processes in all aspects 

of construction documentation procedures and contractor submittal 

reviews and approvals. This has increased efficiency which allows 

our inspection staff to spend more time performing their core 

functions of quality assurance and contract compliance verification 

duties, supporting our Transportation Quality Initiative. In addition, 

it provides for reduced errors, improved data integrity and more 

responsiveness to our great business partners.”

—Dan Cessna P.E. 

 PennDOT District Executive Construction Engineering 

District 11-01
3

On a design-bid-build (DBB) project, these 

plans are typically carried around onsite 

by contractors and transportation agency 

personnel and used to transform the project design into reality. Transportation agencies must also update the plans to match 

actual construction, creating “as-builts” 

at the end of construction. These may be 

completed either by the agency or the 

contractor, depending on the preference 

of the agency. As-builts, when complete, 

are stored in file cabinets, on microfilm, 

or via other media that do not tend to be 

easily accessible. Furthermore, during construction, transportation agencies maintain 

records of project work in the form of daily 

reports, pay record books, materials testing 

and acceptance reports, and a wide variety 

of related elements. 

Typically, the contractor must meet a 

number of requirements in order to 

submit project information and records, 

including bill of materials, testing reports, 

certifications, and many other documents 

over the life of a project. Because most of 

the work during construction occurs in the 

field on the project site, these documents 

are often paper-based (as opposed to 

electronic) and must either be transferred 

to a system (requiring re-entry of the 

information) or remain in a paper form 

that is typically cumbersome and difficult 

to retrieve. Furthermore, this paperintensive process means that, apart from 

the environmental and monetary impact 

of printing/paper usage, much information 

cannot be shared quickly among all involved 

parties. e-Construction offers a way to 

reduce paper, streamline workflows, and 

increase process efficiencies. 

What Is e-Construction?

FHWA defines e-Construction as a paperless construction administration delivery 

process that includes electronic submission 

of all construction documentation by 

all stakeholders, electronic document 

routing and approvals (e-signature), and 

digital management of all construction 

documentation in a secure environment, 

allowing distribution to all project 

stakeholders through mobile devices. 

e-Construction can be used throughout 

all steps of the project delivery process, 

from project advertisement to final project 

acceptance, including the following:

• Bidding and contractor selection/

contract award.

• Electronic plan documents.

• Project construction and management 

(including use, transfer, and approval 

of electronic plan sets, contractor 

payroll submittals, claims, and change 

orders).

• Project inspection and data collection.

• Project acceptance (including punch 

lists, as-built submittal, and entering 

warranty phase).

• Project closeout (including retainage 

release and entering warranty phase).

• Project communications (e.g., public 

information management or internal 

communications).
4

• Resource tracking (e.g., equipment, 

personnel, fleet, etc.).

The e-Construction process includes the 

following:(1)

• Electronic capture of construction data.

• Electronic submission of construction 

documentation.

• Increased use of mobile devices.

• Increased automation of document 

review and approval.

• Use of electronic signatures throughout 

the construction process by all parties 

involved.

• Secure document and workflow 

management accessible on any device.

Benefits of e-Construction

e-Construction practices streamline workflows and improve communication and 

process efficiencies while saving time 

and money. The process efficiencies are 

realized through electronic processes 

to access, update, and share documents 

and data with all involved parties, thus 

simplifying workflows and improving 

timely collaboration. The direct cost 

savings are realized through reduced printing, mailing, and space for document 

storage. The benefits of a paperless project delivery system (e-Construction) occur 

during both the preconstruction and postconstruction project phases when plans, 

project details, testing, materials and 

location data, and a wide variety of other 

potential information are available to maintenance staff to plan operations, maintenance, and asset management activities. 

e-Construction Information 

Technology (IT)

The IT infrastructure needed to support 

e-Construction practices includes digital 

signatures, digital storage, and data connectivity. Other supporting tools include 

hardware (e.g., computers, mobile devices, 

and surveying equipment) and software. An 

illustration of the IT infrastructure support 

and areas of e-Construction is provided in 

figure 1.

Many State transportation departments 

have been using e-Construction practices 

in at least one step of the project delivery process. Some areas of e-Construction 

are easier to implement than others for a 

number of reasons, such as fewer investment requirements, availability of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions, or welldocumented processes that help facilitate 

a more seamless transition to a paperless 

environment. The maturity and implementation approach of e-Construction practices 

vary from agency to agency. However, the 

most maturity has been demonstrated 

in the bidding and contractor selection/ 

contract award phase of the project delivery 

process.

PennDOT e-Construction Practices 

and Benefits

Organizational Overview

PennDOT is directly responsible for 

approximately 40,000 roadway mi and 

25,000 bridges. As of April 2016, the 

agency has a total of 763 active projects 

valued at a total of approximately $6 billion; 

596 of those projects are DBB, and 167 of 

those projects are design-build.
5

The Highway Administration organization 

within PennDOT oversees the projectdelivery process and is headquartered in 

Harrisburg, PA. The headquarters office provides policy support to the 11 engineering 

districts responsible for delivering the construction program.

Current e-Construction Practices

PennDOT transitioned to paperless 

administration of contractual documents 

and for the documentation of construction 

inspections in 2003. PennDOT uses an inhouse-developed, Web-based application 

known as the Engineering and Construction 

Management System (ECMS) as the 

platform to support its e-Construction 

practices throughout the agency. ECMS 

is the key system used throughout the 

project-delivery process—from advertisement to project closeout—to manage all 

contractual documents used for bidding, 

contract approvals, work order approvals, 

audits, and construction documentation. 

Other current systems supporting 

e-Construction practices within the agency 

are built to easily integrate with ECMS, as 

shown in figure 2. 

Figure 1. e-Construction practices and tools to support them.
6

Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS&Es)

PennDOT’s engineering districts are 

responsible for plan development production of the projects in each geographic 

region. Plan development for roadway 

and bridge design is accomplished using 

computer-aided drafting and design 

(CADD) products. PennDOT structural and 

roadway designers have been developing 

contract drawings based on a variety of 

parametric design software since the mid1990s. PennDOT has standardized on the 

Bentley MicroStation® CADD platform and 

uses Bentley’s InRoads® as the civil design 

software to create three-dimensional (3-D) 

corridor models. These 3-D corridor models 

are the basis for the production of contract 

drawings, which generate the electronic 

plan sheets. PennDOT does not currently 

have a process to electronically sign 

and seal plan sheets. Title sheets require 

professional signing and sealing and must 

use ink signatures and physical seals before 

they are scanned into portable document 

format (PDF) documents. All other plan 

Figure 2. PennDOT ECMS for supporting e-Construction practices.
7

sheets are printed directly into PDF from 

the CADD drawing. All PDF documents are 

uploaded to ECMS for the advertisement 

and bidding process. Although PennDOT 

has been sharing 3-D models with contractors post-award since 2003, in January 

2014, it became department policy to 

develop 3-D models primarily, but not 

exclusively, for moderate to complex 

construction projects. These digital design 

files are shared as “for information only” 

reference documents with contractors 

during the pre-bid phase via ECMS. Today, 

PennDOT shares surface and geometry 

files in LandXML, a non-proprietary data 

standard used in the transportation industry 

to support 3-D data sharing.(2) LandXML 

is overseen by an industry consortium of 

partners. The PS&E workflow is illustrated 

in figure 3.

Bidding and Contractor Selection/Contract 

Award

As previously stated, PennDOT relies 

on ECMS as a key tool to support 

e-Construction, which starts with the 

bidding and contract process. During 

the advertisement phase, ECMS is 

used for electronic bidding, solicitation 

for consultant professional services, 

contractor and consultant selection, and 

contract execution. Also, this system 

can be used to view all construction 

project information and documents, such 

as PS&E documents, contract agreements, 

and any other electronic documents 

requiring agency approval or certification.

ECMS employs user authentication protocols to track every transaction made in 

the system, which meets the State requirements for contract activity. The ECMS 

approval process is used in lieu of digital signature technology for contractual 

documents. A screenshot of the log-in 

screen is shown in figure 4.

Project Construction and Management 

Once a contract has been awarded, ECMS is 

used by the district construction personnel 

to administer the project. Because ECMS 

is a highly secured system based on user 

authentication for accessing project data, 

construction staff can use it to add information to the system as project construction 

Figure 3. PennDOT’s workflow for developing electronic plans.
8

continues. Construction personnel add estimates, work orders, site activities, invoices, 

and payment information. All approvals 

and documentation of project site activities 

(PSAs) are completed through ECMS using 

automated workflows, but other systems 

are used for project collaboration, report 

creation, and record storage and retention. 

These systems are described as follows:

• PennDOT Project Collaboration 

Center (PPCC) is a modified version 

of Microsoft® SharePoint® used for 

submitting documents for review. This 

system provides better collaboration 

at all levels of the agency and with 

business partners. Also, it provides 

more efficient access to information, 

true multiuser collaboration with 

versioning, check-in/check-out ability, 

an audit trail, retention policies, the 

ability to add metadata, and use of 

workflows for business processes. 

Most important, this system provides 

construction document retention while 

complying with “right-to-know” State 

laws. This system is integrated with 

ECMS, and it is the system used to share 

files, photos, and training materials.

• Electronic Document Management 

System (EDMS) is the system PennDOT 

uses for electronic archival of project 

documents once the project is no longer active. ECMS connects to EDMS 

for accessing the files already stored in 

the system. This system is integrated 

with ECMS and is currently being 

integrated with PPCC. 

• The Construction Document System 

(version 3) (CDSv3) was created as 

a companion application to ECMS 

for construction management and 

inspection of projects. The main 

purpose of CDSv3 is to document 

PSAs and contractor payments, but it 

is also used to create reports with data 

retrieved from ECMS. 

Project Inspection and Testing 

Until recently, PennDOT relied on a combination of paper-based and electronic documentation for project inspection and testing. Inspectors would record PSAs in the 

field using paper diaries that would then 

have to be entered into the Construction 

Document System (CDS) once the inspector returned to the office. CDS is the system 

Figure 4. Secure user authentication for ECMS.
9

used to record PSAs from the diaries of the 

field inspector or by direct entry. PennDOT 

recognized the need for better integration 

and accessibility of construction documents 

and improved mobility. A technology project was introduced in 2013 to upgrade CDS 

to the same technology platform upon 

which ECMS was built. Upgrades to both 

ECMS and CDS were guided by the following three essential business drivers:

• Accessibility to data, such as work 

orders, estimates, PSAs, and audits via 

the Web.

• Accessibility to project forms (currently 

stored in paper form in offsite project 

files).

• Increased field inspection mobility.

To meet the business needs of construction management staff, the following services needed to be included as part of the 

upgrades:

• Digitization of forms and documents:

Scanning, indexing, storage, and 

retrieval of paper images and electronic 

documents.

• Increased data accessibility: Capturing 

and viewing information such as dates 

of contracts, contractors, work orders, 

estimates, PSAs, audits, field tests, and 

suppliers.

• Establishment of new workflows:

Tracking, documentation of logging of 

approvals, notifications, and alerts.

• Increased security: Authentication 

and authorization of PennDOT staff, 

consultants, and contractors.

CDSv3 was the resulting product of the 

system upgrade, and it was launched in 

August 2014. Today, construction inspection 

is performed in the field using mobile 

devices to record PSAs directly into CDSv3. 

Also, submittal of estimates and work 

orders can be completed directly from the 

field and uploaded into ECMS for approvals 

using a secure Web interface through 

mobile devices. The screen interface of the 

CDSv3 PSA module is shown in figure 5.

PennDOT selected the Apple® iPad® to 

use for mobile inspections because the 

agency’s IT group determined that the 

iPad® offered a higher level of security for 

2 Interview with author, January 8, 2016.

“The biggest benefit of an electronic construction documentation 

system, such as PennDOT’s CDSv3, is its mobility for accessing 

reports and other projects documents in the field through a Web 

interface and a mobile device.”

—Lori Miles 

Construction Support Manager 

Engineering District 11-02
10

accessing the systems directly than any 

other device. Several mobile computing 

(MC) applications have been developed 

internally and are available on PennDOTissued iPads®. These applications allow 

the following:

• Enable inspectors to edit engineering 

drawings at the construction site and 

electronically transmit them for review 

and approval.

• Ensure project documents are always 

up to date.

• Automatically calculate quantities 

of concrete and bituminous material 

delivered to the site.

• Enter dimensions directly.

• Automatically validate whether the 

supplier of the materials is authorized.

• Document materials testing in the field.

• Automatically calculate payment 

information and transmit this 

information to the payment system. 

• Document and resolve discrepancies 

using the automated workflow that 

is provided through the construction 

project automation.

The mobile applications are summarized in 

figure 6. 

PennDOT’s use of electronic documentation, collaboration tools, and mobile 

technology has redefined construction processes by doing the following:

• Enabling team collaboration.

• Providing access to necessary information for decision making in the field.

• Improving the quality of construction 

data and documentation.

• Expediting the approval and payment 

processes.

Figure 5. PSA documentation through CDSv3.
11

Figure 6. Construction mobile applications for field inspection and testing.

3 Interview with author, April 4, 2016.

“Mobile technology has enabled PennDOT to completely transform 

and automate the labor-intensive paper-based processes and calculations of the past. Through our mobile development efforts, we have 

connected over 1,500 previously disconnected construction inspectors. The mobile technology has been a major disruptor, enabling us 

to provide end-to-end automation of construction processes.”

—Rebecca Bickley 

Project Development and Delivery Director 

PennDOT Bureau of IT3
12

• Providing one single source of truth for 

construction documents.

In addition, the use of automated workflows 

has significantly improved efficiency and 

overall program effectiveness while allowing construction staff to focus on construction oversight.

Project Acceptance and Closeout

Similar to many other agencies, PennDOT 

still relies on paper-based as-built records 

and a combination of manual and some 

automated tracking of warranty items. 

However, PennDOT’s recent upgrade of 

its construction management system 

included a mobile application to document 

punchlists and final inspection records. The 

MC-Punchlist mobile application has the 

following two sections: (1) the Physical 

Work section and (2) the Required Documents section (shown in figure 7).

When the final inspection is held, a final 

inspection punchlist is created, and all 

unresolved items from the ongoing project 

punchlist are transferred to the final inspection punchlist. A list of attendees from the 

final inspection can be documented on the 

final inspection punchlist.

Future Upgrades

The original system upgrade was implemented in August 2014, and the second 

release of enhancements was launched 

in March 2015. Future enhancements will 

“From FHWA’s perspective, e-Construction (specifically ECMS) has 

revolutionized the way we interact with PennDOT. We can now instantly 

see real-time project information, gather data, conduct reviews and 

approve actions like never before. This ability has saved us an incredible amount of time and paperwork to review and approve projects. 

PennDOT transforms itself through implementing innovation.”

—Tony Mento 

Director of Technical Services 

FHWA PA Division4

4 E-mail to author, April 19, 2016.
13

continue to be scheduled as part of ongoing 

software maintenance to keep the systems 

functional and provide added value based 

on user input. The following enhancements 

are scheduled:

• Material source of supply automatic 

approvals. (Phase I was implemented 

in July 2016, and phase II is scheduled 

for 2017.)

• Force account documentation and 

cost automation. (User acceptance 

testing has started, and phase II 

implementation started in early 2017.)

• Consultant mileage and hours 

(scheduled for June 2017).

• PennDOT payroll and expense voucher 

automation (scheduled for 2018).

Benefits and Costs

Implementation Development and Support 

Costs

PennDOT estimates a total cost of $9.06 million for the development and deployment 

of CDSv3, PPCC, and MC software applications. The costs were calculated based on 

the actual number of labor hours required 

for development and support of the project multiplied by a blended hourly rate, as 

illustrated in table 1. Costs for hardware 

(i.e., mobile devices) and training are not 

included in these calculations.

Benefits

PennDOT estimates an annual operational 

savings of $23.4 million, which includes $5.9 

million from its construction documentation 

Figure 7. Examples of punchlist data fields.

Project Blended Hourly Rate Number of Labor Hours Total Cost

PPCC (initiated in October 2011) $100 46,486 $4.65 million

CDSv3 (initiated in August 2012) $110 24,973 $2.74 million

MC applications (initiated in July 2013) $124 13,419 $1.67 million

 Total $9.06 million

Table 1. Costs for development and support of PPCC, CDSv3, and MC applications.
14

(CDSv3) and $17.5 million from its MC applications initiatives. The benefits for PPCC 

are still being evaluated. The benefits calculated were based on the following two 

types of benefits:

• Operational savings (CDSv3 only): The 

elimination of paper-based methods for 

conducting inspection documentation 

and construction administration and 

cost avoidance such as for storage and 

materials.

• Employee time savings (CDSv3 and 

MC applications): The time savings of 

staff from reduced driving between the 

field and the office and transcribing 

data from field books to electronic 

systems, auditing, printing, mailing, 

filing, and searching for paper documents. Other time savings include 

automatic calculation of quantities 

and payments, automated validation 

of suppliers and approved materials, 

ability to edit design documents, and 

use of automated workflows.

Table 2 summarizes the anticipated benefits 

for CDSv3.

Table 3 summarizes the assumptions used 

for calculating the anticipated benefits for 

MC. MC benefits were calculated based on 

a unit cost savings per hour multiplied by 

the number of State/consultant employees 

and the total number of hours saved per 

year. The hours saved per year assumes a 

savings of 1.5 h per inspector (380 PennDOT 

inspectors and 1,200 consultant inspectors) 

for 160 d per year.
15

Anticipated Benefit Stream Unit Cost Savings per Year

Operational savings—amount of field inspection books purchased $2.85/unit $52,676

Operations savings—reams of paper $11.00/unit $78,694

Operational savings—inspector-in-charge travel expenses $0.55/mi $83,567

Operational savings—auditor travel expenses $0.55/mi $125,910

Operational savings—project boxes to shred $0.10/lb $7,440

Operational savings—project boxes purchased $3.25/box $9,300

Employee time savings 1a—project staff documentation 

entry (PennDOT) $51.48/h $1,176,503

Employee time savings 1b—project staff documentation 

entry (consultant) $61.71/h $3,151,999

Employee time savings 2a— inspector-in-charge’s travel time to 

process project site activities, estimates, and work orders $57.00/h $489,334

Employee time savings 3—auditing $44.61/h $638,280

Employee time savings 4—organizing/destroying project boxes $51.48/h $12,276

Employee time savings 5a—automation of asphalt 

adjustment (PennDOT) $51.48/h $13,168

Employee time savings 5b—automation of asphalt 

adjustment (consultant) $61.71/h $15,784

Employee time savings 6a—automation of diesel fuel 

adjustment (PennDOT) $51.48/h $26,562

Employee time savings 6b—automation of diesel fuel 

adjustment (consultant) $61.71/h $31,841

Total $5,913,334

Table 2. PennDOT anticipated benefits for CDSv3 implementation.
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Anticipated Benefit Stream Unit Cost Number of Labor 

Hours Saved Savings per Year

Employee savings 7A—anticipated 

increased efficiency through use of 

mobile computing (PennDOT) 

$36.66/h 91,200 $3,343,392

Employee savings 7A—anticipated 

increased efficiency through use of 

mobile computing (consultants)

$49.17/h 288,000 $14,160,960

Total $17,504,352

Table 3. PennDOT assumptions for anticipated benefits for mobile computing implementation.

Calculating ROI

While many agencies, including PennDOT, 

have started to quantify the costs and cost 

savings of their e-Construction initiatives, 

they have noted the challenges and lack 

of a consistent method for measuring 

cost-benefit data and calculating an ROI. 

Addressing Challenges and Return on 

Investment (ROI) for Paperless Project 

Delivery (e-Construction) has developed 

a preliminary approach for calculating an 

ROI. This approach will enable agencies 

to calculate a cumulative net benefit and 

determine what the breakeven year will 

be after initial system implementation is 

complete. The approach is as follows:

1. Identify an evaluation period.

2. Identify benefit streams that will be realized from e-Construction initiatives.

3. Estimate the annual savings of each 

benefit stream (as a percentage of the 

annual construction program).

4. Identify the percentage of anticipated 

benefits that will be realized annually 

over the evaluation period (e.g., 5 or 

7 years) for each benefit stream.

5. Identify all cost components.

6. Identify base costs for each cost 

component.

7. Identify the percentage of costs that will 

be incurred annually over the evaluation 

period for each cost component.

The net benefit for each year of the evaluation period will be the annual ROI, and the 

net benefit for all years of the evaluation 

period will be the ROI for the evaluation 

period.

Preliminary (quantifiable) benefit streams 

that have been identified include the 

following: 

• Increase in the overall efficiency and 

effectiveness of the delivery of the 

agency’s construction program by 

streamlining and standardizing key 

processes (e.g., faster review and 

approvals).

• Reduced use of paper, printing, mailing, 

and scanning.

• Reduced storage, elimination of 

leased buildings/rental office space, or 

increased effective use of office space 

(e.g., converting file cabinet, storage, 

and plotter space to conference room 

space or additional offices). 
17

• Increased use of existing staff. 

• Reduced risk for error (including data 

entry errors, lost documentation, 

reduced errors in bid submittals, etc.).

• Reinvestment opportunity from annual 

savings from faster project delivery.

• Reinvestment opportunity from cost 

avoidance from increasing the number 

of contracts awarded to low bidders. 

Cost components of e-Construction implementation include the following:

• Pre-implementation planning 

consultant (if applicable).

• COTS software licenses. 

• COTS software maintenance.

• Systems integration services to 

configure, test, deploy, and support 

the new system.

• Managed services support following 

implementation.

• Hardware and other technical 

infrastructure.

• Hardware and infrastructure 

maintenance.

• Hardware refresh.

• Agency staff cost during project.

• Agency staff cost to support system 

ongoing.

• Systems integration services for 

upgrade.

• Contractor compliance.

• Training.

This approach will be refined in subsequent 

tasks of the Addressing Challenges and 

Return on Investment (ROI) for Paperless 

Project Delivery (e-Construction) research 

project, with input from State transportation departments.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

The biggest challenge that PennDOT faced 

when implementing multiple e-Construction 

initiatives was communication. A tremendous amount of coordination was required 

to ensure that all IT projects supporting 

the upgrade were aligned with the goals, 

business requirements, and schedule. Also, 

because there were different teams working on different application development, it 

was important that programming changes 

in one application did not affect the overall system. Communicating this ongoing 

effort to all involved parties was a challenge. 

However, having a direction to guide the 

project and the support of IT and management staff were both key success factors in 

achieving the project goals.

PennDOT uses a business-driven approach 

to keep up with technology changes. It 

follows a strategic IT process and project 

prioritization using an agile project management approach. Because there were 

multiple application upgrades and software 

developments, the same project manager 

was assigned to the CDSv3 and PPCC projects. Having the same project manager 

provided consistent coordination to ensure 

active engagement among the districts, the 

central office, and the development team 

at every level of the multiple projects. Also, 

a program manager was assigned to the 
18

mobile application development team to 

oversee product deployment of the mobile 

applications. The program manager provided an additional layer of oversight and 

coordination for release dates and user 

acceptance testing. In addition, the program manager was in charge of the “trainthe-trainer” approach training program, 

which was well received and resulted in 

great success.

Conclusion

Investing in e-Construction initiatives can 

be expensive because it is a technologydriven practice that includes ongoing system upgrades and procurement of newer 

technology. Although significant anecdotal 

evidence shows how e-Construction has 

improved the project-delivery process, 

actual benefits, costs, and ROI have not 

been systematically documented, which 

could be the result of the time it takes to 

realize the benefits and the challenges of 

quantifying benefits. There is, however, 

strong interest among State transportation departments to develop a standardized 

calculation. 

PennDOT’s approach to calculating the 

cost-benefit of e-Construction is based on 

the reduction in paper, printing, mailing 

of documents, and staff efficiencies using 

mobile technology for field inspections. A 

few other agencies have also estimated 

the cost-benefit of e-Construction practices 

based on a similar approach. e-Construction investment should be calculated on 

the basis of paper-based environments and 

processes for specific activities within a 

transportation agency to develop a baseline 

against which cost savings resulting from 

automation of processes can be measured. 

The cost-benefit calculation of PennDOT’s 

e-Construction initiative was based on the 

iterative software development process, 

which had multiple deployments between 

2012 and 2015. The total investment during this timeframe to develop the collaboration tools and mobile applications to 

support e-Construction was $9.06 million. 

Also, PennDOT estimates a continued 

annual software maintenance cost of 

$27,000. These costs are entirely based on 

software development and technical support using internal IT staff and do not include 

the cost of mobile devices or data services 

for the devices. PennDOT estimates that 

its investment in e-Construction will produce a savings of $23.4 million per year 

after full implementation. A summary of the 

estimated costs and benefits for the agency’s e-Construction program is shown in 

figure 8. 

PennDOT estimates a conservative time 

savings of 1.5 h per inspector per day and 

an additional savings of $357,587 per year 

in operational costs. Operational costs were 

calculated based on the annual expenditure 

for field inspection diary books, paper used 

for printing, shredding of documents, paper 

boxes to store project documents, and travel 

expenses for miles driven from the field to 

the office and vice-versa. PennDOT’s costbenefit analysis confirms that the benefits 

that can be realized from e-Construction 

practices are large and are the result of 

process efficiencies, which are critical for 

improving workforce use. 
19

Addressing Challenges and Return on 

Investment (ROI) for Paperless Project 

Delivery (e-Construction) will help fill the 

benefits documentation gap and provide 

guidance for agencies on implementing a 

successful e-Construction process. Phase II 

of the project will focus on detailing 

opportunities for areas of improvement for 

e-Construction, assessing the feasibility 

of these opportunities, and preparing 

guidance for agencies. However, because 

many agencies noted the challenges and 

lack of a consistent method for measuring 

cost-benefit data, a greater emphasis will be 

placed on both preparing an ROI template 

for documenting benefits and costs as well 

as assisting agencies with documenting the 

benefits and costs through a more involved 

data-gathering process. This process will 

use not only data that can be obtained 

from the agencies’ past projects but also 

a more involved/structured collection of 

benefits and cost data on ongoing or future 

projects. Agencies will then be able to tailor 

the information to their own construction 

program based on their specific processes 

using the ROI template that is developed. 

References

1. FHWA. (2015). e-Construction Lead 

State Profiles, Federal Highway 

Administration, Washington, DC, 

obtained from: http://www.fhwa.dot.

gov/construction/econstruction/ 

leadprofiles.pdf, last accessed 

March 23, 2016.

2. FHWA. (2000). LandXML.org, 

Federal Highway Administration, 

Washington, DC, available at: http://

www.landxml.org/, last accessed 

March 23, 2016.

Figure 8. PennDOT’s estimated costs and benefits for the e-Construction program.
20

JULY 2017 FHWA-HRT-16-068

HRDI-20/07-17(200)E

Researchers—This study was performed by WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff (DTFH61-14-C-00045).

Distribution—This TechBrief is being distributed according to a standard distribution. Direct distribution is being made to the Divisions and Resource Center, AASHTO Subcommittee on Construction and 

PennDOT.

Availability—This publication will be associated with the future report for the Addressing the 

Challenges and the Return on Investment (ROI) for Paperless Project Delivery (e-Construction) project.

Key Words—e-Construction, construction inspection, construction management, digital data, mobile 

devices, paperless workflows, paperless environment, PennDOT.

Notice—This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of 

Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for 

the use of the information contained in this document. The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they 

are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement—The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality 

information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and 

integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.