This Resource Guide is designed to assist national and sub-national road agencies in developing and transition countries to launch or enhance a performance-based contracting (PBC) program to manage and maintain their road networks. The Guide contains information and practical documentation to:
identify a PBC approach to fit specific conditions in a given country;
design bidding and contract documentation; and
develop an efficient PBC implementation strategy.

The Guide will also be useful for consulting and construction industries, and transport staff of international development agencies.

It is recommended that users of the Guide start with the section “Introduction to PBC”, which contains a paper “Performance-based Contracting For Preservation and Improvement of Road Assets” (Transport Note TN-27, published by the World Bank). The TN-27 introduces all basic concepts and lays out the various decision-making steps. For convenience, this paper is offered in four languages:

English
French
Russian
Spanish

The section entitled “PBC Globally” describes worldwide applications of PBC. This is shown on the World Map and presented in summary form in the Country Matrix for about 35 countries. Subsequently, detailed case studies are provided for about 15 countries.

The section entitled “Documents” provides practical documentation for various stages of the PBC process:
sample terms of reference (TORs)
bidding documents
contract documents
training material

Sample performance specifications are provided as part of either bidding or contract documents. These documents were developed for PBC of road works in specific countries. Their scope is therefore variable, depending on local circumstances. Some of them may contain only several elements of a full-scope PBC module. Note: The authors of the Guide and the World Bank (WB) do not bear any responsibility for the content of the TORs, bidding and contract documents included. Users considering applying these materials are advised to treat them as good starting points, seek appropriate professional advice, and contact directly the source entities for clarifications and additional information. The section on Training Materials included introduces key issues of performance-based procurement and will help road agencies in developing performance specifications, bidding documents and strategy of a performance-based road maintenance program.

The Resource Persons section contains names and contact information of road agency officials, consultants, contractors, and World Bank staff with experience in varied aspects of performance-based contracting.

The Multi-Donor Support section provides information on trust funds that support activities related to the development and introduction of a PBC approach in the roads and highways sub-sector. For the time being, such information is available for two funds, Global Partnership on Output-based Aid (GPOBA) and Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF).

The Resources section includes the cited Transport Note TN-27, as well as other publications, presentations  and website links relevant to PBC for road management and maintenance.

This Guide is a ‘living’ document and is updated on a regular basis. Please refer to the version number, which shows the date of the material.