Phases of Plan Development – Leading to High Quality Plans

ACEC/ODOT ConferenceApril 15, 2008

Steve Cooley, PE, PLSODOT Region 2 Technical Center Manager

Karen Tatman, PEQuincy Engineering

Eryca McCartin, PMPODOT Office of Project Letting Manager

Agenda

• Introductions

• ODOT’s Quality Control Philosophy

• ODOT’s QA program and its implementation

• Providing quality deliverables for ODOT

• Final PS&E resources and common pitfalls

• Questions

ODOT Quality Control Philosophy

PUBLIC

TECH DESIGN

PROJECT

DELIVERY

AGENCY

Technical and Design Elements• Discipline Specific

Standards, Policies & Procedures

• Public Safety, EOR responsibilities

• Perpetuated in Agency Design Manuals, Standard Drwgs, Specifications, Drafting Standards, etc.

TECH DESIGN

Project Delivery

• Project Team is responsible for Scope, Schedule, and Budget

• Stakeholder involvement.• Balanced Design

Approach• Constructability and

Maintenance Reviews• Tech Center Reviews &

Support• Contract Documents• Process Improvements

PROJECT

DELIVERY

• Each Milestone has deliverables and Quality Control elements (PD-02)

• Each Provider has their own Quality Control Plan– Improve through feedback

• The DAP is the most critical Milestone/Decision Point• Project Delivery Team is responsible for delivering a

project within scope, schedule and budget– The solution must meet expectations of stakeholders.

• Continuous Process improvements

Project Delivery Process

Project Initiation DAP Plan Review PSE Bid Let Construction

Quality Control ChecklistsYes No N/A Comments

Pavement work (new, reconstruction, widening)

Lane Configurations (including pullout areas)

Curb/Sidewalk/Bikepaths

Ditches/swales

Retaining walls

Roadside barriers

Clear zones

Geotechnical work including:

slide fixes

rockfall work including catchment areas

slope restrictions and benching requirements

Staging

diversions

work on detour routes

staging areas

new

combined/modified

closed

road connection work (allow for proper truck turning radii)

Design (Footprint) Checklist

Roadwork - all necessary horizontal and vertical alignments and templates need to be developed to model the proposed roadwork below to produce cut/fill lines.

Accesses - work to be done based on Access strategies

Agency

• Program Management• Statewide Consistency

(AGC & ACEC)• Agency Risk (DOJ)• Federal Funding and

Stewardship Agreement• Environmental

Stewardship and Regulators

AGENCY

Public• Public Agency

Accountability• Legislative Reporting

(QBR)• New Funding

Opportunities• Expectations/

Perceptions

PUBLIC

Questions

QA Program Purpose

• Provide for Ongoing Engineering Quality of Plans, Specifications and Estimates

• Manage the Consistency and Risk of Capital Construction Projects

QA Program Objectives• Provide for the Quality Assurance of

projects designed and developed by each provider of contract plans– Providers have a quality control

program– Provide QA reviews of provider QC

Plans– Discipline specific QA review– Audit of Project Design Quality– Continuous improvement

Where is ODOT with QA?• All providers have a QC plan• Beginning effort to develop and build QA

for design program with– ODOT regions– Consultants– Local agencies– Construction

• Build on past QA Program learnings• More to come soon!

Consultant QC Process

• Consultants provide high quality PS&E by:– Developing comprehensive QC Plan– Following their QC Plan on ALL projects– Not cutting corners when schedules get

tight– Asking ODOT’s PM for good examples

of products– Looking for Continuous Improvement

Avoid QC Mine Fields

• Design check by most available staff• Reviews after submittal or concurrent

with ODOT’s review• Repeating the same errors

– Learn from ODOT’s Most Common Issues Observed in PS&E’s

• Not fully checking re-do work• Disregarding constructibility comments

More mine fields• Significant changes after DAP• Don’t worry about following ODOT drafting

standards until deliverable time• Last minute problem? Fix it with an

addendum. OR punt it to construction. i.e. let someone else take care of it

• Construction reports can wait…. we’re on to the next project

Avoid Process Pitfalls

• Necessary Project Development processes don’t go away– They may be simplified– They may get done behind the scenes– They never just disappear

Following the process almost never ends you down the wrong path

Project Success Factors

• Ask the PM about Project Success– Defined by

• Delivering high quality products• Meeting a tight schedule• Avoiding a sensitive resource• Meeting a budgetary constraint

– Understand these success factors– Understand the Purpose and Need– Deliver!

ODOT Office of Project Letting• Specifications

– Standard Spec Book, boiler plate special provisions, DOJ liaison, unique project needs, etc.

• Estimating– Engineer’s estimates, incentive/disincentive

programs, etc.• Office of Pre-Letting & Quality Assurance

for Design• Trans*port• Web and administrative staff

Office of Pre-Letting• Manage Bid schedule• High level “fatal flaw” review for all projects

– Is it biddable and buildable?

• Facilitate FHWA funding approval, ODOT signatures for advertisement, coordination with printing and OPO etc.

• Maintain relationships with AGC, ACEC, ODOT procurement, technical teams etc.

• Quality Assurance for Design

Resources for preparing final PS&E for contract

• PS&E users guide– Office of Pre-Letting website forms, manuals, etc.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/OPL/index.shtml

• Specifications Manual– Specifications website forms, manuals, etc.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/SPECS/index.shtml

• Specifications and Estimating Training– Have a need? Contact us to schedule a training!

OPL - Who to contact

• Office of Project Letting Manager– Eryca McCartin (503) 986-3796

• State Specifications Engineer– Dale Deatherage (503) 986-3777

• Senior Cost Engineer– John Riedl (503) 986-3886

• QA/QC Program Manager– Lisa Ansell (503) 986-3751

Common Issues Observed Specifications

• Update boiler plate special provisions– found on the Specifications website

• Compile the specifications correctly– Use MS Word track changes correctly

• Measurement and Payment– Every bid item must have a subsection for

description, measurement and payment

• Class of Work determination– Critical to determining which bidder

qualification class can bid the project. If in doubt, contact State Specs Engineer

Common Issues Observed Estimating

• Standard ODOT bid items– Use standard bid items on the ODOT

bid item list vs making up new bid item

• Quantities verified– Verify that the project includes the

correct quantities– Incorrect quantities do cause flawed

procurement (reject all bids) or major construction issues

Common Issues Observed Plans and General

• Consistency in contract plans– AGC and others shouldn’t be able to tell who

designed a project

• Drafting Standards & Title Sheet– Latest templates should be used (ODOT

Workspace)

• Design Exceptions & similar approvals– Apply for early (DAP)– Process often takes many months for full

approval through ODOT and FHWA

In Summary• Design Quality of public infrastructure

must meet technical, Agency and Public expectations

• 1 failure erodes public confidence

• Success requires• a prescribed QC plan• QA for quality verification• a method for identifying and managing risk • a focus on continuous improvement

Questions