Verify, validate and evaluate viability through independent economic evaluation of projects.
Determining the economic viability of projects, comparing varying design options and developing an unbiased business case for, or against, projects which is acceptable to all stakeholders requires wide-ranging capabilities from an independent contributor. To meet the requirements of organisations, in preparing cost benefit analyses for major public infrastructure projects, MIEngineers has developed a highly specialised economic evaluation service.
Economic Evaluation Service. Building Value into Projects
This service has been developed on the core strengths of MIEngineers:
- An enviable reputation for professionalism, excellence, independence and impressive resources in expertise and software.
- An excellent understanding of the costs of projects related to both construction and maintenance, which empowers clients to understand the cost difference between design and project options.
- Our consistent templates and reports outline the inputs, processes and outputs determined for the economic evaluation.
- We clearly outline what inputs are required from the client in order to develop the benefits for the project, including obtaining information on traffic volumes as well as crash histories for the project.
Cost Benefit Analysis in Action
A recent case study for the NSW Government Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) illustrates and explains how we carry out our Cost Benefit Analysis/Economic Evaluation service.
A Cost Benefit Analysis, or economic evaluation, was undertaken in accordance with the Transport for NSW “Principles and Guidelines for Economic Appraisal of Transport Initiatives”.
This involved utilising the following inputs:
- project costs including comparison to a base case
- construction delivery timing
- maintenance costs
- evaluation period (30 years)
- discount rates (including sensitivity analysis)
- traffic volumes (including heavy vehicles)
- benefits for the project such as crash cost savings and travel time savings.
In order to support the Final Business Case of the project, we developed probabilistic cost estimates for various options in accordance with RMS procedures. The estimates were then utilised as inputs into the Economic Analysis of the project, which were undertaken in accordance with Transport for NSW (TfNSW) guidelines. A report was developed for the economic evaluation which was utilised by the client in the Business Case for the project.
