ProjectStat: Raising the Bar and Lowering the Cost (2005 LGAA)

City of Syracuse (Winner)
County: Onondaga County
Population: 50,000 +
City Hall: (315) 448-8005

In an effort to limit project expenses and completion times the City of Syracuse initiated "ProjectStat," an innovative project management and tracking program designed to keep municipal construction projects running smoothly on schedule and on budget. The original goals for ProjectStat were to reduce arbitrage penalties, utilize city funds more effectively, and to complete construction projects more timely and efficiently. ProjectStat tracks funding streams, project-specif¡ic benchmarks, and bi-weekly activity to increase accountability, operational efficiencies and make the process operate more smoothly and adhere more cohesively to timely schedules.

ProjectStat meetings are held once every two weeks throughout the construction season. In attendance are the Mayor, Corporation Counsel, Commissioner of Finance, Directors/ Commissioners of each of the City Operating Departments, and the project managers of the particular projects being examined that day. The meetings are used as a means of updating project issues with all of the key operations and project players present, thereby increasing the speed and likelihood of solving any operational issues that could potentially cause setbacks in the work schedule or budget. Each project is assigned a priority rating from 1 to 4 based on availability of funding, project design status, and lead time necessary for commodity orders. The priority ratings enable the ProjectStat panel to determine where the progress of each individual project is in relation to all projects currently underway in the City of Syracuse.

Since its inception in September 2002, ProjectStat has saved the City of Syracuse an average of $2.3 million each year. ProjectStat has been highly successful in the timely and cost efficient completion of over 60 municipal construction projects totaling approximately $41,925,638. The projects currently in process total approximately $227,761,524. These do not include the proposed DestiNY USA project which has been estimated at over $2 billion. The City's involvement with DestiNY will include permitting and inspection of the privately financed portion, as well as several million dollars in municipal infrastructure improvements. ProjectStat has contributed to the successful completion of over 60 municipal projects as of March, 2005 with 50 more in progress.