Opinion ID: 2598207
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Impacts on State Costs

Text: Eliminating restrictions on contracting out for architectural and engineering services would make it easier for the state to enter into contracts with private individuals or firms to obtain these services. As a result, the state would likely contract out more of these services. This could affect state costs in two main ways. Cost of the Services. The fiscal impact would depend on the cost of salaries and benefits for state employees performing architectural and engineering services compared to the cost of contracts with private firms. These costs would vary from project to project. In some cases, costs may be higher to contract out. It may still be in the state's best interest to do so, however, because of other considerations. For instance, during times of workload growth (such as a short-term surge in construction activity), contracting for services could be faster than hiring and training new state employees. In addition, contracting can prevent the build-up of a peak-workload staff that can take time to reduce once workload declines. For these reasons, the proposition's net impact on state costs for architectural and engineering services is unknown, and would depend in large part on how the state used the flexibility granted under the measure. Impact on Construction Project Delivery. The ability to contract for architectural and engineering services could also result in construction projects being completed earlier. As noted above, during times of workload growth, the ability to contract for these services could result in projects' completion earlier than through the hiring and training of new state employees. This, in turn, could have state fiscal impactssuch as savings in construction-related expenses. In these cases, faster project completion would also benefit the public as capital improvements would be in service sooner.