The urgency of the current economic situation means state agencies must re-examine the way they do business, particularly with respect to in-house versus outsourced design work. Conventional wisdom has long favored the cost-effectiveness of private-sector design of public projects. Private-sector design professionals are more efficient.
A recent report by Polytechnic Institute of New York University pegs the cost differential between public and private designers at about 14% and substantiates the claim that New York state can achieve significant cost savings by using private-sector engineers.