In the 10 ensuing years, the JOC budget has increased to $2.5 million (out of a total renovation budget of $4.5 million) for fiscal year 2005 (their fiscal year runs from September to August), with the average JOC project among the 61 completed running approximately $41,000. The average non-JOC project or requisition (such as the purchase and installation of furniture) of the 154 that fiscal year was approximately $13,000. Although Texas law does not put any cap on JOC contracts in public procurement work (this varies from state to state) Texas State University-San Marcos' experience has indicated that for them, JOC tends to work best on projects between $5,000 and $250,000 with some projects over that amount. Texas State University-San Marcos has found that certain types of work lend themselves to JOC, and some don't. For example, short to medium duration renovations are good candidates for JOC work, but system upgrades and single-discipline or trade jobs are typically not bid under JOC. The reason being is that they have determined that when only a single trade is used, it is usually more cost-effective to bid the job directly to that trade rather than go through a general JOC contractor. Texas State University-San Marcos has found JOC to be a flexible contracting methodology when there are short timelines, for repurposing jobs, and when the scope of the job changes in mid-project. For example, many times they will get short notice for a project, and will need expedited pre-construction timelines, and sometimes there are no design documents at all. In these circumstances, they found that JOC really excels, such that they can start and complete the project without design services, and go straight to a written scope of work. In one instance, they had to re-purpose a classroom as a research lab with a separate dedicated HVAC system that would maintain a negative static pressure, and yet tie in with the central fire control system and off site energy management system. In another JOC project, a building had to be re-roofed concurrently with replacing all of the roof-mounted mechanical equipment - requiring close coordination among trades. In another instance, they had to demolish a building, and were going to install a parking lot on the site. After the building was demolished, it was decided to use the area as an entrance to the university, complete with landscaping. Because it was a JOC award, they were able to use the same contractor and also did the design in-house.

Texas State University-San Marcos has evaluated 10 contractors for JOC over the 12 years they have been using JOC. Of these 10, they have found three to be excellent, two were pretty good, and five were either a not a good match, or chose not to re-bid the JOC contract. Their evaluation system for JOC contractors puts 60% weighting on the contractor's JOC coefficient and the other 40% on financial issues, relevant experience, and past job performance. In certain instances, JOC contractors have subsequently raised their coefficient and then became non-competitive when re-bidding the contracts. JOC contracts undergo a thorough evaluation and award process to include review by Certified Texas Purchasers. Texas State University-San Marcos has found that for new JOC contractors, it is important that within a month to have a full-day meeting of both their staff and the contractor's JOC staff. This meeting defines goals, obtains consensus for those goals, and identifies the responsibilities of each party. Texas State University-San Marcos has varied its use of JOC contractors anywhere from having a single award to double or triple concurrent JOC awards. All JOC contractors are evaluated for performance on every job. Texas State University-San Marcos has found that contractor field supervision is critical to JOC success. They have found that both technical and interpersonal skills are paramount. When field supervision is an issue with the contractor's performance - this should be discussed with the contractor's upper management, where adjustments can be made, if necessary. The JOC contracting firm may be good, but simply not have the right person supervising the job, or managing the contract.

Texas State University-San Marcos attributes many of the benefits from JOC to be attributed to the partnering nature of the JOC process. That is, the owner and the contractor are partners in the process, not adversaries. For example, change orders, often a source of friction between contractors and owners, are typically very few and of owner-origin in Texas State University-San Marcos' JOC work. Another reason is due to the nature of the way JOC contracts are bid - the owner's and contractor's representatives both walk the job and the contractor draws up a scope of work, which is the basis for the Job Order price proposal. Since they are both key participants in the JOC process - they have a sense of ownership of the accuracy of scope, price proposal, and delivering services. Texas State University-San Marcos had several first-hand examples of cost savings due to JOC. In one case, several years ago they let a contract for the renovation of an apartment building which involved re-roofing, new siding and replacement of all HVAC units. The contract was let under a conventional design-bid process. Approximately three years later, a second, identical apartment building was renovated under JOC. The cost was the same dollar amount as the early design-bid project, yet included some additional work. In other words, the JOC savings were equivalent of three years of inflation - typically running 3.5% to 4% a year. In another example - there was a large ($900,000+) renovation project requiring demolition at the onset. It was bid under a JOC contract. At the end of the $147,000 demolition phase by the JOC contractor, the administrative decision was made to have the remainder bid as a 'construction manager at risk' project. The resulting cost for the remainder of the project was in excess of the original JOC bid of $900,000 for the entire project. In other words, had the entire project been a JOC project, the savings potential would have been $147,000 - or approximately 16% of the project cost. Texas State University-San Marcos' 11-year experience with JOC has been overwhelmingly favorable. As part of project management, they use RSMeans cost estimating data. From time to time they encounter non-prepriced items. However, most JOC contracts include fair compensation for non-prepriced items, to include competitively bid, localized numbers for these tasks. On a few occasions, they found their estimates were not in line with the Means numbers (such as with painting). When they called the Means cost engineers to clarify the situation, the Means engineers queried them on how they were estimating their painting. Once the Means engineers helped them identify that they had not been adjusting for cut-outs, the result more closely matched Means data. Texas State University-San Marcos has also found that almost all contractors are familiar with RSMeans data providing a ubiquitous industry standard.