JOINT AGC/TxDOT COMMITTEE MINUTES MAY 19, 2010 1. Words of welcome Co-Chairs Johnny Weisman and David Casteel opened the meeting. Attendees from TxDOT were David Casteel, Carol Rawson, Michael Lehmann, Toribio Garza, Russel Lenz, Jeffrey Seiders, David Hopmann, Brian Merrill, Maureen Wakeland, Bill Hale, Lonnie Gregorcyk, Nabeel Khwaja, Sandy Davis, Christina Cabello, and Mary Meyland. AGC membership attendance included Jim Andoga, Art Daniel, Doug Pitcock, Tracey Schieffer, Joe Charles Ballenger, Larry Johnson, Tim Creson, Brad Everett, Bill Gibson, Robert Hall, Bob Lanham, Howard Pebley, Johnny Weisman, Dean Word III, Duane Herbort, Chad Clark, Terry Williamson, Todd Drouin, Jim Webster, Brad Bankston, Jeff Badke, and Dale Stubblefield. AGC staff attendance included Tom Johnson, Lee Taylor, AP Boyd, Jennifer Newton, and Thomas Bohuslav. 2. Review minutes from February 17, 2010 meeting The minutes were approved. 3. Discuss proposed work program for June, July, August 2010; 1 year, 2 years, 4 years, and review status of $3.1 billion NTTA funds A. Proposition 12 funded project lettings TxDOT stated they expected to receive the LBB approval letter to issue bonds this week. TxDOT stated they plan to move $124 million to the July letting from the August letting. In addition, $301 and $136 million or Proposition 12 funded projects will be added to the July and August lettings respectively. The lettings in July and August are expected to be approximately $600 million each, inclusive of local letting. TxDOT stated an additional $1.2 billion in Proposition 12 funded projects will remain to be let in FY 2011. They stated the total to be obligated under legislatively authorized Proposition 12 is $2 billion and the difference in lettings and the total will be consultant engineering and right-of way. B. 24 month letting TxDOT provided draft documents detailing a 24 month letting schedule to be placed on department s web site. TxDOT stated two versions will be available, a searchable pdf file and a filterable excel document. TxDOT stated the documents will include contact personal and information on department funded local entity lettings. TxDOT stated they intend to release the documents formally in September 2011. TxDOT stated the files would be updated every month but would be certified by the department s Chief Financial Office every 6 months. TxDOT stated the reports will include information needed by other entities but does not currently include airport projects. TxDOT stated they will provide a training Webinar for AGC when the system becomes operational. AGC stated they wanted to be able to segregate local entity and TxDOT Austin lettings and expressed thanks for the work and responsiveness to comments to date.
C. 4 year project development plan TxDOT provided information on their 4 year project development plan. TxDOT stated they have funded projects at $5.8 billion and another $6.8 billion in backlog (a total of over $13 billion) in the plan ready to be let by August 2012. TxDOT stated this plan included funding available for consultants and TxDOT design. TxDOT stated there is another $2.5 billion that could be ready to be let by August 2010 but needed $374 million in consultant funding to add these projects to the project development plan as ready to be let. TxDOT also provided their 4 year pavement management plan stating it includes maintenance and is financially constrained. AGC asked the goal of pavement management and the amount of funding included in construction pavement management and TxDOT stated only $1 billion per year is available. TxDOT stated their statewide PMIS Scores were 85.94 % Good or better in FY 2009 and 86.99 % in FY 2010. TxDOT stated the contributing factors toward the improvement after previous years reductions have been additional pavement preservation funding (ARRA), maintenance peer reviews, efforts to move funding to pavement, and planning maintenance strategically. It was discussed that this years winter affects on pavement conditions were after the evaluation period for 2010. D. RTR (SH 121) obligation and expenditure status TxDOT stated the Dallas District will make use of the $3.2 billion in funds and explained that they Fund 6 matching funds for some projects and therefore have been adjusting projects to make full use of the RTR funds. TxDOT stated that another $200 million has been added to RTR funds from interest. TxDOT stated that funding plans include $191.1 million for preliminary engineering, $524.3 million for ROW and utilities, and $2.72 billion for construction which includes $578.7 million for off-system projects. TxDOT stated that year to date expenditures have been $310 million in 2008 and $504.1 million in 2009. TxDOT stated they expected expenditures to be $305.1 million in 2010, $484.1 million in 2011, $798.7 million in 2012, $277.4 million in 2013, and about $110 million in 2014 and beyond. 4. Discuss bid advertisements TxDOT stated they will be working to review the advertising requirements to determine the minimum amounts needed and in efforts to reduce costs for project advertising. 5. Discuss Partnering Workshops and Specifications AGC complimented work and efforts of the department to revitalize partnering. AGC further expressed thanks for consideration of comments on the current version of the specification and the Web escalation ladder. TxDOT restated they wanted staff to be responsive to project issues. 6. Discuss status of flexible base and other specifications and implementation of test procedures TxDOT stated they have made good progress on the revisions and are working toward an full implementation for all revisions of September 1, 2010. TxDOT stated industry is being provided additional time after revisions were made to software and manufacturing. TxDOT stated that Rainhart should have Soil Compactor Analyzers (SCA) and Slide Hammers (SH) available in 2
advance of the deadline. TxDOT stated all districts have the SCAs and SHs. TxDOT further stated that the sampling procedures for flex base will be modified to reduce the sample size. 7. Discuss status of wage rate survey AGC expressed thanks for the joint efforts to update classifications. There were discussions on an error in an e-mail address that could have been the reason TxDOT has not received significant numbers of New Classification Worksheets. TxDOT and AGC agreed to work together to address potential lost submissions and encourage future submissions. 8. Discuss status of DBE program AGC expressed thanks for the efforts of the joint task force and requested an opportunity to comment on the goal setting process. It was discussed that the July letting will include a requirement for submission of bidder and quoter information from bidders and AGC asked that the same process used in 2008 be used to collect this data. AGC stated only active bidders should be used in the goal setting process and payments to all subcontractors should be used in the goal setting process. AGC stated they wanted to address the process to be able to use race neutral DBEs to replace commitment quantity underruns controlled by TxDOT and to be notified when a CUF is performed. Finally, AGC expressed concerns that because TxDOT operates under the DBE program, HUB counting and goals based on HUBs is inappropriate. TxDOT stated they have addressed the issue of time for submission of subcontract for DBEs and stated they are working to revise the process for commitment of trucker DBEs and a process for addressing commitment underruns due to TxDOT controlled underruns of quantities. It was discussed that the federal government is currently rewriting DBE rules. 9. Discuss alternate pavement designs TxDOT stated the FHWA has denied the department s use of the jointly developed alternate pavement design program. TxDOT stated they have submitted a SEP-14 to the FHWA for approval and desired to continue the alternate pavement design in PS&E on a project by project basis in the interim. AGC stated they liked the program as previously developed. 10. Review solar powered flasher assemblies AGC expressed appreciation to TxDOT s responsiveness to AGC comments on the proposed provisions. 11. Discuss retainage on local let projects AGC stated they are concerned about locally let federally funded projects including retainage. AGC stated they have to make adjustments to their bids when retainage is required. AGC asked TxDOT to review their program for this issue to determine requirements for locals. TxDOT agreed to review the requirements to determine application of the retainage regulations. 12. Discuss lack of testing procedures on local let projects AGC expressed concerns over the lack of testing on locally administered projects and stressed that the local entities lack the incentive for adequate inspection because they do not maintain projects after completion. 3
TxDOT stated they plan to create audit processes that would occur during construction to review testing on locally administered projects. TxDOT stated the process would focus on pavements. 13. Discuss General Notes and contractor responsibilities for utilities AGC stated they are seeing general notes that create liability for damage to utilities beyond current law. TxDOT provided wording that gave third parties contractual language that could be used in court to find contractors liable regardless of the utilities compliance with the law. TxDOT stated they would address the language. 14. Discuss task force on contractor performance and evaluation of plans and engineers TxDOT is proposing a joint task force to develop contractor performance criteria that would possibly be used to limit bidding by poor performing contractors. AGC expressed concerns over subjective evaluation criteria and stated they would work with TxDOT in a joint task force. 15. Discuss implementation of cost savings TxDOT stated they are developing an internal peer review committee to address cost savings on projects. TxDOT stated they have recently been able to reduce project cost by almost $200 million on one project. AGC applauded TxDOT s efforts and stated they are seeing were districts are making maintenance procurements of more expensive materials. AGC asked if TxDOT will be using only Texas Beams in the future, there are significant cost are incurred when hand formed rail is required, and asked why there were so many different types of rail. TxDOT stated that at some point in the future, with few exceptions; only Texas beams will be included in the plans. TxDOT also stated that they have found savings of almost $7 million on one project when hand formed rail was replaced with slip form rail. TxDOT also reviewed reasons for multiple rail designs including crash criteria changes, ROW visibility issues, and aesthetics but agreed to review the design choices. 16. Report on meetings with Union Pacific Railroad on right of entry agreements AGC gave an update on their meetings on addressing right-of-entry requirements (ROE) with the Union Pacific railroad (UP). AGC stated their meeting with the UP were positive and stated the UP was agreeable to meet with TxDOT and AGC in Austin to address the need and timeliness of ROEs. AGC stated the UP wanted to become known as a company people want to do business with. 17. Discuss changes in procurement of maintenance material TxDOT stated they are working with the Comptroller s office to on Smart Buy and stated they have concerns over increased cost and the limited competition. AGC agreed and agreed to work with TxDOT and the Comptroller s office to modify the program. 18. Discuss conflicting plans on line AGC stated they have found where the department s Web site included different version of plan sheets depending on where the plans were pulled. TxDOT stated they will review their site and process to address the issue. 4
19. Discuss paint shortage AGC stated they have not been able to get pavement marking paint and provided information laying out that other pavement marking materials that could be impacted by manufacturing issues for key materials. TxDOT stated the shortage of pavement marking materials is not limited to Texas and may extend through the summer and stated they have over 200 million linear feet of pavement marking work needed this summer that could be impacted. TxDOT further stated they may prioritize work such that retracing work is reduced and have determined higher priorities for new surfaces. TxDOT stated they are working to address the issue and will provide guidance to the districts. 20. Discuss FHWA participation in liquidated damages AGC stated they are being told they could not received time extensions because the FHWA does not participate in funding at an amount equal to liquidated damages that would have been incurred had the delay not occurred. TxDOT explained that this is a case of ROW and utility delays and they would work with FHWA and determine if state funds could be used to offset the reduction in federal funds. 21. Items from the floor No further business was discussed and the meeting was adjourned. Mr. Tom Johnson Secretary AGC/TxDOT Joint Committee 5