York County Program Management Services for the Capital Improvement Program

PBS&J was selected to provide professional services for the York County CIP.

York County voters approved a one-cent sales tax in 1998 for the funding of major road improvements as part of a seven-year capital improvement program (CIP). With anticipated sales tax revenues of approximately $133 million, this was the first large-scale outsourcing of program management services for CIP projects in South Carolina. PBS&J was selected to provide the professional services, which included program management, pre-project planning, environmental planning, design/contract administration, right-of-way acquisition, and construction phase services for 12 projects involving over 46 miles of roadway improvements.

Through serving as an extension of county staff and providing comprehensive program management services under one primary contract, PBS&J reduced the overall program cost by providing on-call staff support to meet workload demands without the added expense of full-time local staffing. Innovative processes employed by PBS&J throughout this contract have been early environmental screening, implementation of an accelerated right-of-way acquisition program, development of concept plans during pre-planning, and the use of aerial photography/mapping under a single program-wide subconsultant agreement.

A $33-million budget shortfall was identified by PBS&J during the initial stages of program development. PBS&J assisted the county in finding and securing alternative funding sources such that the shortfall was met, enabling the county to build out all the projects in the program.