The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT) mobile construction app was demonstrated yesterday at an Interstate 83 construction site, in an effort to display that use of the mobile technology by field staff is helping save money and meeting the administration’s GO-TIME challenge for state government to work smarter.
“We have nearly 400 inspectors on staff and 1,200 under contract to check on the roughly $2.5 billion worth of construction work we have underway each year,” PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said, in a release. “The mobile construction app reduces time spent on administrative tasks. As a result, inspectors are in the field an additional one and a half hours per a day, or nearly 300,000 additional person hours each year. Last year, the first it was rolled out, saw $11 million in productivity savings, and we expect an additional $17 million this fiscal year.”
Prior to adoption of the mobile app, inspectors had to consult large paper documents and spend time traveling back and forth between their offices and construction sites to submit reports. Now, inspectors use the app to perform these same tasks directly from the field. The app was recognized by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers as a 2015 State IT Finalist in the category of Improving State Operations.
PennDOT is looking to extend the technology to other state agencies that rely on labor-intensive, paper–based processes to conduct inspections.
GO-TIME works with state agencies to maximize efficiency, modernize operations and improve the delivery of services. These efforts saved more than $156 million in FY 15-16, exceeding the $150 million savings goal set by Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Wolf.
