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Goodyear engineering outlines new CIP scoping, costing and tracking tools to reduce overruns
Summary
City engineering described changes to capital-improvement project scoping and cost-estimation processes — including year-round project intake, outside cost-estimating support and TeamDynamix project management — and proposed a quarterly CIP health report for council.
Steve Cintos, Goodyear’s city engineer, and Walt Kinsler, the engineering CIP manager, presented an update on the city’s strategic plan action item to improve scoping and costing for capital-improvement projects (CIP). Cintos said engineering took primary responsibility for the CIP in 2022 and the department has worked to strengthen scoping and cost estimates since that shift.
The changes: Kinsler said the city decoupled the CIP process from the annual budget in February 2023 to give project owners more time to develop scopes and consult stakeholders. In 2024 the city launched “CIP365,” a year-round project submission platform, and engineering is using a third-party cost-estimating firm to update construction-cost data and provide independent cost reviews for complex projects. "If I had one word to describe additional enhancements, it would be technology," Kinsler said, describing the project-initiation workbook, an interactive intranet portal and TeamDynamix (TDX) for project tracking.
Measuring success: Engineering will track change requests, compare planned versus actual project outcomes, solicit stakeholder feedback through lessons-learned debriefs and post-project surveys, and highlight successes in quarterly reports. The proposed quarterly council report will use a green/yellow/red “CIP health” rubric: green projects progressing smoothly, yellow projects facing unexpected challenges that engineering expects to resolve without scope or cost changes, and red projects that will require a change to scope, schedule or budget.
Why it matters: Several council members referenced prior projects that exceeded budgets or required reallocation. Councilmember Laura said cost overruns for past projects prompted the strategic-plan work and praised the report’s readability. Councilmember Brian and others asked for deeper drilldowns on projects flagged red; staff said exhibit materials and follow-up pages explain reasons and mitigating measures, and that more detail can be provided on request.
Next steps: Engineering plans targeted training to increase use of the new tools, to establish a dedicated coordination lane with Development Services, to expand reporting capabilities in TDX and related dashboards, and to deliver the new quarterly CIP health report to council going forward.
