Sessions, Abstracts, & Notes


1.0 Track 1: Delivering Projects

2.0 Track 2: Controlling Projects

3.0 Track 3: Constructing Projects




1.0 Track 1: Delivering Projects
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1.1 Project Delivery and Construction Management
Moderator: Gerald Yakowenko
Session Leaders: Gerald Yakowenko and Stu Anderson

Integrating CM into the Project Delivery Process

What makes a successful construction project? Some would say that the stage is set early in the project delivery process - much earlier than the preconstruction meeting where the contractor, the contracting agency and third party representatives may be meeting for the first time. This session will focus on programs and procedures that some agencies use during the process to "set the stage" for success. The presenters will identify successful practices for incorporating value engineering, constructability and life cycle decision making into the project delivery process. Innovative project delivery techniques will also be discussed. Strategies and management structures will be described that illustrate how these construction management concepts can be integrated into the project delivery process: from project conception to project completion.

Bob McCullouch, Greg Kicinski, and Louis Feagans; The Project Management Process at the Indiana Department of Transportation

In 2005, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) decentralized management which gave districts autonomy to manage construction projects. This was a significant departure from a centralized management approach.

Following the reorganization in 2006, INDOT adopted a program called Major Moves which is being funded through a $4 billion the lease of the Indiana Toll Road. INDOT is investing this lease money in a ten year road construction program that will significantly expand and improve Indiana's highway network.

INDOT decided how they manage projects had to change and formed a Project Management section to look at projects differently from conception to completion. They developed a Project Development Process (PDP) which is a management guideline to be applied to all projects, small to large. It starts with procuring professional services and goes through a multi-step process to construction. Along the way there are processes for scope development, scheduling, risk management, constructability reviews, and others. An extensive education and training program has also been developed and implemented.

This paper will track the development of INDOT's Project Management Program, describe the PDP process, explain the educational program developed, and report on lessons learned from this experience.

Mark Swatta; Oregon's OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program

In 2003, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2041, which provided $1.3 billion for the replacement and repair of State highway bridges. The program to deliver the improvements is known as the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program and is being managed by a joint venture firm of HDR Engineering and Fluor Corporation, called the Oregon Bridge Delivery Program (OBDP).

The State Bridge Program has a ten year duration and will repair or replace 365 bridges on the State's highways. Oregon Department of Transportation's (ODOT) and OBDP's initial implementation strategy was developed around five geographic stages that built on each other over the Program's duration. In lieu of replacing the bridges in a worst bridge first scenario which would have had significant impacts to freight and movement within the state, stages were developed.

The first stage was to finish a north south and east west route prior to working on I-5 and I-84. The second and third stage completed the I-5 and I-84 corridors and the fourth and fifth stage were non interstate bridges. Groups of bridges within the stages were then placed in "bundles". The bundles were structured for cost efficiencies and to make a variety of projects available to Oregon design and construction firms.

As the OTIA III Program was implemented, the traditional delivery method envisioned and used was design/bid/build procurement; however ODOT wanted to expand its alternative delivery capabilities thus OBDP was tasked in delivering at least two bundles per each stage through the design/build delivery process. Later in the program, one bundle was designated for CMGC delivery.

Numerous lessons were learned as the stages progress through procurement and construction and, as a result, continued improvements were made to the alternative delivery process. This presentation will describe the Program's details, its current status after the fourth year and, how it has evolved since 2004.

Jennifer Benefield and Warren Roberts; Design-Build: Unprecedented Public Involvement

The Missouri Department of Transportation's (MoDOT) Interstate 29/35 Connections "kcICON" design-build project will reconstruct four miles of urban interstate to include the improvement of five outdated interchanges and the construction of the Christopher S. Bond Bridge - a new landmark, cable-stayed Missouri River bridge.

To engage stakeholders in meaningful way, MoDOT formed a 12-member Community Advisory Group (CAG) appointed by elected officials, civic, and neighborhood associations to provide input on the public's priorities for the $245 million project.

The CAG named the project, helped to establish the project goals, and crafted the corridor and river bridge aesthetic requirements in the Request for Proposal. In additional the CAG members have assisted MoDOT with numerous high-profile community issues to include the following:

To demonstrate to region the CAG's critical role in the success of the project, MoDOT awarded the CAG 20 of the 100 total project points to evaluate the architectural style and bridge design aesthetics proposed by the competing - a level of design-build project involvement never before attempted by a state department of transportation. This is a model that is sure to influence other MoDOT projects and other departments of transportation across the country.



1.2 Alternative Procurement & Contracting Systems
Moderator: Brian Blanchard
Session Leaders: Brian Blanchard and Steven DeWitt
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Session 1.2a Alternative Procurement & Contracting Systems - Emerging Concepts

This session will focus on lessons learned and new approaches to various alternative procurement and contracting processes that have emerged over the past decade or so. These include Design-Build, Design-Build Operate and Maintain (DBOM), CM, CM @ Risk, and other alternative project delivery systems. The impetus behind the use and evolution of these systems is clear: shorten project delivery timelines; stay within budget; and deliver a high quality product. Information will be shared that presents the concepts, results and pros and cons for the wide range of projects built by typical transportation agencies.

Edward Minchin, Ralph D. Ellis, Jae-Ho Pyeon, Zohar Herbsman and Keith Molenaar; Use of Innovative Contracting Methods by DOTs - Project Managers Speak

Contracting methods such as Design-Build, Lane Rental, A+B, and Incentive/Disincentive have been utilized by state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) for many years now. The mounting volume of experience with these contracts, and others, means that there is now sufficient data to measure the effectiveness of these innovations. Working under a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the research team used tremendous volumes of FDOT data to measure the effectiveness of several innovative contract types.

The experiences and opinions of construction field engineers executing these systems were also of great interest to the team, so interviews were conducted with FDOT and consultant personnel from seven of Florida's eight districts. All interviewed had been a Project Manager on at least one project using an innovative contracting method, and most had overseen several such projects. Discussions of several of the methods brought enthusiastic responses from those interviewed, both for and against certain innovations.

In addition to the focus on the Florida data, a nationwide survey was conducted by the research team to determine what contracting methods have been used by each state, and how satisfied the states were with each system. The response was near 100%, and this paper will share the major results of that survey and the data analysis, but will focus on the experiences and opinions of those experienced construction field engineers dealing with the contract types mentioned above, as well as newer innovations such as "Detour Rental" and "Damage Recovery."

Nasir Gharaibeh, Joe Button and Prashant Jalvi; Case Studies of Design-Build Project Delivery for Highway Pavements

In the highway industry, the traditional design-bid-build (D-B-B) project delivery method, where design and construction are sequential steps in the project development process, is rapidly changing to a consolidated design-build (D-B) project delivery method. Although guidelines have been developed to aid in D-B project selection and procurement for highways, further study is needed to determine best practices in pavement design, construction quality assurance, performance monitoring, and repair practices under the D-B project delivery method.

These issues have been studied in detail for three major D-B highway projects in central (and the results are presented here): State Highway 130 (SH 130), State Highway 45 Southeast (SH 45 SE), and US 183A. These case studies provide pavement engineers with educational, real-world examples of the pavement aspects in D-B highway projects.

C. W. Ibbs and YingYi Chih; A Qualitative Comparison of Alternative Project Delivery Systems for Transportation Projects

In past decades, the public sector faces increasing infrastructure needs and calls from users for better service. The response has been the employment of alternative project delivery systems (PDS). Popular examples include the Design-Build (DB), the Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM), and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT). In the U.S., legislation restrictions limit most transportation projects to the traditional Design-Bid-Build (DBB) and the DB arrangements.

There are exceptions. A few projects are developed using the DBOM, a PDS where the private sector designs, builds, operates and maintains the system, such as the Southern New Jersey Light Rail System. Similar to the DBOM is the BOT, under which the project is financed by the private sector. This model may be unfamiliar in the U.S., but the BOT has been widely used in Asian countries for transportation developments. The Taiwan High Speed Rail Project is one example.

Alternative PDSs have been intensively studied. But there is still considerable confusion about the varying characteristics and implications of different systems. Accordingly, this paper aims to clarify the definitions, advantages, limitations, and implementation issues of the mentioned systems: DB, DBOM, DBB and BOT. Additionally, this paper will present some applicative transportation projects. A conceptual framework will be constructed to allow the public sector to choose an appropriate PDS. A better understanding of the alternative PDS's and their potential applications will be achieved.


Session 1.2b Alternative Procurement & Contracting Systems - Emerging Concepts
Moderator: Steven DeWitt

Ali Touran, Douglas Gransberg, Keith Molenaar and Kamran Ghavamifar; Transit Project Delivery Methods: A Case Study Analysis

This paper describes the results of a case study analysis of nine transit projects from five different agencies worth more than $3.0 billion that represent the cross-section of delivery methods, including design-bid-build/multi-prime, construction manager-at-risk, design-build, and design-build-operate-maintain. The study is being conducted for TCRP Project G-08: "A Guidebook for the Evaluation of Project Delivery Methods." The objective was to identify those salient project characteristics that lend themselves to successful delivery using alternative methods. A rigorous case study analysis based on on-site structured interviews was used that allowed the identification trends between the projects.

The paper concludes that the major reason transit agencies use alternative project delivery methods is to achieve aggressive schedule compression and that they have been successful. It also finds that alternative project delivery has a positive impact on cost certainty as the average cost growth on the case study projects was below the national average. Finally, it found that implementing a formal risk analysis as part of the project delivery method selection process appears to enhance the outcome of the case study projects by more closely aligning project characteristics with achievable benefits from a given project delivery method.

Maurice Masucci; Owners' Guide to Alternate Project Delivery Systems

In spite of sophisticated project and construction management techniques, delays and other costly problems unfortunately remain an all too common occurrence on major capital improvement and construction projects. As a result, Alternate Project Delivery Systems (APDS) are a topic of much current interest in that they hold promise in avoiding or minimizing such problems. This paper presents a comparative overview of APDS by describing the most common types together with their major attributes, benefits and considerations.

In the paper, we analyze what conditions influence project success and we discuss the types of projects and situations for which each APDS is most applicable and offers the greatest potential to deliver a successful project. The results are summarized via a series of charts and guidelines to simplify an airport owner's decision of which system may be employed on a particular project. The paper also summarizes the results of various comparative studies of APDS by various industry and owner organizations. Finally, we close with several project management recommendations which recognize that enhancing project success depends highly on aligning and tailoring the management approach to the specific APDS selected to deliver the project.

Gary Webster; Public-Private Partnership Risk Assessment

In making Partnership deals successful one of the most important elements is ensuring owners not only understand and value lifecycle risks but how to optimize the allocation between the Public and Private sector. In this session, an overview of the risk process along with examples of how risks can be shared will be discussed based on the experience of successfully delivering a number of Transportation transactions in British Columbia.


1.2c Alternative Procurement & Contracting Systems - Case Studies
Moderator: Stuart Anderson

This session is a follow-up to the previous session on emerging concepts for alternative procurement and contracting systems. It will focus on real world application of these techniques to a variety of projects - small and large. Example case studies include Transit Project Delivery Methods, CM@Risk on the Miami Intermodal Center, and comparison of management approaches to risk allocation of traditional design-bid-build and long-term concession projects. Included will be recommendations for future enhancements to promote continued positive evolution of these contracting systems.

Ali Nejat, Stuart Anderson, Ivan Damnjanovic and Molly Gunby; Alternative Contracting Methods to Accelerate Project Completion: Lessons Learned By State Transportation Agencies

To promote accelerated project delivery, a number of State Transportation Agencies (STAs) have utilized alternative contracting methods. A common concern STAs have with implementation of these contracting methods is their effectiveness in delivering projects faster as well as their impact on other important project performance measures such as cost, quality, and safety.

The overall objectives of this paper are to highlight the alternative contracting methods which based on STAs' past experiences have the highest potential for accelerating project completion, emphasize the existing organizational barriers corresponding to their implementation and finally evaluate these methods based on their sensitivity to different influencing parameters (e.g., project size, type, complexity), their level of impact on different performance measures (e.g., schedule, cost, quality) and their implementation issues.

The study methodology included three sequential efforts. The first effort focused on the selection of contracting methods typically implemented to accelerate project completion. Next, a comprehensive review of the current literature regarding alternative contracting methods was conducted. This review focused on the previously selected methods and their potential to reduce schedule duration. Finally, based on the aforementioned selected methods, an electronic survey including quantitative and qualitative questions was developed which was sent to several STA representatives nationwide to collect STAs' lesson learned regarding the alternative contracting methods.

Jae-Ho Pyeon, Ralph D. Ellis, Edward Minchin and Charles R. Glagola; Traffic Impact on Project Time Performance during Incentive Construction Projects

The volume of highway traffic in the United States continues to increase. In the face of this there is a concomitant need to improve and repair transportation infrastructure. Construction often requires a reduction in capacity during construction activity and motorists as well as adjacent businesses must endure the delays and inconveniences associated with transportation construction. Recognizing the problems that construction can produce, state highway agencies (SHAs) have continually sought ways to minimize the negative impact from its construction operations.

Incentive contracting has played an important role in this effort to improve project performance. The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is one of the leading SHAs using innovative contracting methods such as Incentive/Disincentive (I/D), A+B combined with I/D, No Excuse Bonus, and Liquidated Savings. This paper presents the traffic impact on incentive project time performance using highway construction projects recently completed in Florida. Project data obtained from FDOT were evaluated using time performance indices.

A survey of traffic impact on project work types was performed in Florida in order to evaluate the relationship between construction project types and road traffic influence during construction. Based on the survey results, most frequently used 38 work types in Florida during study period were categorized by three traffic impact levels: (1) high traffic impact, (2) medium traffic impact, and (3) low traffic impact. Statistical analysis was performed. The results show that there are significant differences on project time performance between low, medium, and high traffic impact levels.

Weng Tam, Simon Santiago and Ken Smith; Public Owner Construction Management: Differences in Management and Risk Allocation Approaches Between Traditional Design-Bid-Build and Long-Term Concession Projects

The advent of public-private partnerships (P3) has created new opportunities for public owners to strategically partner with the private sector to finance and deliver vital transportation projects. Because P3s have increased the role of the private sector in delivering projects, pubic owner construction management practices have adapted to address the new project delivery methods while taking into account the public owner's responsibilities and obligations to protect the public's interests.

On traditional design-bid-build projects, contractual requirements are typically prescriptive with the public owner assuming responsibility for the design, front-line acceptance of construction work, and long-term maintenance. On typical concession projects, contractual requirements are typically performance-based and the developer is often responsible for the design, front-line acceptance of construction work, and long-term maintenance. The public owner's role is generally limited to oversight and auditing. The developer is often given the flexibility and latitude to choose design and construction solutions that it feels will benefit long-term operations and maintenance.

Underlying this shift in roles is the transfer of specific areas of risks and liability from the public owner to the developer. This paper will discuss and compare the management approaches and risk allocation of traditional design-bid-build and long-term concession projects. The paper will analyze the construction management role of the public owner in both of these project delivery methods, including maintaining the contractual risk profile, the scope of review and approval of developer submittals and work, and the use of prescriptive versus performance-based administrative and/or technical requirements, Finally, the paper will discuss if the differences in management approaches has an impact on the quality and performance of the project.


1.3 Public Private Partnerships
Moderator: Matt Girard, Steven DeWitt and Thomas Bohuslav
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Public-Private Partnerships (P3's) are a proven procurement method and life-cycle approach in places like the U.K. and Australia, and have recently become the procurement method of choice for large transportation projects across Canada with extensive and proven successes already. With substantial cuts in U.S. Federal highway distributions to state DOT's looming , P3's are quickly becoming a focal point of discussion in transportation circles. Many view P3's as strictly a financial effort, but P3's encompass a whole new outlook on risk transfer, life-cycle matters, and private sector induced efficiencies. As the new definition of Construction Management emerges, its importance to the success of the P3 process is elevated, evidenced by the various interests and parties involved with a P3 organizational structure. This session will focus on the role of Construction Management in the "Brave New World" of P3's, and provide practical guidance and specific project case study experience. Specific issues to be addressed include:


Session 1.3a
Moderator: Matt Girard

YingYi Chih and YawKuang Chen; A Comparison of Government Roles in Solicited and Unsolicited PPP Projects

The past decade has witnessed a dramatic increase in public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure developments. Two PPP implementation mechanisms have been introduced: the solicited and the unsolicited. In the solicited mechanism, the public sector initiates a project by soliciting proposals. In the unsolicited mechanism, on the other hand, the private sector takes the initiative by submitting unsolicited proposals. The unsolicited approach is believed to be able to encourage innovative initiatives, yet, so far only a few governments (ex. Virginia) take advantage of such an approach.

The government plays a critical role in the success of a PPP project. Many researchers have discussed these roles. However, these discussions tend to focus exclusively on the solicited mechanism. They fail to examine the fundamental differences between the two mechanisms. For instance, a solicited proposal is usually based on a clearly-defined infrastructure need, whereas an unsolicited proposal is often submitted when the government lacks consensus about the proposed infrastructure need. Additionally, all bidders compete on the same basis in the solicited mechanism, whereas the firm making the unsolicited proposal may enjoy competitive advantages. These differences cast government in markedly different roles.

This paper discusses these different roles according to the varying characteristics of these two mechanisms. This clarification will allow government to implement PPP projects more efficiently and effectively in the future.

Albert Amos and Marcelle Jones; Due Diligence Tools for Evaluating PPPs

One of the tools used to estimate value is the Public Sector Comparator (PSC), which estimates the risk-adjusted cost if a PPP project were to be financed and implemented by a public entity. The PSC involves defining the reference project-the most efficient public sector delivery that satisfies all technical and output requirements. The PSC provides a benchmark that can be used to evaluate the relative value of PPP bids, including unsolicited proposals. The PSC directly compares factor costs, accounting standards, tax treatments, capital costs, risk, and rate of return requirements between the public and private sector entities.

An additional analysis that can be conducted involves estimating Value for Money (VfM), which evaluates long-term sustainability, including mobility, accessibility, need, and social, economic and environmental impacts. VfM has typically been described in terms of the three Es: economy (reduced expenses, time or effort), efficiency (same level of service at less cost/time) and effectiveness (better service or rate of return). PSC and VfM analyses can help to determine if a PPP would be desirable for project delivery.

Michael Garvin; FHWA Public-Private Partnership International Scan

In June of 2009, a team of US representatives from traveled to Potugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and Australia to study international use of Public-Private Partnerships for building and maintaining highway infrastructure. The team was comprised of individuals representing Federal and State government, private industry and academia. The team examined host nation programs, policies and practices. They document lessons learned and made recommendations for implementation actions in the US. Major issues of interest included the environment for PPP's, procurement and contracting, operations and maintenance, closeout and program performance. This presentation will summarize the team's finding and recommendations.


Session 1.3b
Moderator: Thomas Bohuslav

Bob Nairn; P3's and the Public Sector Comparator Process

For P3 transportation projects to be successful, they must deliver 'value for money' to government agencies and the public. Today's talk will focus on the Public Sector Comparator (PSC) Process, what it is; assumptions that need to be made; how it is done and presentation of sample work sheets utilized in the development of the determination of 'value for money' to be achieved by delivering a project using the P3 mode.

Matt Girard; A Contractor's view on P3 procurement structure - What works, What Doesn't

The US P3 transportation market is primed to take off. The need for additional capacity and new projects is extremely high, and the public funding for them is low and set to go even lower on a Federal level. Owners, contractors, financial players and the P3 industry in general are in a fluid market, in that the US P3 markets is being defined as we speak. Many questions are out there as to how to best structure the procurements and Concession Agreements. The goals of the private sector and public sectors are aligned on this point - in that all parties want a successful procurement and a project that comes to fruition. Now both groups need to work together to ensure that happens. The industry does not need to look very far for proven successes and lessons learned, and that is to our northern neighbors in Canada. This presentation comes from a US based contractor's experiences pursuing numerous P3 projects in Canada for the last 5 years, the success the Owners there have had with both procurements and constructed projects, and gives a look into a contractor's mindset as to what works in these procurements, and more importantly, what does not work and should thus be avoided.

Matt Girard; A Contractor's view on P3 procurement structure - What works, What Doesn't

Frank Holzman; Texas Department of Transportation's PPP Program

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has entered into a Public-Private Partnership to develop and construct approximately 40 miles of freeway from near Austin to Seguin, Texas. The developer, Cintra/Zachry, is responsible for the financing, Right-of-Way, utility relocation, design, construction, and maintenance and operation of the facility. The presenter will explain how project controls are established to see that the project meets TxDOT's requirements for design, quality, and service.

1.4 Environmental Accountability
Moderator: Gerald Yakowenko
Session Leaders: Gerald Yakowenko and Bob Burns
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Environmental Controls during Construction

The transportation project environmental review process is a very important step in the project development process for State DOTs, FHWA, environmental resource agencies and the public. The traveling public expects us to provide mobility and a stewardship role in the protection of the natural and cultural resources of their community. Construction managers are charged with the responsibility for providing this protection and for ensuring that contractual commitments are kept. This session will explore techniques and procedures that construction contractors and contracting agencies are using to ensure that environmental requirements are kept while keeping resource agencies informed of important issues related to their interests. The program will also explore how some agencies are addressing context sensitive solutions to enhance their environmental stewardship roles.

Mr. Elie H. Homsi, PE; Top-Down Bridge Construction Minimizes Environmental Impacts

The design-build team of Flatiron Construction Corporation, United Contractors Inc., and Earth Tech Inc. is utilizing a unique pile-driving / bridge construction gantry system on a $192-million highway construction contract in North Carolina. The team has developed a project-specific, self-launching truss system that allows complete "top-down" bridge construction and virtually eliminates environmental impacts during construction of the six-mile Washington Bypass project on US 17 over the Tar River.

Since almost 2.8 miles of the project corridor is over wetland and river environment, the design-build team elected to use this one-of-a-kind gantry system primarily on the basis of environmental stewardship, accelerated delivery, and cost efficiency. The gantry system does not require the use of a trestle thus minimizing the clearing of wetlands. The use of precast piles, caps, girders and stay-in-place forms minimizes the potential for contamination of wetlands. It eliminates the use of multiple cranes and equipment, thus reducing the potential for fuel and oil spillage in the wetlands. The presentation will focus on the unique construction and environmental needs of the project and how the design-build team developed the best-value approach to meet the contract requirements and satisfy the owner's environmental commitment to the public.

Jeff Lewis; Best Construction Management Practices for Environmental

The use of Federal-aid assistance for highway construction invokes a requirement that environmental impacts be properly addressed. The National Environmental Policy Act and other related environmental laws require an assessment of environmental impacts and a commitment to implement mitigation plans during construction. On Federal-aid projects, contracting agencies and the FHWA have a responsibility to the public to be environmental stewards and assure that contractual commitments are carried out as planned.

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, and, more recently, Executive Order 13274: "Environmental Stewardship and Transportation Infrastructure Project Reviews" emphasize making transportation decisionmaking and environmental review processes more effective and efficient through good communication techniques. This presentation is intended to give the FHWA's construction management perspective of the evolution of environmental stewardship during construction along with various lessons learned and best management practices.

Mary Jo Vobejda; Context Sensitive Solutions - What does it mean during construction?

Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) is most commonly thought of during the development and planning of transportation facilities. However, CSS during construction can build the best reputation an agency could have. CSS began in the mid 1990s when a consensus emerged that a new approach to solving traditional highway projects was needed. CSS is an approach that enables disciplines to effectively accommodate what otherwise might be competing interests. At the heart of CSS is the idea of 'creating solutions that make conceding unnecessary', even within the structure of construction contracts, CSS can create solutions that fit.

1.5 Risk and Risk Management
Session Leaders 1.5a: Keith Molenaar, Bill Roberds, and David Sillars
Session Leaders 1.5b: Keith Molenaar, Bill Roberds, and David Sillars
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Risk and Risk Management as a Discipline

This session will focus on the significance of and response to risk in transportation construction projects, and how risk is identified, assessed, analyzed, mitigated, allocated, and monitored in a structured and cooperative business manner. It will look at risk assessment and management from the public agency (owner), contractor, and third-party perspectives. It will also look at risks associated with different project delivery methods, including design-bid-build, design-build, and private finance. This session will complement (but not duplicate) the information provided in the risk training workshop held on the preceding Sunday.

Session 1.5a
Moderator: David Sillars

Jon Tapping and Rein Lemberg; San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge Replacement: A Case Study in Program Risk Management

The Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program (TBSRP) is a bridge rehabilitation program to strengthen or replace seven California State-owned bridges to more effectively withstand earthquakes. Of the seven bridges, replacement of the East Span of the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge (SFOBB) is the largest investment at a cost of over $5.5 billion. The California Legislature has designated the SFOBB as a "lifeline structure" because it is located along a transportation corridor crucial to both emergency relief and economic revitalization following a major earthquake.

The SFOBB project is large and complex comprising multiple, interdependent sub-projects. It is the largest California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) project of record, presenting numerous engineering and construction challenges. Because of its size and complexity, Caltrans is employing state-of-the-art risk management methods, tools and procedures to manage opportunities and minimize potential risks so as to meet cost and schedule goals. Risk management is integrated with project management, design management and construction management.

The presentation will trace the evolution of Caltrans' comprehensive risk management program on the SFOBB project, highlighting the challenges, solutions and successes in implementing the Program Risk Management Plan in a multi-agency environment. It features examples of innovative risk management methods and techniques: assessing schedule risks, risk-based decision-making, budget forecasting at the project and sub-project levels, assessing the adequacy of contingency reserves, and tracking all risks (project risks, notices of potential claim, outstanding disputes, and potential future contract change orders) using a web-based database system.

Danny Kahler; Prioritizing Project Requirements through Risk Engineering

The traditional approach to verifying project requirements has often been based on the concept of mass inspection; more reviewers and more inspectors means better compliance and reduced risk. Owners, however, have discovered the diminishing return of paying armies of full-time staff to verify routine or low-risk requirements. Since the main goal of verifying project performance is to reduce the risk of failure, why don't we manage our project requirements according to risk? This session will present innovative concepts in assigning risk values to project requirements in all areas of construction, including performance, quality, and specifications.

These risk values are based on an objective, scientific approach to both actual failure and the likelihood of the constructor of not meeting the requirements. Verification is tightened for high risk requirements, relaxed on low risk ones. This standard methodology helps to avoid the normal tendency of personnel to focus energy on verifying requirements based on individual perceptions, such as failures on past projects, pressure from management preconceptions, or a person's comfort level within a particular technical area. This engineering-based risk analysis method also provides a platform for objectively analyzing how to install detection control and reduce the severity or probability of failures.

Tiendung Le, Carlos Caldas and G. Edward Gibson; Managing Risks In The Project Development Process For Transportation Infrastructure Projects

In the transportation sector, the project development process involves a large number of disciplines from various public and private organizations. Their involvement makes the coordination of task responsibilities highly challenging, especially because the process normally takes a long time and contains a high level of risk. The integrated project team needs a method to help improve the overall effectiveness of risk management across disciplines during this early planning process.

The Advance Planning Risk Analysis (APRA) tool was developed to meet this need. The method includes a list of 59 risk elements with detailed descriptions covering the work that needs to be done by all major disciplines during transportation project development. The elements are weighted according to their relative importance to a project. Each element is assessed by the project team according to its level of definition, identifying the extent to which it is defined, and therefore its level of risk to the project. This method allows for determining the status of the project in terms of scope definition prior to letting.

Using the APRA to assess a project at important milestones during project development, the team can focus its efforts in identifying, monitoring, and controlling the risks as well as developing risk mitigation plans. This paper reports on the development and testing of the APRA during an extensive, two-year project that involved the participation of 83 experts and 15 projects totaling more than 436 million dollars. Guidance on the method's use, the potential benefits, and its extensibility will also be presented.


Session 1.5b
Moderator: Keith Molenaar

James Palmer, Hugh Caspe and Simon Fricker; Minimizing Risk Inherent in Tunnel Projects

Whether they involve tunneling underground, through rock or under water, tunnel projects are among the most fascinating - and inherently risky - types of construction projects. While geotechnical investigations attempt to define the ground conditions before tunneling starts, there are good chances some critical characteristics will not be found until the actual tunneling encounters it. Responses to those surprise ground conditions are limited by the nature of tunneling. This problem is complicated by the owner normally not having the same appetite for risk as the contractor so their views of risk planning are very different. Those challenges as well as the ones normally encountered in large heavy construction, need to be managed in a highly structured way starting in preliminary engineering (PE) to avoid nasty budget surprises later.

Risk Management has become the tool of Choice for large complex heavy construction. It can be particularly effective in tunnel projects since the risk sharing between the owner and the contractor is a major driver in the success of the project. It is, however, only a tool and cannot replace effective design, scheduling and estimating for setting the job up right. Nor can it replace strong project controls and team communication when executing the job. The tool also loses effectiveness if, like the program schedule, it is not used to manage the job.

The success of a rail tunnel project depends on fundamental skills and knowledge to be designed, priced, contracted and managed effectively. That success can be reinforced dramatically by integrating a risk strategy into the project at PE. This focuses the Team on those things that are most likely to hurt the project and communicates actions to manage those things. The objective is to motivate the team to commit to both facets, not one at the expense of the other.

Eul-Bum Lee, Nadarajah Sivaneswaran and John Harvey; CA4PRS: A Decision-support Tool for Rapid Highway Renewal Projects

Transportation agencies are increasingly shifting their focus from constructing new highways to rehabilitating existing facilities. Because highway rehabilitation projects often cause congestion, safety problems and limited access for road users, agencies face a challenge in finding economical ways to renew deteriorating roadways in metropolitan areas. This paper describes one of the innovations in the efforts to reduce construction time and its impact on traffic, the CA4PRS (Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies) software, developed under a FHWA-pooled fund sponsorship and recently endorsed by the agency as one of new market-ready technologies and innovations tools.

The CA4PRS software described herein is a decision-support tool for transportation agencies that helps in their selection of more effective and economical strategies for highway rehabilitation projects. The Scheduling Module that estimates construction duration in the recent CA4PRS upgrade incorporates a new Traffic Module that quantifies the impact of lane closures on the traveling public. CA4PRS yields added benefits when it is integrated with traffic simulations to quantify the impact of a work zone on the entire highway network.

Since 1999, the capabilities of CA4PRS have been validated on several major highway rehabilitation projects in California, Washington, and Minnesota, including the I-10 Pomona Project, the I-710 Long Beach Project, the I-5 Seattle Project, and I-494 St. Paul Project, respectively. CA4PRS recently played a crucial role in the rehabilitation of a I-15 near Devore, California, with two continuous closures (nine-day, non-stop construction), helping to save US$6 million in agency cost and to reduce road user delay costs by US$2 million.

David Sillars, "Risk Management from a Transit Perspective"

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has in recent years undertaken a revision to its approach toward cost and schedule risk management. The FTA methods differ from other risk methods, including the approach currently under discussion among the various Departments of Transportation (DOTs) for their highway projects. The presentation discusses the concepts behind the FTA's risk management process and some of the differences and similarities with the highway-oriented risk management programs.



2.0 Track 2: Controlling Projects
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2.1 Quality Systems
Session Leaders 2.1a: Tucker F, John S. Tim Aschenbrener, Bob Burns, Katherine H
Session Leaders 2.1b: Tucker F, John S, Tim Aschenbrener, Bob Burns, Katherine H
Session Leaders 2.1c: Kris B, John Smythe, Tim Aschenbrener, Bob Burns, Katherine H

Emerging Quality Systems

This session will highlight proven quality systems that are being used successfully by construction companies in the US and abroad. The benefits of these quality systems will be presented, including the impacts on product costs, market share, and business relationships between owners, contractors and consultants. The challenges of adopting the necessary culture for effective use of these systems will also be addressed. Formal quality systems, such as ISO 9001 and the US Army Corps of Engineers, will be compared to conventional owner inspection and acceptance programs. Lessons learned and best practices by companies that have implemented quality systems will be shared.


Session 2.1a
Moderator: Bob Burns

Douglas Gransberg and Keith Molenaar; Quality Management Organizations for Design-Build Transportation Projects

This paper reports the results for various options that owners can use to structure their design-build (DB) quality management organizations that spring from a general survey on DB quality management provided by 76 responses from 47 states conducted as a part of NCHRP Synthesis 38-01: Quality Assurance in DB Projects. A content analysis of DB solicitation documents from projects with a total contract value of over $11.5 billion from 26 transportation agencies across the country and a content analysis of DB policy documents from 17 states were also conducted.

The study developed a new QA spectrum and a framework that generalizes the various options for assigning traditional QA responsibilities on DB transportation projects. The paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of several commonly used QA organizations and recommends that the owner carefully consider the quality management needs of each project while developing the project's specific QA organization. It also recommends that specific design and construction QA/QC responsibilities be clearly articulated in the DB project solicitation documents to ensure that the competing design-builders propose quality management programs that are responsive to a given owner and project's needs. Finally, the paper identifies a number of DB QA best practices that were found in the research.

Matthew McDole and Neil Thomson; Quality through Design/Build - Experience from the E-470 Toll Road

E-470 is a 4-lane, controlled access, 47-mile tollway which roughly forms the eastern half of a circular beltway around the Denver Metropolitan area. All but the first 5 miles of E-470 were developed through two design/build contracts. Subsequently, a third design/build contract provided major improvements at the interchange with I-70.

Through lessons learned, the Authority's Quality System on Design/Build contracts improved with experience. In the first contract, the design builder was allowed to structure the QC organization unfettered and QC reported to the Construction Superintendent. This led to conflicts between QC and production and stimulated improvements in the second design/build contract. These were achieved through strengthening the quality control requirements, the Contractor's QC program, the Owner's QA organization and improving partnering.

In the second contract, QC was required to be managed by a registered professional engineer independent of the Design/Build Contractor's production arm and reporting to the Contractor's Project Director. Also, as a member of the Design/Build Contractor's team, an independent engineering firm was required to verify and certify project quality. This Independent Quality Verification (IQV) worked in an integrated fashion on the project team with the Contractor's QC & the Authority's QA demonstrating effective partnering and achieving a quality project. On the third design/build contract, minor improvements in the Quality program further developed an effective Design/Build Quality program.

David Brown; Avoiding Pitfalls When Establishing Quality Oversight Programs

With alternative delivery methods like Design-Build and P3 Concessionaire Agreements becoming more readily available as options for transportation agencies, staffs tasked with the overseeing of these projects can benefit from hearing firsthand experience. When developing a quality oversight program, there is no one size fits all approach. Every owner expects to select the best team and have the best oversight staff on each project.

Reality is that this is not always the case. There are a number of key factors that need to be considered and addressed within a project specific quality oversight program. These factors include such things as:

The presenter draws upon experiences gained in working with owners from multiple states, setting up and deploying quality oversight programs on a variety of project delivery models and sizes.

Session 2.1b
Moderator: Tucker Ferguson
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Raymond Crawford and Charles (Pete) Hunter; Construction Quality Manager Body of Knowledge

While the industry has its up and down sides, there are numerous factors which make it unique and challenging. Among the challenges are factors which affect the successful application of construction quality management at the project level.

To provide continued success in implementing known quality management principles, the construction industry and its customers will benefit the industry by addressing the knowledge level and skill-set expected of the project assigned Construction Quality Manager. Thus, in an effort to advance this success and respond to industry's needs, we have collectively pooled our knowledge and experiences relative to Construction Quality Management within this presentation.

The intent is to raise the overall general knowledge in the area of Construction Quality Management through a certification process using an accepted body of knowledge necessary for Quality managers assigned to construction projects. That is to acknowledge that as a discipline, the Construction Quality Manager will benefit self, customer and industry by achieving and possessing a prescribed level of knowledge and skill set.

Raymond Mabey and David Norman; Effecting Program Performance Improvements through Quality Management Oversight on the Oregon OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program

In 2004, The Oregon DOT (ODOT) contracted with a Program Management Consultant (PMC) to manage the $1.3 billion OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program (Program). ODOT also contracted with a Quality Management Oversight Consultant (Delcan Corporation - QMOC) to augment its oversight team.

This paper will examine the Quality Management Oversight (QMO) system currently being employed on this statewide Program, with a focus on the strategies designed to promote continuous improvement in the performance of both the Oregon DOT and the PMC. It will demonstrate how a small staff of trained QMO professionals is able to efficiently support and enhance the effectiveness of ODOT staff by providing a systematic approach using ISO 19011 based compliance auditing techniques on both end-product and processes. This oversight approach includes the analysis of data and the communication of results on a regular basis in order to provide assurance to ODOT that the PMC is performing in accordance with their contract and promote consistency on this statewide program.

How the consistent execution of audit protocols is critical to the QMO program success will be demonstrated. This will include fair and objective measures of performance against contract requirements. Also demonstrated will be the resulting performance improvements arising from informal trend analysis and early identification of systemic problems and opportunities for improvement.

The paper will address other critical activities undertaken, such as a prescribed schedule of management assessments, annual internal best practices audits, and quarterly management meetings, to promote continuous improvement of the QMO system.

John Baranzelli; ISO 9001:2000 Registration in the Transportation Construction Industry

Many states are struggling with serious budgetary shortfalls and have been forced to cut back staffing levels in an attempt to reduce expenditures. As a result, many government functions are now being outsourced and oversight of critical activities has been reduced. At the same time, many state transportation agencies are struggling with runaway cost overruns and missed deadlines that reveal poor project management approaches. More effective systems are needed to control costs and optimize process performance. ISO 9001:2000 Registration of public sector organizations and their suppliers can be an effective way to meet this growing challenge and ensure that each taxpayer dollar is utilized in the most efficient manner possible.

In 2006, the Illinois Department of Transportation achieved ISO 9001:2000 Registration for all processes involved in the Planning, Design and Construction of Road and Bridge Improvements for the Central Administrative Office and Regional District Six - both headquartered in Springfield, Illinois.

This paper will explain the benefits and unique challenges involved in registering transportation construction organizations to the ISO 9001:2000 Standard. The eight quality management principles of ISO 9000:2005 will be explained along with a discussion of how each principle was adopted at IDOT in order to meet the intent of the ISO 9001:2000 Standard requirements. This paper will also provide some statistics to demonstrate the large potential market for ISO 9001:2000 consulting and registration services for government organizations and their suppliers. Finally, this paper will provide some keys to success in pursing ISO 9001:2000 Registration of transportation construction organizations.

Session 2.1c
Moderator: Kris Betty
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Ray Brown; Corps of Engineers QC/QA Procedures for Airfield Pavements

The Corps of Engineers has been using the QC/QA system of Construction Management for approximately 50 years. This paper will provide a short history of the QC/QA procedures by the Corps along with a presentation of the present procedures being used in some detail. The paper will discuss things that seem to work well and areas that appear to have problems. The system generally provides a technique that works well if implemented correctly but can have problems when not properly implemented.

When the procedure first began emphasis was on the government performing the QA testing. As time has progressed more and more of the work has been contracted out and in many cases the contractors results are used for QA. This has slowly resulted in loss of some expertise within the Corps and efforts are underway to improve this problem.

Katherine Holtz; Developing a Materials Acceptance Program for Alternative Delivery Projects to meet FHWA 23CFR 637 requirements

Title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 637 (23 CFR 637), requires State agencies to have an approved Quality Assurance (QA) Program for materials. The regulations provide flexibility by allowing the use of contractor test results in the overall Agency acceptance decision.

According to a recent study of 60 Design Build RFP's completed by University of Oklahoma Professor Douglas Gransberg, 23 (38%) of the documents reviewed did not include language to clearly assign Quality Assurance responsibilities. Only 4 (7%) of the documents had specific language that described the responsibilities for each of the elements of a QA Program.

Experience gained on a number of recent Design Build projects demonstrates that many of the QA programs break down for two key reasons: 1) improper or inadequate planning of sampling approaches and 2) not setting up the program to be able to identify appropriate verification data for analysis purposes.

This presentation will depict the key elements of an effective Quality Assurance Program applied to an example project. The presentation will detail the practical mechanics of setting up the QA program, processes and procedures. The resulting program will fully meet the requirements of 23 CFR 637 and Technical Advisory T 6120.3. Demonstrating how the Contractor generated Test Results can confidently be the basis for material Acceptance Decisions, This will not be a detailed statistics presentation, but more a practical method of demonstrating how to meet the FHWA requirements.

Bob Burns; Quality Documentation using SharePoint

A presentation on the Quality System benefits of SharePoint to DOT's, Consultant Engineers and Contractors to enable the planning, design and construction administration to be reviewed by all the stakeholders during project development though construction. During construction standard DOT quality forms for inspection, testing and materials acceptance are collected and analyzed for compliance to contract requirements of frequency of testing, reports for traffic control, environmental and material certifications. SharePoint is flexible to match forms prepared by DOT's on a Web based system accessible to headquarters personnel to respond quickly to shop drawings and request for information from the field. One system to review all quality documentation and progress will be discussed.

2.2 Contractor Qualifications
Moderator: Sid Scott
Session Leaders: Sid Scott, Brian Blanchard, and Richard Wagman
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Contractor Qualifications

Contractor pre-qualification or selection based on qualifications is not new to public sector construction contracts. Bidding requirements for highway construction include provisions to determine a bidder's responsibility to perform the work or, as an option, to require pre-qualification of the bidder in advance of the letting. Selection is typically based on price and financial ability. However, public owners have expressed long-standing concerns that selection based on price only, while promoting competition and a level playing field, may not result in the best value for dollars expended or the best performance during and after construction.

These concerns have led to the incorporation of quality-based "factors" to determine responsibility under a sealed bidding process or to evaluate proposers under best-value procurement. Additionally, public owners are exploring certification history and licensing for construction management to ensure that they are getting qualified construction practitioners. This session will explore the state of practice of contractor qualification including pre-qualification initiatives, alternative selection processes, certification, and licensing for fee-based CM.

It will present basic concepts, lessons-learned, case studies, and share and contrast the perspectives of transportation owners and the industry on these emerging topics. The private sector contracting community has been very concerned and sometimes resistant to this movement because they fear that the evaluation and selection process may not be fair and objective and that it would become too "politicized".

John Unbewust, Glenn Cheek and Michelle Reddin; Building Success and Improving Quality through a Contractor Prequalification Program

Today, transportation agencies must evaluate all aspects of their procurement process to ensure successful project delivery. Used judiciously, a Contractor Prequalification Program can help ensure that contracting firms are adequately equipped to deliver projects successfully and bring about long term improvement in overall quality at the program level.

The purpose of a Contractor Prequalification Program is to ensure that contractors awarded work have the necessary resources, skills and capabilities to successfully complete the project contracted. This presentation explores the viability of implementing a Contractor Prequalification Program and addresses the related expectations and concerns from both the owner's and contractor's perspective. Developing a program in a manner that protects the owner's interests and helps ensure successful projects, while not placing unnecessary burdens or restrictions on the prospective contractor, requires careful consideration and planning.

This presentation will review best practices among various DOTs around the country including examples and descriptions of key elements from successful programs. The key considerations in developing and implementing a successful prequalification program will be discussed, including legislative authority, outreach and building consensus, confidentiality, establishing criteria, the prequalification process, evaluation and rating, administration, methods for dealing with unsatisfactory evaluations and performance, and the importance of providing mechanisms for project evaluations, contractor feedback and appeals.

David Sadler; "Florida Department of Transportation Prequalification System"

The Florida DOT has one of the most innovative prequalification systems in the country. This presentation will describe the prequalification process and discuss lessons learned.

Douglas Gransberg, NCHRP Synthesis 39-04: Performance Based Contractor Prequalification

The objective of NCHRP Synthesis 39-04 is to identify and synthesize current contractor performance based prequalification practices based on construction quality, timely performance, safety record, and other criteria. Performance based contractor prequalification seeks to go beyond the financial prequalification provided by the surety industry when it issues a bond in conjunction with a public transportation project and includes a contractor's performance record in the prequalification process. Currently, a contractor with a marginal track record but the same level of financial assets as another contractor with a record of exemplary performance will receive roughly the same bonding capacity, and hence the same opportunity to bid.

This creates a situation where the agency is in effect subsidizing marginal performance, which in turn reduces the incentive for top performers to continue to superior performance. The study found that many of the current performance based contractor prequalification programs result in an adjustment to a contractor's bidding capacity. These create a disincentive to marginal work by reducing the total amount of work a contractor can compete for if its performance is not satisfactory.

Ontario has replaced performance bonds with a very rigorous form of performance based contractor prequalification which saves the province around CDN$70 million annually on bond costs. Thus the study concluded that a system could be devised to reward contractors with good performance records by adjusting/reducing the percentage of the contract amount that they have to bond. Furthermore, the marginal contractor's "quality subsidy" would be offset by the requirement to fully bond the project.


2.3 Cost Escalation and Containment
Moderator: Rich Juliano
Session Leaders: Session Leaders: Rich Juliano, Brian Blanchard, Gerald Yakowenko
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Cost Escalation and Containment

This session will look at initiatives towards identifying and managing the factors that influence highway project costs. With the recent cost escalation of construction projects, cost reduction strategies have been developed to assist owners with managing these cost increases. Some of these strategies include design flexibility, such as designing projects with bid options which allow the owner to remove components of work to stay under budget. Some states use forecasting techniques to mitigate rises in prices, indexes to lower the contractor's risk, strategies to increase competition, etc. Various strategies to deal with cost escalation will be explained during this session.

Valerie Seidel, Mark Schneider and Paul Yacobellis; Highway Construction Materials: 5 Year Cost Outlook based on Florida DOT's 14 Year Analysis

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) initiated research to strategically assess opportunities and risks in the highway construction materials marketplace - specifically cement, asphalt and steel. As with most agencies dealing with construction costs, FDOT faced unusual circumstances during the period of 2004-2006 in these materials' markets, which had been relatively predictable for decades. In some markets the materials became unavailable or unaffordable, causing project delays and cancellations. Florida's materials markets represent a microcosm of national issues: environmental and land use conflicts, shipping and distribution constraints, international competition and housing market vulnerability were all magnified in the Florida supply chain.

This presentation focuses on:

The results of this study are used to forecast fluctuations in FDOT's materials costs over their 5 Year Work Plan. Hot mix asphalt, concrete and steel products are addressed in the presentation and include statewide and district level results.

Key findings for each material are summarized, including results of the statistical analysis, which complement the interviews, surveys and review of industry literature that were completed as part of this study.

Devanshu Pandit, Stuart Anderson, Ivan Damnjanovic and Ali Nejat; Assessment Of Strategies And Methods To Reduce Construction Costs While Maintaining Quality

In recent years, many state transportation agencies (STAs) have experienced a steady increase in construction cost. While some of this increase can be attributed to the increased in cost of fuel and other construction materials, large variations in the cost of bid items for different projects and among different STA districts/regions indicates that the problem is more complex. Hence, other less visible but equally important factors are influencing the cost of construction.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate those factors influencing cost of construction and identify strategic level methods that can reduce or contain construction cost without jeopardizing quality. More specifically, the goal of this paper is to present a set of guidelines that can help STAs reduce the cost of construction and control cost increases. In the context of this larger goal, the objectives of the paper are: 1) Identification of factors that affect increases in the cost of bid items and methods and strategies that can help reduce construction cost; 2) the development of recommendations that could result in cost reduction; and 3) the development of comprehensive guidelines on how to modify projects to reduce initial construction costs while maintaining equal or better performance.

Pramen Shrestha and David Shields; Effect of Design Cost on Highway Construction Project Performance

A project's design quality has a direct relationship with the project performance during the construction phase. The design quality is critical in the Design/Bid/Build project delivery system scenario, in which the construction contractor receives the detailed plans and specification from the engineer. Research has shown that the better the design quality of the project, the better the cost, schedule, change-order, and quality performance of the construction phase.

The design quality can be correlated to the number of hours or cost expended during design. However, increasing design cost does not always result in improved design quality. No research has been conducted to establish the correlation between the project's design cost of project and its construction phase project performance. This exploratory research examines the correlation between the design cost and construction phase project performance of highway projects.

Previous research has shown that there is a correlation between design fees and construction cost performance of highway projects. It was also shown that as the design fee decreases, the construction cost growth increases. The correlation was found to be higher in bridge projects, which seem to be more technically complex than highway projects.

Eleven highway projects with costs ranging between $35 million to $290 million and totaling $1.5 billion were analyzed. The degree of relationship between design cost and the construction phase's cost, schedule, change-order, and quality performance of the projects is presented.

Rich Juliano, "Status of Cost Adjustment Provisions for Highway Commodities"

This presentation will briefly discuss ARBTA's findings on the use of cost adjustment provisions across the US. It will provide a current state of practice in adjustment provisions for major commodities.


2.4 Construction Performance Specifications
Moderator: Ted Ferragut
Session Leaders: Sid Scott and Ted Ferragut
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"Tell me what you want, not how to do the work!" This cry for contractor freedom has been around for years, but in an industry that is heaped in method specification history, this is not generally the case. But of course, the contractor industry is not a monolith. Many contractors simply want to provide the product as specified and walk away from the project when complete.

Today, transportation agencies must evaluate the very nature of the procurement process for products and services and must describe what they want in a different way. Owner skills have changed, and the need for innovation and creativity in the construction process must include contractors and suppliers. From asset management to performance-based maintenance, design-build, performance warranties, public-private partnerships and beyond, highway agencies are looking for innovative ways to deliver highway products in partnership with contractors, suppliers, and designers. Some U.S. agencies are gaining experience with performance specifications through warranty, maintenance, design-build, and PPP contracts. This session will focus on an overview of the situation plus several emerging ideas worth your consideration.

Ted Ferragut; Performance Specifications - When and How to Use for your Contract Type

Current performance specification initiatives aim to develop rational performance measurement frameworks and incentive mechanisms for different contract types. This presentation explores and contrasts the viability of implementing performance specifications for different contract types. The author will address how performance expectations and risks are managed in the specifications for construction, maintenance, operations, and at turnback to the owner agency.

Jim Katsafanas; "Performance Specification for Traffic Management"

This session will contain a review of traffic management and work zone traffic control and a framework for developing future specification. In design-build projects, for example, a design-build team will generally have to identify ways they will address traffic management and work zone traffic controls throughout the life of the project. In some cases, these promises become part of the contract. The author will address ways to look at overall contractor traffic management and ways to measure that performance.

Dave Merritt; "Status and Options for Alternative Pavement Type Bidding"

Pavements may cost anywhere from 25-50% of major capital projects. Historically, the owner has designated the pavement type selection, and even the design details. Today, however, with prices very competitive between asphalt and concrete, DOTs are looking at ways to allow the contractor to select and build a pavement type that meets long term performance requirements. This approach has proven beneficial as a way to not only save money, but to allow a contractor to build sections they have experience with and that will better meet performance requirements.


2.5 Project Controls
Session Leaders 2.5a: Bob Burns and Sid Scott
Session Leaders 2.5b: Sid Scott and Bob Burns
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Understanding Project Control

Project controls for construction projects encompass a broad spectrum of tools for managing cost, schedule, and quality. It is an evolving science driven in part by increasingly powerful software, and the need for better reporting and forecasting on large projects and programs. One of the primary goals of electronic project controls is to capture all the data in digital format to allow ease in remote auditing, quality control and remote access to management staff. Test results can be tracked with daily diaries and delivery of materials.

Trends in quality can be reviewed using digital information across multiple projects over time. With these advancements in controls, Owners and Project Managers are often faced with difficult decisions about what level of control is needed, what tools are useful and what aren't, whether software functions should be integrated, and what level of investment and training is needed to effectively manage a project. In a joint industry/owner session, perspectives will be shared regarding the pros and cons of CPM scheduling software, and using cost-loaded schedules as a management tool.


Session 2.5a
Moderator: Stuart Anderson
Tom Wiener and Timothy Malagon; Project Controls for the Rebuilding of the I-35W Bridge Collapse

A project of this magnitude and economic impact require a Project Controls system that is both robust and flexible. This project utilizes relatively new technologies to access a live collaborative Project Control database called TRACSepm. TRACSepm is a sophisticated project controls system which strengths draw from past project experience of major construction projects, and prototype programming techniques. This programming technique allows the team to add features, or make changes to the program to accommodate the fast pace construction.

The new I-35W bridge replaces the bridge that collapsed on Aug. 1 2007. It is a Design-Build project scheduled to be complete in 437 days. This bridge carried more than 140,000 vehicles a day, and the loss of the bridge significantly impacted the Minnesota economy, costing $400,000 per day. Analysis by DEED and Mn/DOT estimate the loss to Minnesota's economy - at about $17 million in 2007 and $43 million in 2008. This economic loss has the potential to cost the state jobs throughout the economy.

Features of the new bridge include: 100-year life span, 10 lanes of traffic, 189 feet wide, Light Rail ready, and designed to be aesthetically pleasing.

Learn how Mn/DOT utilizes advanced Project Controls methods in conjunction with advanced Project Controls software to manage: payment of a cost/resource loaded schedule; as-built dates; material testing compliance; QC/QA inspections; rolling punch-lists; cash flow projections; and very sophisticated must-see document control procedures.

Larry Myers; The Effective Use of the Project Schedule as a Construction Management Tool

While clients and contractors try to work together on projects, differing priorities can frequently drive a wedge between them. Both side view success differently, so they approach the project with different objectives. An effective project controls process can successfully bridge this gap between client and contractor. UDOT has developed such a program using the project schedule is its cornerstone. The schedule is used to facilitate communication between all parties involved with the project; primarily the client, the prime contractor, and major subcontractors. This helps resolve issues quickly with the minimum amount of impact to the project.

UDOT project controls process includes five steps:

  1. The contractor develops a baseline schedule that complies with contract and represents how he bid the work.
  2. All parties keep accurate project documentation that correlates with the schedule.
  3. The contractor updates the project schedule regularly (weekly or monthly) to accurately reflect the project status.
  4. This is the most important step. Using the schedule as a communication tool all major parties to the project sit down regularly after the project schedule update is received to formally review the status of the project. Under the client's direction the schedule is reviewed to:
    • Identify deviation to the original plan
    • Identify the causes of the deviations
    • Identify the party responsible for the deviation
    • Identify the impacts of the deviations
    • And identify solutions to the problems that can best benefit all parties
  5. Resolve all issues in a timely manner.

UT DOT has been using this process on several projects to date with surprising success. Overall, we have been able to use the process to minimize project time and to cut cost. On one project alone we saved several million dollars as a direct result of this process.

This process has also received nation recognition. Primavera Systems, Inc., the world's leading project management software company, named the process one of their "Best Practices" in transportation construction management in 2007. Primavera showcased the process along with only two others in a series of seminars that were presented at dozens of locations in the United States and internationally. This process is still highlighted on Primavera's website as an example of excellent project controls.

In 2007, the process developed received a Constructech Vision Award. The Vision Award is a national award presented by Specialty Publishing Company to honor private companies and government entities that have successfully applied modern technology to their everyday business practices. UDOT was only one of two state departments of transportation that received the award.

This project controls process saves project time by fostering the effective use of the project schedule, identifies problems early so that they can be quickly resolved with the minimum amount of impact, and significantly reduces claims because it promotes teamwork on the project.

John Hildreth and Jonathan Drexler, "Plan Performance Index as a Measure of Schedule Deviation and Performance"

The schedule performance index (SPI) is used as a quantitative evaluation of project performance and is the ratio of the budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) to the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS). An SPI value less than one indicates a project is behind schedule, while a value greater than one indicates a project is ahead of schedule.

However, no consideration is given in calculating the SPI to whether the BCWS and BCWP values consist of the same work elements. The realities of construction often require deviation from the work plan and result in work performed out of sequence. As a result, often the BCWS and BCWP values are not comprised of the same work elements and the SPI may not provide an adequate measure of project performance.

The plan performance index (PPI) is an indicator of plan deviation and is a measure of the portion of scheduled work actually performed. The PPI is the ratio of BCWS to the budgeted cost of scheduled work performed (BCSWP). The PPI can be used in conjunction with the SPI to provide a more clear indication of actual project performance. The PPI concept is retrospectively applied to a transportation construction project.


Session 2.5b
Moderator: Sid Scott
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Mo Dichari; Constructing Context Sensitive Sustainable Solution (CS3) Bridges in the State of Oregon

Oregon OTIA III Program CS3 approach for the replacement and repair of hundred of aging bridges. Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners (OBDP), a joint venture of HDR and Fluor, is under contract to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and its Highway Division to accelerate the completion and manage the design and self perform the Construction Engineering and Inspecting the replacement and repair of hundreds of aging bridges in the state of Oregon along the state interstate system and primary corridors

The OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program is part of the Oregon Department of Transportation's 10-year, $3 billion Oregon Transportation Investment Act (OTIA) program. During the next decade, OTIA funds will repair or replace hundreds of bridges, pave and maintain city and county roads, improve and expand interchanges, add new capacity to Oregon's highway system, and remove freight bottlenecks statewide.

OTIA III Program Goals

The objective of this presentation is to share with the industry the means and methods Oregon bridge delivery partners deployed to prioritize the construction time lines for the state of Oregon's interstate system to minimize the impact to the state-wide mobility and the construction practices implemented to sustain a good relationship with the state and federal regulatory agencies for meeting the state programmatic performance standards.

W. D. Baldwin; Developing and Implementing Mobility Management in Oregon

The State of Oregon has made keeping traffic and freight moving during construction a top priority. This includes focus on the operational impact of construction as well as management of the physical restrictions caused by construction activities. This presentation will summarize the proactive approach used in Oregon to identify potential operational problems during the development of a project allowing operations and mobility to influence project scope, schedule, and design to minimize the impact to motorists during construction.

The task of statewide mobility management from an operational standpoint is broken down into corridors and segments. Delays are calculated and aggregated before and during construction. The results of the delay analysis may impact construction staging strategies as well as construction schedule. Key corridors were identified and broken into smaller segments. Thresholds for delays and travel times were established for these segments and are enforced 24/7/365.

From a physical restriction standpoint, mobility management requires a full understanding of the existing weight, width, height, and length restrictions for the entire roadway network and developing a broad understanding of the significance of each piece of the roadway puzzle. Coordination between projects spread throughout the state is necessary due to the presence of terrain that naturally limits viable detours or causes the potential for significant adverse travel that would result from closing off access at any point in the system.

This presentation will discuss the lessons learned throughout the process of developing and implementing a mobility management process in the State of Oregon.

Danny Kahler; Automated Development of As-Built Construction Schedules

As-built project schedules are necessary to close out construction projects, defend against disputes, and provide feedback to improve the estimates of future construction project schedules. However,the development of the as-built schedules is typically left until the end of the project, is often prepared with bias, and usually does not accurately represent the actual schedule performance of the project due to subjective and outdated information. This session will present a method of automatically building as-built construction project schedules from the traditional daily inspection reports that almost all transportation agencies use. The advantages of this method are: 1) Development of the as-built schedule does not add any additional workload to the project staff, since it is built from data that is already collected by inspectors and project engineers; 2) Multiple stops and starts of project activities can be captured, as well as daily production rates; 3) The actual progress of schedule activities are automatically updated based on cost-loaded work or pay items with quantities and unit prices; 4) inspectors and project engineers become immersed in the CPM schedule as a part of their daily routine, improving the control of the project; 5) the information that builds the schedule is current and objective.


2.6 Technical Advancement
Session Leaders 2.6a: John Morse and Gene Hoelker
Session Leaders 2.6b: Gene Hoelker and John Morse
Session Leaders 2.6c: Chris Schneider
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Promoting Emerging Technologies and Their Impact on Construction Management Construction Management can be impacted appreciably by new and innovative technology, and can fundamentally change the way business is done. For example, webbased document controls such as AASHTO SiteManager, intelligent construction systems that integrate inspection with documentation, wireless communication that expedites documentation review and approval and communication tools that insure work zones and closures can be communicated with the public using 511 technologies. These and many more will be introduced over the next decade. This session will focus on a look at today, plus a look into that future. Get prepared!


Session 2.6a
Moderator: Gene Hoelker

Arun Shirole' and Stuart Chen; BrIM : An Innovative Approach to Managing Bridge Project Delivery

Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) is increasingly about information management. The information to be managed is also of various types: financial, personnel, equipment, contractual, etc. A significant portion of that information is directly associated with the entity that is being constructed. In an increasingly "flat" world [Friedman 2007], leveraging "upstream" design information for "downstream" fabrication and erection/construction engineering and management purposes requires the utilization of improved software interoperabilities.

The bridge engineering design and construction component of highway and heavy construction provides an important setting for the exploration of such software interoperabilities in support of accelerated facility construction and delivery. Advances in automation and communication technologies in recent years have been significant, but they have not yet been fully adapted and integrated with each other and then deployed to accommodate the unique requirements of the bridge construction engineering and management enterprise. This lack of deployment may be due in part to the lack of standards for represention and electronic exchange of Bridge Information Modeling (BrIM) data for the bridge lifecycle.

Nonproprietary industry standards for the representation and exchange of lifecycle bridge data do not exist at this time. This paper and presentation will describe and demonstrate some of the potential benefits of leveraging bridge data from the design stage downstream into fabrication and construction aspects of the lifecycle. With such an approach, e.g., bridge model data used for initial estimating can be leveraged for material procurement and tracking including material management on-site, erection engineering, progress payments, and various project management functions. The intent is to demonstrate the viability of integrated bridge project delivery and life cycle management via a prototype integrated system that illustrates representative data exchanges and applications throughout the bridge life cycle.

This paper and presentation thus will provide an important update on current FHWA - funded research on Integrated Bridge Project Delivery and Life Cycle Management (Contract DTFH61-06-D-00037) being conducted by the authors under FHWA sponsorship with particular focus on construction engineering and management aspects of the overall bridge life cycle. Anticipated benefits include acceleration of bridge design and construction delivery, as well as leveraging that design-and-construction stage bridge data to enhance life-cycle management of the as-built bridge.

Ralph D. Ellis, Marc Hoit and Eric Forcael; Integration of Information in Bridge Engineering for creating a Database Interchange for Bridge Designers based on the analysis and study of the information obtained from the FDOT

During the last years, the Building Information Modeling has been used as a new tool to integrate the areas of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC Modeling). This tool has motivated a deep change in the philosophy of developing and managing projects because, nowadays, it is not enough to draw good plans and to create detailed technical specifications; now, it is necessary to integrate every part of a project as a whole.

Currently, several software packages have been developed in order to create more and better models of information, particularly in structural design of bridges. However, valuable time is wasted trying to gather the information needed to the preliminary design. Much of the information needed to begin the designing and modeling process is spread around and most of the bridge designers spend too much time gathering all the information before they can properly make a decision related to the type of bridge that they will design.

Therefore, the problem is not related to either a software package or a bridge design criteria. The dilemma is to develop an effective way to have access to the information in the first step of the designing and modeling process faster and more efficiently.

This research surveys the information needed for designing a bridge and then develops a schema to organize and standardize this information. This information is then classified into a database and utilized to estimate the optimal sizes of spans of bridges, to obtain a lower cost and, consequently, an optimal type of bridge to be designed. Finally, with the information schema proposed a Data Interchange for Bridge Designers (DIBD) is developed including the use of XML. The first step of this DIBD will be implemented in the State of Florida as a basis of a future expansion to all US and then to the world.

Kelly Strong and Manop Kaewmoracharoen; Creating 3D Models from 2D Documents to Simulate Work Zone Constraints: A Test of Perceived Benefit to Cost

As part of a feasibility study of using visualization techniques to facilitate construction work zone efficiency, safety and mobility, a three dimensional model was created from two dimensional design drawings for a bridge replacement project on an urban interstate rehabilitation project.

The research study examined 1) compatibility of Microstation, a common 2D civil design programs, with emerging 3D and 4D modeling software; 2) interoperability issues among the various project partners, including designers, governmental agencies, contractors, and vendors; 3) incremental labor hours required to produce 3D models from 2D drawings and other estimated incremental costs; and 4) the perceived benefits of the 3D model.

Preliminary results suggest that the perceived benefit in reducing construction conflicts, improving workzone safety and mobility, and integrating the service supply chain do not exceed the resource commitment to create such models. Organizational and structural barriers to adoption of construction modeling systems on transportation projects appear to be more difficult to overcome that technological barriers.


Session 2.6b
Moderator: John Morse
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Francisco Cordova and Ioannis Brilakis; Vision Tracking at Egnatia Odos Motorway: A Case Study

Tracking applications are a powerful project control tool for their ability to provide real-time, on-site information. They can be used for progress monitoring, productivity measurements and activity sequence analysis. However, on-site tracking is difficult due to the large amounts of items that are present and need to be tracked (up to thousands of objects) and the amount of occlusions and obstructions present.

This case study presents the application of a novel vision based tracking methodology at the Egnatia Odos Motorway in Thessaloniki, Greece. Egnatia Odos is a motorway that connects the Adriatic countries with the Aegean Sea. This is a 670 km highway project, with 1650 major bridges, 74 tunnels and 50 road interchanges. Its complex construction scenario serves as an ideal multi-site test bed for validating construction site tracking methods.

The vision based approach provides an unobtrusive, inexpensive way of effectively identifying and tracking the 3D location of entities. Under this method, video-streams are initially collected from a set of self-calibrated, outdoor video cameras that are placed at the project site. The user can observe the site in real time and can locate and track entities from different locations across the entire site. Additionally, the system records the tracking information, including the position per time, path, speed and acceleration vectors of the tracked entity.

Egnatia Odos provides the adequate environment for simultaneously tracking large quantities and varieties of items; its large scale construction sites are perfectly suited for validating the method in high traffic real scenarios on Greece's mountainous terrain.

Lance A. Brown; Automated Machine Guidance Systems

The presentation will cover types of automated machine guidance systems and the value they bring to all involved. This session will highlight primarily GPS, Laser Augmented GPS and Universal Tracking Systems. Lance will discuss which systems work best in what environments and the types of data required to enable Automated Machine Guidance Systems to be used effectively. The presentation will demonstrate the benefits these systems provide in controlling operations and documenting construction operations. A time-line comparison will be made for jobs built using conventional methods of construction to those built using Automated Machine Guidance systems.


Session 2.6c
Moderator: Chris Schneider

John Smythe, Marshall Hill, John Bowman, and Tucker Ferguson; Accelerated Construction Technology Transfer - How ACTT Fits the "New Definition of Construction Management"

In recent years a lot has been said about the term "Get in, Stay in (and get it done right), Get out, and Stay out". The Accelerated Construction Technology Transfer (ACTT) program focuses on achieving this objective. Using national transportation leaders to identify strategic planning goals, innovative techniques, and newer technologies, the ACTT process has proven to be a viable approach to addressing the construction time and traffic congestion concerns of today's large, complex multi-phase projects. Recognizing the value of and fully supporting the ACTT program, the FHWA and the AASHTO's Transportation Implementation Group (TIG) joined forces to advocate and promote the accelerated construction approach.

This session will provide a discussion of how ACTT fits into the new definition for construction management. It will provide experiences and lessons learned from the more than 25 ACTT workshops. Case studies for the Louisiana I-20 West Monroe Project and the Oklahoma City I-40 Crosstown will be presented. Time will also be provided for a panel discussion looking towards the future of the ACTT program.



3.0 Track 3: Constructing Projects
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3.1 Highways for Life
Moderator: Mark Robison
Session Leaders: Jerry Porter and Bob Burns

Performance contracting is a results-oriented approach that allows transportation agencies to define a desired project outcome while allowing the contractor to determine how to accomplish the work to meet quality, functional, and cost goals that can be evaluated using clear, observable performance measures.

In an effort to facilitate implementation of performance contracting for construction (PCfC), FHWA developed a draft Implementation Framework designed to help agencies jump-start the use of this concept in alternative contracting. The PCfC framework was designed as a reference guide to provide the states with processes and materials that can be used in development of a performance contract solicitation package. The framework includes processes and sample materials for project selection, performance goals, measurement methodologies, award processes and information on the SEP-14 program.

Mark Robinson, Tom Fudaly, Jack Hofweber, Vance Johnson, and Lonnie Watkins; Performance Contracting for Construction and Maintenance: "WHAT not HOW"

This session is sponsored by the FHWA Highways for LIFE program and the Office of Construction and System Preservation. It will be begin by over viewing the Performance Contracting for Construction Framework (PCfC). The Michigan DOT (MDOT) was the first pilot project that used the PCfC implementation framework. Using the workshop and PCfC framework, MDOT developed a performance contract proposal for solicitation of its M115 Project. The project consists of reconstruction of approximately 5 1/2 miles of roadway and replacement of two bridges. The project was advertised in October 2007, and project award was made in January 2008. The proposed session will be a panel discussion of MDOT's M115 Project. The session will include an overview presentation of the PCfC framework, a discussion of the DOT's experience and lessons learned in establishing project performance goals and measures, the formation of the PCfC solicitation package, the administration of the construction contract and the contractor's perspective in constructing the project.

The final portion of this session will be a discussion of the successes, challenges, and lessons learned on performance-based contracting for maintenance. Perspectives from both the North Carolina DOT and The Association for the Management and Operations of Transportation Infrastructure Assets (AMOTIA) will be presented in a panel discussion format.


3.2 Performance Requirements
Moderator: Sid Scott
Session Leaders #3.2: Sid Scott and Mary Huie
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Future of Specifications - Aiming for Performance

Historically, the US highway community has used method oriented specifications as the communications mechanism between the owner and the contractor. The contractor basically provides services and goods according to a prescriptive specification. In today's complex construction environment, however, owners are looking for more creativity and input from contractors that will allow for innovation, quicker construction, and longer life products. This has lead to a major movement towards performance specifications. Integrating performance specifications with new contracting techniques such as design build, best value, and PPP with financial involvement is currently changing the way we look at roles and responsibilities of each party. It also changes the risk and risk transfer appreciably.

Mehmet Ozbek and Jesus de la Garza; Development of Performance Warranties for Performance-Based Road Maintenance Contracts

Performance-based contracting in the transportation arena is a rather new concept which has a few applications in the United States. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has been one of the first state agencies to take the initiative of using a performance-based contract for the maintenance of a portion of its interstate highway system. This initiative led to the establishment of a contract between VDOT and a private contractor in 1996.

Just like performance-based contracting, the use of warranties in road construction contracts in the United States is quite a new concept, which mainly dates back to 1995. There are different views possessed by different parties about the possible outcomes of implementing warranties in road construction contracts.

This research first explores the benefits that would/may be gained by the incorporation of warranty clauses into performance-based road maintenance contracts, discusses the rationale behind developing warranty clauses for such contracts, and then develops a warranty clause template and proposes that it be used in the future performance-based road maintenance contracts issued by VDOT.

Deepak Sharma and Qingbin Cui; Big or Small, Does Warranty Contracting Warranties Equal Opportunity to All?

The need for continuously improving the performance of existing highway infrastructure has become one of the major concerns of the FHWA. To facilitate the rehabilitation and maintenance work, an innovative contract - "Warranty Contract" has been used by many state Departments of Transportation (DOTs). On one side the warranty contract addresses several key concerns of the DOTs but the contractors are still skeptical about their success in case of warranty contracts, especially when the warranty exceeds 5 years. Moreover the agencies and contracting industry question whether warranty contracts provide equal opportunity to small and big contractors.

This paper presents determinants of industrial acceptance of warranty contracts. The results are based on a survey conducted at the University of Alabama encompassing various types of contractors. Most importantly this paper discusses how the state DOTs can provide equal opportunity to small and big contractors under warranty contracting. Lessons learned and recommendations are made to the state highway agencies to promote wide acceptance of warranty contracts.

Sid Scott, "Guidelines for Pavement Warranties"

A national set of guidelines has resulted from a 2-year research for pavement warranties will be presented. The presentation will include a presentation of how pavement warranties were developed in Europe and evolved in the US.


3.3 Inspection
Session Leaders: Thomas Bohuslav and John Smythe
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Training the Inspection Work Force - Owners Session

Owners, including governmental entities, continuously seek ways to optimize the use of available staff. Numerous methods have been employed nationally and internationally including various quality assurance/quality control programs, increased contractor responsibility for quality and project management, training, mentoring, and certification programs, and various approaches to outsourcing. As these methods are employed, there remains a core functional responsibility to ensure quality performance levels and regulatory compliance is achieved. Maintaining competencies in these core functions, as well as developing expertise in the evolving discipline of construction management is a critical challenge faced by all stakeholders within the highway industry. This session is intended to focus on how transportation agencies are dealing with these challenges including discussion on implemented processes or evolving new techniques in various stages of implementation.


Session 3.3a
Moderator: Thomas Bohuslav

Cindy Menches, Carlos Caldas, Chelsea Cohen and Yetendra Jangid; Efficient Workload Reduction Strategies for Transportation Construction Inspection

In the past decade, the passage of two important transportation acts-the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the Safe Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)-resulted in an average state funding increase of more than 44% in transportation programs. These acts have made it possible for departments of transportation (DOTs) to fund and deliver numerous projects that otherwise would not have been possible.

While these acts provided much-needed funding, the growth in funding has caused an increase in construction inspection and testing workload without any additional growth in personnel to manage the added projects. Consequently, staffing constraints and a general personnel shortage are motivating DOTs to consider leveraging their workforce by outsourcing key quality control and quality assurance (QC/QA) activities that would traditionally be performed by in-house forces. Many states face significant workforce challenges and have implemented programs to reduce the inspection and testing workload.

These programs include delegating materials testing activities to contractors, hiring consultants to perform construction inspections, and requiring contractor personnel to be certified to perform specific operations. There is much to be learned from those state DOTs currently outsourcing activities. This study investigated workload reduction strategies for inspectors that have been implemented in various state DOTs. A synthesis of the best programs, procedures, policies, and documents that have been implemented was developed through this research, and those strategies that demonstrated the greatest potential for efficiently reducing the testing and inspection workload were identified.

Warren Roberts and Danny Kahler; Crosstraining Traditional Construction and Materials Engineers and Inspectors as Quality Auditors

In traditional Design-Bid-Build, engineers and inspectors focus primarily on the product being produced or constructed by the contractor. However, in Design-Build, or other innovative delivery projects such as Concessions, the State Departments of Transportation have to take a step beyond traditional quality acceptance of product to a higher-level oversight of both product and process.

To accomplish this goal, many States will find a need to cross-train its technical personnel in modern Quality Auditing. Quality Auditing is a mature practice area in other engineering fields such a manufacturing, aerospace, or automotive, but is recently showing up on transportation projects. In order to effectively practice the skills of Quality Auditing, as defined by professional organizations such as ASQ, personnel will need some type of formal training in Quality Auditing, otherwise the State Department of Transportation will just end up doing high-level inspection of product.

This session will present a case study of how the Missouri Department of Transportation cross-trained its personnel in Quality Auditing on the Kansas City Interstate Connections (kcICON) design-build project. MoDOT Engineers will explain the process through which they transformed the traditional product-focused thinking of technical personnel into a process-focused mindset.

Danny Garcia, Texas Department of Transportation Title - On-the-Job training Through Texas' Inspector Development Program and Mentoring

The Inspector Development Program (IDP) is comprised of formal and on-the-job training (OJT). The goal of the IDP is to improve the overall quality of construction on department contracts by:

The mentoring part of the IDP provides an emphasis of on-the-job development by identifying experienced mentors to provide informal, on-the-job training to less experienced inspection staff. Mentors are asked to look for opportunities to develop more inexperienced staff.


Session 3.3b
Moderator: John Smythe
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Robert Horan; Improving Construction Control and Documentation with Intelligent Compaction (85-Pres)

Intelligent Compaction (IC) is the compaction of road materials using rollers that are equipped with an in-situ measurement system and feedback control. Global Position System (GPS) based mapping is often included, and software is used to automate documentation of the results. Compaction is one of the more important processes in roadway construction to achieve material densities for adequate support and strength. Unlike conventional compaction, IC can ensure high quality and uniformity of pavement materials, which in turn better ensure long-lasting performance.

IC technologies will have significant impact on construction inspection, acceptance, and documentation. This paper describe the effort under Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) project "Accelerated Implementation of Intelligent Compaction Technology For Embankment Subgrade Soils, Aggregate Base, and Asphalt Pavement Materials" - a three-year study to evaluate and accelerate the implementation of IC technology for pavement materials from 2007 to 2010 , its initial findings and lessens learned to date.

Dave Merritt, Ted Ferragut and Robert Rasmussen; High-Speed Nondestructive Testing and Intelligent Construction Systems

Over the past 20+ years, society has experienced a wide array of technological advances, from the personal computer to the cell phone to wireless communications. The construction industry is now at the cusp of using many of these devices, albeit not in an integrated fashion. The Long-Term Plan for Concrete Pavement Research and Technology - The Concrete Pavement Road Map was published in September 2005. It identified Intelligent Construction Systems for Concrete Pavements as one of the key driving forces to improve concrete paving operations, accelerate and reduce costs for product inspection and acceptance, and feed quality data into pavement and asset management systems.

The technology advances will have significant impact on construction management systems of the future, impacting inspection, process control, documentation and retrieval, claims management, etc. This paper discusses the goals, objectives, and implementation activities of this technology, the role industry is playing, the systems under development, and the anticipated impact on construction management methods of the future.


3.4 Safety
Moderator: Bob Burns
Session Leaders: Bob Burns
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How to Manage Worker and Public Safety

This session will describe how safety management and planning are changing with the new definition of construction management. In particular, this session will discuss how safety roles change with alternative delivery methods. It will also discuss how safety should be addressed from the very beginning of project development, through integration into design, during the contract award phase and during construction.

David Dostaler; Health and Safety Options in a Design-Build Environment

This talk will focus on the safety differences on design-build and design-bid-build projects. The design-build delivery method offers many more options to provide world class safety performance than the traditional design-bid-build method. These options can improve safety performance of the workers and create a safer environment for the traveling public. Options ranging from pre-qualification of contractors to safety best practices will be discussed. Additional insight on how some world class contractors manage safety on design-build projects along with projects in European Countries will be provided.

Jimmie Hinze; Early Integration of Safety into Construction Projects

Construction worker safety is no longer solely an issue to be addressed during the construction phase of a project. For a project to be constructed with good safety performance, safety must be addressed from the very beginning of project development, through the design, during the contract award phase and during construction. It is particularly in the time before the construction phase begins that a concerted effort is to be made to ensure that safety is built into the project. In order for the project to begin safely, it is imperative that the design be prepared with due consideration given to construction worker safety. Designers have a moral and/or ethical obligation to address construction worker safety in their designs, but if this is not a view shared by designers then the facility owner can play a vital role in ensuring that the designers adequately address construction worker safety. The owners have other areas in which they can aggressively promote construction worker safety before construction work begins, namely by ensuring that contractors adhere to specified safety requirements. Owners can also select contractors on the basis of their safety credentials to further ensure project safety.

Matthew R. Hallowell, "Schedule-Based Safety Risk Management"

Firms with a strong safety record typically implement extensive safety programs that focus on reducing uncontrolled hazardous exposure and improving worker-hazard interactions during the construction phase. Recent research suggests that safety management techniques that intervene early in the project lifecycle are also effective. While several techniques such as designing for safety and constructability reviews have been investigated, few efforts have been made to integrate safety with scheduling. This presentation will show that safety risks can be quantified for specific construction activities or processes and linked to construction schedules to produce a plot of risk over time. This methodology will be described, illustrated, and validated using data collected in a recently-completed study. The presented schedule-based risk estimation technique may be used by construction managers to identify high risk work periods, to objectively evaluate the impact of schedule changes on expected risk levels, and to focus other safety management efforts. If implemented, this technique would effectively integrate safety management into the highway development process.


3.5 Recruiting and Training the Workforce
Moderator: John Smythe
Session leaders: John Smythe
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Recruiting, training and retraining of workers is one of the greatest challenges facing the construction industry today. Strategies to confront these critical workforce challenges are needed to ensure successful delivery of transportation projects in the future. This session will provide valuable information on strategies to address the shortage of construction workers and the increasing diversity within the workforce. A formal training program to develop effective project management skills will also be highlighted.

Jennifer Shane, Fernando Aveiga Edward Jaselskis; Improving Construction Workforce Productivity Through Multicultural Training

This paper explores the cultural, linguistic, and construction business challenges of the incoming Latino workforce to the transportation construction industry in Iowa-a direct result of globalization. It explores the problematic and the educational initiatives intended to improve the language and cultural awareness of this workforce to improve construction safety and productivity. Conflict theory is used to explain the differential effect of Latino and American workers productivity, safety behavior, and ability to communicate.

In addition, experimental design is applied testing the training methodology used for communication training. This paper concludes that the integration approach to training (one consisting on bilingual and multicultural components) decentralizes and increases the effectiveness and efficiency of the training under the current workforce composition of the construction industry.

Candace Blair Cronin; Addressing Transportation Construction Workforce Shortages

Hiring and recruitment of transportation construction workers has not kept pace with demand. Organizations must find a way to improve their workforce development initiatives both in terms of internal talent development and recruitment in the external labor market. One of the greatest challenges faced by transportation construction management companies is the lack of skilled workers available or interested. This presentation will focus on approaches these organizations can use to be effective, efficient and innovative in their workforce development practices.

We will discuss the processes by which organizations should determine the most appropriate direction for implementing specific initiatives whether they be in the area of recruitment, succession planning, development and training, restructuring of benefits or some combination of approaches. For example, we will outline the analysis organizations can conduct to identify their internal resources and minimize dependency on labor market availability.

We will also discuss the factors identified as important to the next generation of employees. For example, these factors include type of work and work setting, flexibility/autonomy, financial compensation/benefits, perceptions of recruitment process, advancement potential, level of similarity/fit, interest in additional training/education, and influence of parents, peers, and culture. Through this presentation, we will provide practical advice for recruiters and decision-makers as they revise procedures and policy to better attract, recruit, and retain transportation construction workers.

Jon Tapping, "Caltrans' Project Management Certificate Program for Transportation Professionals"

Project management is a highly desired skill-set in both the public and private sectors. This reality is equally clear for government agencies: projects must be completed on time and within budget as well as meeting quality standards and the agreed upon scope of work. Project management becomes increasingly complex as teams are geographically dispersed and substantial amounts of work are completed in a virtual office. Just as project management becomes more and more complex, so does the transportation industry.

As the population grows so does commute time, and citizen demand for improved roads. Working to improve mobility in California requires more skills than ever before because it isn't simply a matter of building safe roads and bridges; it's a matter of quality, safety, environmental impact, economic development, fiscal responsibility and a strong commitment to meeting the needs of a growing population. Project leaders in the transportation industry come from a variety of backgrounds and bring varying levels of experience to their projects and their positions.

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) recognizes that in order for any leader or team member to be successful, he or she must develop a solid understanding of the processes and knowledge areas that are common to all projects. In order to facilitate this understanding Caltrans partnered with the Sacramento State College of Continuing Education to develop the Project Management Certificate Program for Transportation Professionals.

This program is designed to give project managers the necessary skills to enhance their effectiveness through processes such as organizing, planning, scheduling, monitoring, analyzing and controlling a variety of tasks. The courses include both theoretical and practical problem solving approachs to project management within Caltrans and hands-on experience working through Caltrans case examples.

The Project Management Certificate Program for Transportation Professionals is comprised of 5 on-line courses and two on-ground courses. Real-world assignments and Caltrans case studies along with a theoretical and practical problem solving approach to project management will help participants understand the processes and knowledge areas that are common to all transportation industry projects.


3.6. Construction Feedback Systems
Moderator: Thomas Bohuslav
Session Leaders: Thomas Bohuslav, Steven DeWitt and Ken Leuderalbert
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The Role of Feedback Systems in Construction Management

This session will focus on the importance of feedback systems utilized during and after project construction in the overall project development cycle for future projects. Lessons learned from one project to the next, improvements in specifications and design details, and overall constructability approaches are only a few of the valuable feedback opportunities that exist. The session will also include a discussion of contractor assessments of owner design and contract management and inspection and assessments of contractors that are used to address bidding qualification.

Danny Shealy, Matt Lifsey and James Triplett, "The Impact of Prequalification of Contractors in South Carolina - Panel Discussion"

The South Carolina Department of Transportation has developed the Contract Performance Evaluation System (CPES) to analyze the performance of Contractors, Resident Construction Engineers, and SCDOT Support Staff during the delivery phase of construction projects throughout the State. The CPES program analyzes construction projects in four areas - schedule, budget, quality, and safety - then determines performance ratings and identifies areas for improvement as follows:

Accordingly, the CPES objectively measures the performance of the Construction Management Process and provides essential and consistent feedback to the Project Stakeholders.


3.7 Legal Issues Impacting Construction Management
Moderator: Michael C. Loulakis
Session Leaders: Michael C. Loulakis
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Legal Issues Impacting Construction Management

The legal issues affecting capital projects in the transportation industry can have a profound influence on procurement, contracting, innovation and project execution. This session will start by examining project delivery and contracting practices on large-scale transportation projects, focusing on some of the emerging legal principles related to responsibility for performance specifications, reference documents, extended warranty, site conditions, and force majeure. The session will then move to a discussion of some of the legal concerns transportation owners have on their capital projects, including issues affecting General Engineering consultants and program managers, freedom of information issues, project controls, safety and contractor performance. The session will close by critically examining the Change Order process, and how to provide best practices for administering the process.

Dan Becker; Contract Changes Clause - The Change Order Process

Change orders are a natural part of the construction process. How they are handled is critical to the success of the project. Based on the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee Standard General Conditions, this presentation discusses best practices to include in the construction contract General Contract Changes Clause to ensure changes are presented and reviewed in a timely manner so as not to delay the project and avoid claims. The presentation will address the key elements to include and how to implement them into the process. The presentation will include flow charts illustrating the process and examples how these are implemented around the country by various local and State agencies.

Michael C. Loulakis; What is the Current Legal Environment for Procuring and Contracting Large Public Projects?

The marketplace for the construction of large projects has dramatically changed over recent years, as the world deals with construction booms in developing countries, volatility in commodity prices and non-traditional delivery systems. All of this has had a profound impact on how public owners procure and contract for their projects. This session will focus on this dynamic situation, with special focus on legislative changes in project delivery, and emerging legal principles related to responsibility for performance specifications, reference documents, extended warranty, site conditions, and force majeure.

Dennis M. Dayton; Legal Issues Impacting Construction Management: The Owner's Perspective

There are a wide variety of legal issues that can impact the successful execution of a construction project by a transportation owner. This session will review the legal and contractual relationship between owners and their General Engineering consultants and program managers, including the extent to which these parties will be responsible for problems on the project. It will also examine the legal issues associated with public access to information, certification of pricing data, project controls, safety and contractor performance.
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