1st International Conference on Transportation Construction Management

Background

In 2004, executives from Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and industry visited several European countries to look into advancements in construction management. The scan team members were profoundly impacted by the way their peers were addressing customer expectations along with expanded preconstruction responsibilities.

The Scan Team, transitioning into the FHWA-AASHTO-Industry Construction Management Expert Task Group, is exploring ways to:

• align customer, owner and contractor expectations to the construction
• select the best alternative delivery method to attain specific project goals
• minimize risk through formalized risk assessment and allocation techniques
• better allocate limited construction resources to accomplish the work
• provide higher incentives to contractors for improved quality

This 1st International Conference on Transportation Construction Management is a major outreach, initiated and managed by the Expert Task Group.

Conference Themes

Conference Themes Expanded

Track 1: Delivering Projects

Integrating Construction Management into the Project Delivery Process
What makes a successful construction project? Some would say that the stage for a successful construction project 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 project development 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.

Alternative Procurement & Contracting Systems - Emerging Concepts
This session will focus on lessons learned as well as new approaches relating to the various alternative procurement and contracting processes that have emerged over the past decade. Some of these processes include Design-Build, Design-Build Operate and Maintain (DBOM), CM, CM @ Risk, alternate bid concepts and the United Kingdom's Early Contractor Involvement initiative. 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.

Alternative Procurement & Contracting Systems - Case Studies
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. Successes and "not so successes" will be highlighted. Included will be recommendations for future enhancements to promote continued positive evolution of these contracting systems.

Public Private Partnerships - Concepts
This session will focus on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and the role of Construction Management in the PPP process. Many view Public Private Partnerships as primarily a financial effort. However, the entire project development process must be carefully considered in any of these partnerships. As the new definition of Construction Management emerges, the tie to Public Private Partnership concepts will be clear. Included in this session will be discussions on the many variations of Public Private Partnerships, case studies of the application of these concepts, and how the construction "view of the world" is an integral part of a PPP from beginning to end.

Public Private Partnerships - Case Studies
With the recent introduction of public private partnerships (PPP) in the US, traditional organizational structure, contracting methodology, and definitions for responsibility require significant changes for project delivery, maintenance, and operations. The many questions arising out of the use of PPPS require answers for governmental entities and private developers to assist ensuring successful projects. Understanding that PPPs include private financing, wholly or partially, this session is intended to provide practical guidance, case studies, and partnership agreement examples for attendees that are seeking more information about PPP models. Specific questions to be addressed include:

• How is public liability addressed between the governmental transportation agency and the developer?
• What organizational structure and responsibility is needed for transportation agencies and developers for these types of agreements?
• How do conventional regulatory requirements apply to the developer when projects are wholly are partially privately funded?
• When do PPPs become a desirable tool for project delivery?
• What types of partnership agreement language is needed to make these projects a success?
• What are the long-term implications of utilizing PPPs?

Environmental Accountability
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 quality of life that includes the protection of the natural resources and the cultural and social values 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 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 sustainable design/construction practices and context sensitive solutions to enhance their environmental stewardship roles.

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 way of doing business. 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 on the preceding Sunday.

Risk and Risk Management - Case Studies and Roundtable
This session will present case studies of risk assessment and risk management in transportation construction that illustrate both practical and cutting-edge topics discussed in the previous session and in the risk training workshop on the preceding Sunday. The session will conclude with a roundtable discussion among some of the practitioners and leading developers of risk assessment and risk management in transportation construction.

Track 2: Controlling Projects

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.

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."

How to Deal with Cost Escalation in Construction
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 those strategies include design flexibility, such as designing projects with bid options which allow the owner to remove components of work to stay under budget. CM@Risk allows the owner to hire a Construction Manager to provide a guaranteed maximum price, to provide flexibility to allow scope adjustments, all while the design is under the control of the owner. 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.

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.

Promoting Emerging Technologies and Their Impact on Construction Management
Construction Management can be impacted appreciably by new and innovative technology, and in fact, can fundamentally change the way business is done. For example, web based document control, intelligent construction systems integrate inspection with documentation, wireless communication can expedite documentation review and approval, 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!

Track 3: Constructing Projects

Construction Management of Rapid Renewal Projects
The impact of maintaining traffic while expediting construction has had a dramatic effect on both the contractor and owner operations, as well as on the public. Major initiatives such as ACTT have been introduced and become part of the culture; design-build contracting has been a key component of time reduction. Project Delivery is now being looked at, not from planning to bid opening, but from planning to opening to the public. This concept has integrated design, bidding, and building seamlessly on many projects and will continue to do so into the future. This session will focus on how DOTs are looking at this new way of thinking, of promoting more responsibilities by the contractor, and of organizing a multi-disciplines team during construction

Legal Issues Related to Construction Management
The legal issues affecting construction management practices in the transportation industry can have a profound influence on procurement, contracting, innovation and project execution. This session will examine the most significant of these legal issues, including U.S. and international legislation that has impacted project delivery and current contracting practices on large-scale transportation projects. Presentations will also include a review of emerging legal principles related to responsibility for performance specifications, reference documents, extended warranty, site conditions, and force majeure. Information will also be shared on the unique legal issues associated with those organizations that contract with owners as program and construction managers, including liability for safety, schedule and contractor performance.

Legal Issues Related to Alternative Project Delivery
This session will focus specifically on design-build and PPP.

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.

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. Paper copies although functional, cause considerable work in as built calculation of the resources used by the contractor to construct portions of work that in some cases may be in dispute. Test results can be tracked with daily diaries and delivery of materials. Trends in quality can be review 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. Often it seems that technology advancements are driving these decisions more than the needs of the project. The increased complexity of project controls have led some to ask "...are we managing the project controls or the project?" This session will present the state of practice regarding project controls from cost, scheduling, material management, testing and inspection, and measurement and payment perspectives. 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.

How to Manage Worker and Public Safety
Contractors have always had to protect their work force and the public from harm during a construction projects. Many jurisdictions are looking for even more detail, including traffic management plans that address a myriad of contractor responsibilities. In some jurisdictions, safety audits during construction can have a significant impact on contractor operations.

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. This session will highlight feedback systems utilized nationally and internationally and discuss the effectiveness of each. In addition, there will be discussion on how the construction phase feeds into the overall Asset Management concept and the importance of the "maintenance voice" in project improvement initiatives.