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    Agility Program

    The Agility Program was launched in 1996 to enable service-for-service exchanges with eligible Partners, such as municipal governments, state and federal agencies, public colleges and universities, school districts, councils of government, metropolitan and rural planning organizations, water, sewer, housing and other municipal authorities, charitable hospitals, volunteer fire and rescue companies, and volunteer emergency medical services companies.

     

    Agility enables PennDOT and its eligible Partners to exchange services, equipment, and staff without monetary payments. Agility helps PennDOT and its Partners make the most of limited resources, while developing strong and rewarding relationships.

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    A yellow line painting truck painting white lines along the side of a roadway.

    PennDOT Agility Program

    Launched in 1996, PennDOT’s Agility Program allows for service-for-service exchanges with eligible partners in lieu of monetary payments. Agility helps PennDOT and its partners make the most of limited resources, while developing strong and rewarding relationships. Hear from PennDOT employees and Agility partners as they describe some common types of services exchanged and share some benefits of the program

    History

    With support from all levels of PennDOT and AFSCME, a six-week pilot in District 1, located in northwestern Pennsylvania, was conducted in 1996 to assess the usefulness of Agility in delivering transportation services with municipal governments. This pilot created an appetite for more Agility applications in PennDOT's highway maintenance community. By 1997, Agility was being used statewide in each of PennDOT's 11 engineering districts and was being used in all Pennsylvania counties within five years of the program's inception. In the beginning, Lehigh University's Iacocca Institute provided academic support for applying the principles of Agility in the workplace. Dr. Roger Nagel, of the Iacocca Institute, and his fellow business consultants helped to implement the Agility principles across the department and served as guides to PennDOT's field staff.

    Through Agility, PennDOT continues to realize the long-term impacts of improved relationships. These relationships foster cooperative planning and service delivery that bring about better public services through hundreds of service exchanges. Trading services for services among eligible community organizations and local governments allow PennDOT and its Partners to stretch limited resources. For example, PennDOT might pave a portion of a volunteer fire department's parking lot and the fire department would use their tanker trucks to flush state-owned bridges. As a result, both PennDOT and the partner are able to create efficiencies and save money.

    A PennDOT employee conducts seal cracking along the roadway.

    25 Years of Excellence

    PennDOT's Agility Program celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2021. Nearly 3,300 Agility Agreements with about 2,000 Partners were executed across the commonwealth in the Agility Program’s first 25 years. Examples of more common exchanges include: a Partner receiving painted road lines in exchange for mowing; a Partner receiving inlet cleaning in exchange for street sweeping; and a Partner receiving patching on local roads in exchange for litter pick up and meeting space, to name a few; although, many unconventional Agility agreements have been executed since the program's inception as well.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    The Agility Agreement is a contract between PennDOT and the Partner. When signed by PennDOT and the Partner and approved by the PennDOT Office of Chief Counsel in Harrisburg; both parties may then complete an Agility Work Plan. The agreement alone does not obligate any party to perform work. It merely provides the foundation and legal authority for cooperation and exchanging services. Some Agility Agreements are put in place as a type of "insurance policy" in the event an emergency or extenuating circumstance occurs.

    To be a Partner in the Agility Program, the Partner must be a Public Procurement Unit. These include organizations such as a local government, state or federal agency, public college or university, school district, council of government, metropolitan or rural planning organization, water, sewer, housing or other municipal authority, charitable hospital, volunteer fire or rescue company, or volunteer emergency medical services company.

    No money can be exchanged between PennDOT and the Partner.

    By law, the Motor License Fund cannot incur a deficit. This means an equal exchange of services must occur between PennDOT and the Partner.

    Materials can only be included in an Agility exchange if they are essential to, and incidental to, the performance of the service. Materials alone cannot be exchanged between PennDOT and the Partner unless prior approved by the PennDOT Office of Chief Counsel in Harrisburg. 

    1. Evaluate – The Partner must evaluate what services it needs and what services or capabilities it can make available to PennDOT.
    2. Complete – The Partner needs to complete an Agility Agreement. This Agreement enables PennDOT and the Partner to exchange services through a Work Plan when the need arises.
    3. Negotiate – Once the Agility Agreement is executed, the Partner and PennDOT need to negotiate the terms of an Agility Work Plan. This is where the services that will be exchanged are decided and agreed upon.

    An Agility Work Plan enables the Partner and PennDOT to determine the services that will be exchanged. Several Agility Work Plans can be completed over the life of an agreement depending on the needs and capabilities of each party involved. Agility Work Plans are negotiated based on sound business decisions involving costs, market value, and the estimated worth of the exchange.

    The Partner is responsible for determining the value of the services it will provide to PennDOT. The Partner can use the following methods, or a combination of them, to determine the value:

    1. Cost Basis – What the Partner’s total cost would be to perform the work for PennDOT.

    2. Contractor Rates – What a contractor would charge to do the same work that the Partner is providing to PennDOT.

    3. Market Value – What that work would most likely cost in a competitive and open market.

    An Agility Agreement is effective for a period of five (5) years from the Execution Date with the option to renew the Agility Agreement for an additional three (3) years.

    You may revise the Agility Agreement, but both parties must initial and date the revisions, just like with any legal document.

    Only the original signed Agility Agreement will be processed; a copy of the Agility Agreement will not be accepted. 

    No, but this date must be either equal to or later than the signed date. The attest date cannot be earlier than the signed date since the document must be signed before it is attested.

    The Agility Agreement cannot be processed.

    The signatures are good for a period of sixty (60) days. The Agility Agreement must be processed within sixty (60) days of the Partner's signature date.

    This would invalidate the Agility Agreement. The two titles must match.

    Yes, every new and renewed Agility Agreement gets a number unique to that county. No two Agility Agreement numbers are ever the same.

    The “Terms and Conditions” and the Resolution page must accompany the Agility Agreement.

    Send the Agreement along with the "Terms and Conditions" and the Resolution page to your local designated PennDOT Agility Coordinator. The coordinator will send the documents to the Agility Program Manager in PennDOT's Bureau of Innovations.