|
EDA
Public Works Program: Performance
Evaluation
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAM PERFORMANCE
EVALUATION
STUDY OVERVIEW
•
The purpose of the research
described here is to evaluate
all 205 Economic Development
Administration (EDA) Public
Works Program projects that
received their last payment
in FY 1990. This means that,
as of that date, the projects
were completed and structures
associated with them either
occupied or soon to be occupied.
Thus, at the time of this research-six
years later-these projects had
been sufficiently established
to make their evaluation possible.
•
Since 1965, EDA's mission has
been to promote the long-term
recovery of economically depressed
areas by assisting local governments
via public works project grants
in generating and retaining
jobs and in stimulating commercial
and industrial growth.
STUDY
PROCEDURES
•
The study was undertaken from
November 1996 through March
1997 by research teams from
five universities and a major
professional organization. All
principals of the research teams
have extensive experience in
both economic development and
infrastructure studies. Each
principal spent significant
time in the field researching
individual projects and talking
to grantees. Each principal
and affiliated staff participated
in some aspect of research analysis
and in writing the final report.
All concur with the findings
presented below.
•
The research team contacted
by mail and telephone 205 grantees
of public works projects. To
help the grantees better understand
the purpose and types of information
necessary to undertake the evaluation,
all grantees were invited to
attend seminars conducted by
the research team at 13
locations nationally. Sixty
(60) project sites were visited
to conduct in-depth discussions
with grantees to learn more
about their individual projects'
impacts and to validate the
information that they were in
the process of providing.
• The analysis uses performance
measures developed by EDA specifically
to evaluate public works projects.
Performance measures relate
primarily to numbers of various
types of jobs created or retained
and amounts of private- and
public-sector funds leveraged.
PROJECT
TYPE AND CONTEXT
•
From a universe of 205 EDA public
works projects receiving a closeout
payment in FY 1990, all 205
were successfully contacted.
•
The composition of the 203 completed'
public works projects is as
follows:
Buildings
27 13.3
Industrial Parks 59 29.1
Roads 17 8.4
Water/Sewer 87 42.8
Marine/Tourism 13 6.4
Total 203 100.0
•
In terms of the context of the
above projects, EDA public works
projects take place in locations
where levels of unemployment
and percents of the population
below the poverty level are
40 percent higher than state
and national averages. These
are also locations where per
capita income is typically 40
percent lower than averages
at the state and national levels.
PROJECT
COMPLETION
•
Of those public works projects
contacted by the research team,
99 percent (203) were completed
as planned.
•
Ninety-one percent (185) of
the projects were completed
on time.
•
Fifty-two percent (105) were
completed under budget.
PROJECT IMPACTS
Project-Related
Direct Impacts
Ninety-six
percent (195) of the public
works projects produced permanent
jobs six years after completion.
• Eighty-four percent
(171) leveraged private-sector
investment over the period.
•
On average, each public works
project produced 327 direct
permanent jobs for every $1
million of EDA funding.
•
Based on average EDA funding
of $660,557 per project, $3,058
in EDA funds was spent per job
created or retained. Total cost
(all sources of funding, including
EDA) per job created or retained
was $4,857.
•
Not including public projects,
for every $1 million of EDA
funding, $10.08 million was
leveraged in private-sector
investment.
•
For all projects, for every
$1 million of EDA funding, another
$1 million was leveraged in
federal, state or local investment.
•
15.0 FTE (full-time-equivalent)
construction jobs were created
per $1 million of EDA funding,
carrying out solely the grant-supported
component of capital infrastructure.
Nonproject-Related Direct and
Indirect Impacts
•
Nonproject-related direct or
indirect jobs (those that occur
because of the project or the
project's jobs) were
found to be present in 30 and
35 percent, respectively, of
all public works projects.
Considering
all projects' ability to generate
nonproject-related direct or
indirect effects, for every
$1 million of EDA funding, an
additional 50 jobs and $1.18
million in private-sector investment
were generated in nonproject-related
direct effects, and an additional
64 jobs and $126,180 were generated
in indirect effects. Except
in cases where the project was
tax-exempt, public works projects
increased the local tax base
at a level of $10.13 million
per $1 million of EDA funding.
PROJECT IMPACTS (GENERAL)
•
Public works projects' economic
impacts generally increase with
time. Jobs resulting six years
after completion were, on average,
twice the number witnessed at
project completion.
•
EDA public-sector economic stimuli
create private-sector jobs at
high levels of success and low
levels of cost.
CONCLUSIONS
•
Most of the public works projects
achieved EDA's objective of
providing communities with the
necessary infrastructure to
expand their economic base.
•
Jobs and private investment
have occuned in many areas that
would not have experienced these
benefits without EDA assistance.
•
EDA offices as an instrument
of government, and EDA field
representatives who interact
with grantees, are well-regarded
by their constituencies.
|
_tb.gif)
.gif)