| 1. |
- Yarmuchamedov, Sherzod, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Competitive tendering, ownership and cost efficiency in road maintenance services in Sweden : A panel data analysis
- 2020
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Ingår i: Transportation Research Part A. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0965-8564 .- 1879-2375. ; 136, s. 194-204
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper uses econometric methods to study the cost efficiency of road maintenance provision in Sweden for the first time. The novelty lies in the application of econometric techniques to a new and rich panel dataset (73 contracts; 11 years, 2004–2014) with a wide range of variables and approaches to controlling for heterogeneity (including weather variation). The analysis is applied in the context of a sector where all road maintenance contracts are subject to competitive tendering, but with a state-run provider competing against private firms. The key focus is whether, even after competitive tendering, efficiency differences remain between the state provider and private entrants. We find that the state-run provider has significantly higher costs (between 8 and 20%) than private firms despite holding 60% of the market. The results suggest that substantial savings are possible through opening up road maintenance to the private sector through competition for the market; but that in Sweden, the tendering process is still not working optimally. Further research is needed to understand why the current cost gap persists between public and private providers, despite competitive tendering having been present across the whole market for several years. © 2020
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| 2. |
- Odolinski, Kristofer, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the cost impact of competitive tendering in rail infrastructure maintenance services : evidence from the Swedish reforms (1999-2011)
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is the first paper in the literature to formally study the cost impact of competitive tendering in rail maintenance. Sweden progressively opened up the market for rail maintenance services, starting in 2002. We study the cost impacts based on an unbalanced panel of contract areas between 1999 and 2011, using econometric techniques. We conclude that competitive tendering reduced costs by around 12%. This cost reduction was not associated with falling quality as measured by track quality class, track geometry or train derailments. We conclude that the gradual exposure of rail maintenance to competitive tendering in Sweden has been beneficial.
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| 3. |
- Odolinski, Kristofer, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the Cost Impact of Competitive Tendering in Rail Infrastructure Maintenance Services Evidence from the Swedish Reforms (1999 to 2011)
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. - 0022-5258 .- 1754-5951. ; 50, s. 93-112
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This is the first paper in the literature to formally study the cost impact of competitive tendering in rail maintenance. Sweden progressively opened up the market for rail maintenance services, starting in 2002. We study the cost impacts based on an unbalanced panel of thirty-nine contract areas between 1999 and 2011, using econometric techniques. We conclude that competitive tendering reduced costs by around 11 per cent. Importantly, this cost reduction was not associated with falling quality; quite the reverse. We thus conclude that the gradual exposure of rail maintenance to competitive tendering in Sweden has been a success.
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| 4. |
- Smith, Andrew S. J., et al.
(författare)
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Efficiency measurement in the tendering of road surface renewal contracts
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Productivity Analysis. - : Springer Nature. - 0895-562X .- 1573-0441.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The problem of slow productivity growth in the road construction (and wider construction) industry is well known. The present paper suggests a means for efficiency analysis in one part of this industry, namely road surface renewal in Sweden, built upon the application of Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) techniques. The paper is novel in that it focuses on project level rather than firm or contractor level performance and takes the perspective of the inefficiency that may result from the way the contracts are specified by the highway agency’s pavement engineers (client side). We compare 233 renewal contracts tendered over a four-year period via the estimation of a cost frontier, with controls for heterogeneity between projects. Our results produce first estimates that expose substantive differences in the relative efficiency performance of different engineers within the Swedish highways procurement organisation (Trafikverket); with indicative savings of around €40 m out of a total road renewals budget in Sweden of €200 m. We also find substantial economies of scale that could, in principle, point to further cost savings if road renewal projects can be packaged up as larger projects. These client-side savings represent potentially important sources of savings in addition to those that can be achieved through the pressure of competitive tendering on the supplier side. The paper therefore illustrates how disaggregate analysis of project level information can readily be used for revealing important information about how best to frame the procurement process and thus deliver productivity and unit cost improvements over time.
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| 5. |
- Smith, Andrew S. J., et al.
(författare)
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Estimating the damage and marginal cost of different vehicle types on rail infrastructure : Combining economic and engineering approaches
- 2015
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Ingår i: Stephenson Conference Research for Railways 2015. - : Institution of Mechanical Engineers. - 9781510855830 ; , s. 265-274
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- EU legislation requires that European infrastructure managers set access charges based on the marginal cost of running trains on their networks. Two methods have been used in the literature for this purpose. Top-down methods relate actual costs to traffic volumes. Bottom-up methods use engineering models to simulate damage and then translate damage into costs based on assumptions about interventions and their unit costs. Whilst top down methods produce sensible results for marginal cost overall, they have struggled to differentiate between traffic types. The challenge for bottom-up approaches is how to translate damage into cost, with numerous assumptions being required which may be invalid. This paper proposes a new, two stage approach to estimating the marginal cost of rail infrastructure usage. The first stage uses engineering models to simulate damage caused by vehicles on the network. The second stage seeks to establish a statistical relationship between actual costs and damage. It is thus possible to convert damage estimates into costs using actual cost data, rather than through a set of potentially invalid assumptions as in previous approaches. Only the first stage is implemented in this paper. We show that it possible to produce total (annualised) damage measures for three damage mechanisms on five actual track sections in Sweden. Once extended, it will be possible to model the relationship between damage and actual costs for the first time; and thus better understand the relative costs of the different damage mechanisms and in turn inform the level and structure of track access charges.
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