I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2014

To amend title 23, United States Code, and the Federal Transit Act to

provide an increased Federal share for projects which have a cost of

$2,000,000 or more and to which value engineering is applied and

results in a certain minimum project cost savings.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 6, 1993

Ms. BYRNE (for herself, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. FINGERHUT, and Mr. MORAN)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Public Works and Transportation

A BILL

To amend title 23, United States Code, and the Federal

Transit Act to provide an increased Federal share for

projects which have a cost of $2,000,000 or more and

to which value engineering is applied and results in a

certain minimum project cost savings.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Value Engineering

5 Better Transportation Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. TITLE 23, UNITED STATES CODE.

2 Section 120 of title 23, United States Code, is

3 amended by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(j) INCREASED FEDERAL SHARE FOR VALUE ENGI5 NEERING.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share payable

7 on account of any project or activity carried out

8 under this title shall be increased—

9 ‘‘(A) by 5 percentage points—

10 ‘‘(i) if the project or activity has an

11 estimated cost of $2,000,000 or more;

12 ‘‘(ii) if, before 35 percent completion

13 of project or activity design, value engi14 neering is applied to the project or activity;

15 ‘‘(iii) if the State in carrying out the

16 project or activity complies with parts 48

17 and 52 of title 48 of the Code of Federal

18 Regulations, relating to Federal acquisition

19 regulations;

20 ‘‘(iv) if the State submits to the Sec21 retary for approval a completed value engi22 neering analysis, signed by a certified

23 value specialist, of the savings resulting

24 from application of value engineering to

25 the project or activity, including changes
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1 made in the project or activity design as a

2 result of such value engineering; and

3 ‘‘(v) if the Secretary determines that

4 application of value engineering to the

5 project or activity reduces the cost of the

6 project or activity by 5 percent or more;

7 and

8 ‘‘(B) by an additional 5 percentage points

9 if the determination made by the Secretary

10 under subparagraph (A)(v) is that application

11 of value engineering reduces the cost of the

12 project or activity by 15 percent or more.

13 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—

14 ‘‘(A) MAXIMUM FEDERAL PERCENTAGE.—

15 Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Federal

16 share payable for any project or activity carried

17 out under this title shall not exceed 100 percent

18 of project or activity cost.

19 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM FEDERAL DOLLARS.—Not20 withstanding paragraph (1) and subparagraph

21 (A), the amount of Federal funds payable on

22 account of a project or activity under this title

23 as a result of application of this subsection to

24 the project or activity shall not exceed the

25 amount of Federal funds which would have
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1 been payable on account of the project or activ2 ity under this title but for this subsection.

3 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION ON TRAINING.—No Federal

4 funds may be used to provide training for carrying

5 out value engineering under this title.

6 ‘‘(4) VALUE ENGINEERING DEFINED.—For pur7 poses of this subsection, the term ‘value engineering’

8 means a systematic process of review and analysis of

9 a project or activity during its design phase by a

10 multidisciplined team of persons not originally in11 volved in the project or activity in order to provide

12 suggestions for reducing the total cost of the project

13 or activity and providing a project or activity of

14 equal or better quality. Such suggestions may in15 clude a combination or elimination of inefficient or

16 expensive parts of the original proposed design for

17 the project or activity and total redesign of the pro18 posed project or activity using different technologies,

19 materials, or methods so as to accomplish the origi20 nal purpose of the project or activity.’’.

21 SEC. 3. FEDERAL TRANSIT ACT.

22 Section 12 of the Federal Transit Act (49 U.S.C.

23 App. 1608) is amended by adding at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(n) INCREASED FEDERAL SHARE FOR VALUE ENGI25 NEERING.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal grant for any

2 project to be assisted under this Act shall be in3 creased—

4 ‘‘(A) by 5 percent of the net project cost—

5 ‘‘(i) if the project has an estimated

6 cost of $2,000,000 or more;

7 ‘‘(ii) if, before 35 percent completion

8 of project design, value engineering is ap9 plied to the project;

10 ‘‘(iii) if the grant recipient in carrying

11 out the project complies with parts 48 and

12 52 of title 48 of the Code of Federal Regu13 lations, relating to Federal acquisition reg14 ulations;

15 ‘‘(iv) if the grant recipient submits to

16 the Secretary for approval a completed

17 value engineering analysis, signed by a cer18 tified value specialist, of the savings result19 ing from application of value engineering

20 to the project design, including changes

21 made in the project as a result of such

22 value engineering; and

23 ‘‘(v) if the Secretary determines that

24 application of value engineering to the
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1 project reduces net project cost by 5 per2 cent or more; and

3 ‘‘(B) by an additional 5 percent of the net

4 project cost if the determination made by the

5 Secretary under subparagraph (A)(v) is that

6 application of value engineering reduces net

7 project cost by 15 percent or more.

8 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—

9 ‘‘(A) MAXIMUM FEDERAL PERCENTAGE.—

10 Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the Federal

11 grant for any project assisted under this Act

12 shall not exceed 100 percent of the net project

13 cost.

14 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM FEDERAL DOLLARS.—Not15 withstanding paragraph (1) and subparagraph

16 (A), the amount of Federal funds which may be

17 expended under a Federal grant under this Act

18 for a project as a result of application of this

19 subsection to the project shall not exceed the

20 amount of Federal funds which would have

21 been available for expenditure under such a

22 grant for the project but for this subsection.

23 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION ON TRAINING.—No Federal

24 funds may be used to provide training for carrying

25 out value engineering under this Act.
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1 ‘‘(4) VALUE ENGINEERING DEFINED.—For pur2 poses of this subsection, the term ‘value engineering’

3 means a systematic process of review and analysis of

4 a project during its design phase by a

5 multidisciplined team of persons not originally in6 volved in the project in order to provide suggestions

7 for reducing the total cost of the project and provid8 ing a project of equal or better quality. Such sugges9 tions may include a combination or elimination of in10 efficient or expensive parts of the original proposed

11 design for the project and total redesign of the pro12 posed project using different technologies, materials,

13 or methods so as to accomplish the original purpose

14 of the project.’’.

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