A rigorous technical approach to prioritizing capital improvement projects was designed and developed beginning in 2006.  This represented a significant change from previous practice in which political preference guided technical evaluation.  The role of professional staff was to justify political preference.  The role change first deployed in 2008 was that professional staff was to independently advise policy makers based on the technical merits of alternative capital investments.

The challenge addressed by Bernalillo County during 2012 was not only the ongoing improvement of the technical evaluation; it was how to organize the process so the technical analysis remains an ongoing independent resource.