Mutual Gains Negotiations
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District 11-0 Pilot Participant Comments

From Participants in the Mutual Gains Pilot Project

“The mutual gains process is a very good way to negotiate. The keys in my opinion are having an open discussion on the scope of work and expected deliverables to make sure both sides understand what is to be provided and each side providing a detailed breakdown of their manhour estimate. As a result of these discussions and adjustments to the manhours, the numbers should be very close.”

“An After Action Review should be scheduled following Preliminary Engineering and Final Design for all contracts negotiated using Mutual Gains. At this meeting, it should be determined whether or not the negotiated staff hours were sufficient for each individual task. In some cases, a Supplement may have been required or staff hours may have not been distributed according to the original plan. These factors should be considered when updating the Staff Hour Estimating Guide.”

“The project classification should be discussed at the Scope clarification meeting; some flexibility is needed- some projects are a combination of classifications.”

“The Estimating guide manhour summaries for tasks is helpful when going through task calculations.”

“It would be beneficial for the Department and Consultant to agree upon classification (minor/moderate/complex) for each task at the scope clarification meeting.”

“The training session was very useful.”

“The new Mutual Gains process is a good attempt at achieving a fair and equitable result for all parties involved.”

“Clarifying scope and expectations is vital to make negotiations fair and equitable and for both sides to understand expectations.”

“I thought yesterday’s negotiations went very well –both ACEC and PennDOT need to push MGN negotiations on all applicable projects.”

“The mutual gains process promotes fair and equitable negotiations-today’s negotiations were definitely fair and equitable.”

“Yes-I thought that today’s session resulted in a fair estimate.”

“Both parties should provide formal backup for their estimates – these can then be shared during negotiations when there are differences.”

“Mutual gains, if acceptable by all participants, is a good process which eliminates high and low estimates from either party, as well as promoting professional negotiations.”