Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council General Meeting Minutes Seattle, WA - October 10 & 11, 2012

Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council General Meeting Minutes Seattle, WA - October 10 & 11, 2012 Day One Wednesday, October 10, 2012 Welcoming Remarks and Introductions Crockett, WFLHD Victoria Woods will be replacing Will Stalcup as the TCCC representative to the AASHTO Subcommittee on Materials. Todd Rumbaugh will be replacing Jeff Carpenter as the TCCC representative to the AASHTO Subcommittee on Construction. Mark Chaput is also a member of the AASHTO SOC and will be assisting Todd in representation with the TCCC. NHI Update Rick Barnaby, Director NHI Rick updated the group on NHI activities and current challenges and some impact due to the passing of MAP- 21. There was much discussion on fees for courses, NHI support charges to the TCCC, and the MOU. NHI is taking a hit on their budget while costs continue to rise. NHI will need to be funded for its costs for delivering training via their website? Charging for web based courses is being considered by NHI. NHI will work with TCCC to further discuss the possibility of charging for TCCC courses through the NHI website and develop a plan if necessary NHI is currently upgrading the web based courses on their site to Adobe Presenter 8. NHI incurred a $250,000 cost for the upgrades. NHI is considering a charge of $125,000 annually to TCCC for course hosting services. The MOU between NHI and TCCC is currently at NHI s legal department for review and approval. The main changes to the MOU include NHI s not supporting the state sharing program and no marketing support from NHI. Rick to provide the TCCC with the 2012 cost estimate for course hosting services. Rick to provide the revised draft of the TCCC/NHI MOU to Chris. Chris, Jim, Mark, and to work with Rick on drafting a fee for courses policy. Rick to inform the group of meeting dates. 1

Information Sharing AASHTO Subcommittee on Maintenanance - Jim Feda Jim discussed NCHRP 20/07 Task 340 National Training Jim sees this as a forum to discuss training needs. NHI has traditionally focused on training for the engineer. The TCCC focuses on the technician. I would like to get a sense of what the state's training needs are. Do they want instructor led or web based training. What about apps for tablets like the IPad. How many are using TCCC courses. What new courses are needed in the areas of maintenance, construction, and materials. The TCCC would like to be the choice provider of transportation technical training for the states and has been talking with AASHTO about becoming a technical service program. As our workforce ages and retires, training will become more important. It would be nice to come out of this with a training roadmap. We may want to consider inviting representatives from other subcommittees as well. AASHTO Subcommittee on Materials Will Stalcup The SOM voted to replace Will on the TCCC Board with Victoria Woods from the Missouri DOT. AASHTO Subcommittee on Construction Jeff Carpenter and Mark Chaput Mark is developing and will be sending out to state construction engineers a survey inquiring about TCCC including: training gaps, opportunities for states to share their training materials with other states, technical experts to work on developing courses, etc. WAQTC Currently doesn t have a representative. Garth Newman stepped down and a replacement has not been found. SETFTTQ - Ken Cox - SETFTTQ is not active and contributed $31,000 to TCCC for course development from their remaining funds. Ken feels there needs to be a marketing effort for the TCCC with the Southeast states. Although they are no longer an active group, Ken would like SETFTTQ to remain a part of the TCCC. NETTCP Leo Stevens NETTCP was founded in 1995 in response to the CFR. They have certified training programs and produce their own manuals and have their own instructors. They are replacing NHI courses with their own. All of their courses are instructor led. The Northeastern states get very little fed funds. If the TCCC wants funding from the NETTCP group, they will need to contact NETTCP s administrative people. MARTCP - Duane Sayre - Virginia no longer participates in the MARTCP group. Virginia didn t see a benefit to their state DOT. Their current administration is not supporting TCCC. Virginia DOT wants all project inspectors to be NICET certified. They expect it will take 10 years to get everyone certified as NICET Level 2. M-TRAC - Chris Anderson M-TRAC met in Des Moines in August and will meet in Indianapolis, IN next year. Most of the M-TRAC states belong to the TCCC pooled fund. M-TRAC has been meeting for 18 years. They don t have a pooled fund or any sort of funding and their meetings are all supported by registration. Would like to invite the other regions to join them and maybe M-TRAC can help to keep the other groups active. Course Development Chris Anderson - PTG International is a new contractor to develop training. The Earthwork group has completed the Embankment Module and this has been given to the contactor for web development. The Earthwork group has almost completed the Fill Embankment Module. The Rock Stabilization course is being reviewed and completed by Vicki Frucci and the Washington DOT. The Asset Management course is still in the research stage. The group is looking at new courses to consider for web based development. 2

Frances Griffith University of Arkansas - Francis reported that the TRB booth had a lot of interest. The group felt this booth was successful. Idaho LTAP - Bruce Drewes Bruce invited TCCC representation in the LTAP/TTAP program. He invited TCCC to have a booth at their 2013 annual meeting in Boise. TCCC courses are usable for his clientele but getting on the NHI website is cumbersome. Bruce would like to place TCCC training on their system for their use. Idaho DOT is planning on having the courses on their LMS and then Bruce s group could easily access them. Bruce added that LTAP and TTAP can go to committee to see about pooled fund contributions. Ann Gretter Harpers Enterprise - Ann introduced Kevin Monaghan who is working on TCCC courses. Harpers Enterprise is under contract to do Web Based Training development for this year. He listed accomplishments of TCCC since January. All current training is being updated to Adobe Presenter 8. Jeff Carpenter Washington DOT It s difficult to get sustainable funding for TCCC. If training is charged to projects it may be more sustainable. Then it becomes part of curriculum. People will do what is necessary to get required certifications. This type of funding would work for construction and materials but may be a problem for maintenance. Send a request to Chris Bowker of the NETTCP requesting a contribution for the TCCC. (This may be put on hold pending outcome of AASHTO discussions.) Jeff Saddler will attend the 2013 LTAP meeting in Boise July 22-26 and represent the TCCC. will discuss the vacant WAQTC representative spot during the WAQTC Executive Committee conference call on November 2. Business Update: Jason Harrington, FHWA Jason showed budget slides which had added Maryland. Future commitment is $310,000. The TCCC currently has over $300,000 for use. A discussion was held about AASHTO leading the new Pooled fund. With the difficulty of using the FHWA led TCCC pooled fund, it was discussed to discontinue the current pooled fund at the end of 2012. Jason will give the states a heads-up that the change will be occurring, but not until after AASHTO votes on making TCCC an AASHTO Technical Group in May. The TCCC will continue to take contributions until AASHTO acceptance and notice has been given to the states. A question was asked from Vicki if the pooled fund only included states or if others could contribute. Jason said anyone can be in the pooled fund. A discussion was held with Jason on the NHI payment. NHI is currently asking for $125,000. The group felt this needed to be discussed further. NHI stated the cost of their help desk raised, but the group was concerned that most of this was due to the difficulty of accessing the NHI website and new passwords and not the result of the TCCC courses. This can be discussed further with Rick. Training Videos for Highway Construction Materials Technicians Steve Sawyer, OKDOT Steve Sawyer Oklahoma DOT Oklahoma Construction Inspector Training is done, but they are not considering certification. QA/QC people on projects must be certified. They have developed some excellent training videos on AASHTO test methods. Steve informed the group that all their training is considered public and they will share anything they develop. The following are things they ve done and can contribute: Training Videos They have in house production for training videos except for talent and voice over. AASHTO T 30, 168, 176, 209, 312 and R 47 are not yet on website but have been filmed. 3

Aggregates AASHTO T2, 11, 27, 248 and 255 were put out first. Concrete T22, 23, 119, 121, 141, 152, 196 309 are not done yet, but have been filmed. The Soils films aren t done yet. Go to http://oktechcert.org/videos.html to view. They have decided not to issue on hard media because of changes. TCCC can include the link to the videos on their website. e-marketing & Technology Training Solutions Ann Gretter, Harpers Enterprise Ann did an interesting presentation noting the many communication options open to the TCCC as the organization evolves. The presentation will be stored on the SharePoint site for future reference. Two immediate suggestions were the development of a TCCC App and development of a voice over TCCC marketing video housed on the TCCC home page. will check on the feasibility of adding a TCCC App development and video for the TCCC web site to the current course development contract. AASHTO Partnership/Q&A Session Greta Smith, AASHTO Steve Lenker, AASHTO Greta and Steve provided answers to a list of questions pertaining to a potential partnership the TCCC had provided prior to the meeting. The questions and discussion are attached. During this session it was decided that the TCCC should attend the fall AASHTO meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Mark is attending at the expense of Michigan. Greta indicated we might want to staff a TCCC booth at the conference, so she will provide contact information. The TCCC should also attempt to get on the agenda. To assist in staffing the booth, Ken Cox will also attend under the pooled fund. Greta feels the best fit for the TCCC within AASHTO is a Technical Services Program under a Center of Excellence. She also feels a vote to affiliate the TCCC will just be a formality. An administrative resolution for establishing the TCCC as an AASHTO Technical Services Program will need to be developed for vote of the in May. Greta provided an example to Mark and. Mark and Ken will prepare to attend the AASHTO Annual Meeting in November. Mark will take the lead to secure booth space and get on whatever agendas are feasible to provide updates to AASHTO members on potential future options for a formal partnership between TCCC and AASHTO. will check on the feasibility of adding a task to the current travel support contract to arrange travel for Ken Cox to the fall AASHTO meeting. If this is not feasible will ask WFLHD to do invitational travel. Mark will work with to develop the AASHTO administrative resolution. FHWA to AASHTO Transition Action Items Development The entire group developed a list of actions, or questions that had to be answered, if the TCCC transitioned from an FHWA pooled fund to AASHTO affiliation, and the responsible parties. See attachment 4

will send the Action list to Bryan Cawley and communicate that the TCCC has voted to recommend suspension of the existing Pooled fund early pending culmination of the AASHTO partnership in May. TCCC Action Plan Review The group reviewed and updated the January 2012 Action list from the strategic planning meeting, the 2012 Short-term Action Plan, and the Long-term Action Plan. will update and post the Short-term plans on the SharePoint site. Jim will do the same with the Long-term plan. Day Two Thursday, October 11, 2012 The Course Development and Matrix Committees and the Marketing Committee broke out into separate working sessions for the day to address general work items, actions from the strategic plan and action plans, and other actions related to the AASHTO migration. Wrap-up The Course Development Group and Matrix Group gave a summary of their meeting. This information was shared in the Course Development Minutes that were distributed previously. A motion was made and seconded to add a Pavement Preservation section to the matrices. This was passed. will pursue and find out costs to make a voice over of the TCCC PowerPoint and put on the TCCC website. Jason will not contact current stakeholders at this time to have them hold money until merge with AASHTO is further along. The TCCC will research the needed capabilities for a LMS site. Ken and Chris have some information they had researched earlier. Kevin Monaghan and Duane Sayre will check into adding their IT persons to a subcommittee group. The next general meeting time and locations was discussed. Ken had volunteered to host a meeting in Florida in December. The group felt there were many advantages and benefits to meeting again at the same time as the NTTD, which will be in Boston in October of 2013. It was also felt a meeting may be needed prior to the May AASHTO meeting to prepare. The date, location, and attendees will be determined in the near future. will contact Glynn Cavin to determine if it is feasible for the TCCC to again meet during the NTTD meeting according to the same format as this year s meeting. will discuss contracting alternatives with the WFLHD Acquisitions Section once the pooled fund balance is known after NHI support costs. The goal is to address course development, travel, marketing, and facilitation. All Review and comment on the business plan located on the SharePoint site. Jeff Saddler will perform a final review and develop a final version of the Business Plan. 5

TCCC QUESTIONS FOR AASHTO Seattle, WA 10/10/2012 1. Will the executive council be free to run TCCC as in the past or will we have to clear all of our policy decisions (including strategic and business Plans) with the AASHTO leadership? Will probably suggests who is chair. Need State DOT as a chair should be either a Chief engineer or an executive director and to also have vice chair to run the meetings. 2. Would a link to the website be provided from the AASHTO website, or would they host and maintain the site for a cost? I would recommend that we keep it at SCDOT as long as SCDOT is willing to host and maintain for free. This will save us money. AASHTO doesn t charge for webpage. It would be part of admin of program. Decision left to TCCC. 3. Would we still be able to decide how many times per year we meet and where? Yes, you decide. 4. As a technical working group of AASHTO, what would be expected of us? What type of work plan and reports will we have to submit to AASHT leadership? A Business plan, an annual report, a spring report and fall report. A Budget hopefully showing revenue is neutral or in the black. AASHTO has about 40 states doing various things. 5. Would we have to brand al of our products with a TCCC/NHI/AASHTO brand? Still needs to be determined. We will probably want it to have the AASHTO brand. 6. Do we maintain ties with NHI? This is to be determined, based on various issues that are yet to be sorted out. For the present the decision is to maintain courses on the NHI site. 7. Will we have free reign to decide what courses to develop? (We would want input as to the needs of the various AASHTO subcommittees.) As long as they are germane to tech work. 8. If a good course is provided to us that can easily be adapted to web-based, can we make the decision to publish it even thought it might not have been on the prioriy list, or will we have to get special approval? This is the TCCC s decision. 9. Where would the TCCC fit in the AASHTO organizational chart? In AASHTO s governing documents (Board of Directors Operating Policy 10/17/2011) training is under the Standing Committee on Finance and Administration; Subcommittee on Personnel and Human Resources. ver, this committee does not seem to be very involved in training. Since our focus is technical, could be under Highways. Should be under Highways as a special committee. Most likely the TCCC will become a Technical Services Program under a Center of Excellence. 10. What is needed for the TCCC to become a technical working group? Administrative resolution with the intent of the program, shouldn t be a large issue. If done by end of week can make Nov meeting. Greta feels the vote is just a formality. 11. How difficult is it to develop a contract through AASHTO and how long would it take? 6

Course development guestimate about a month. You can sole source if you can justify it. Changes can be made by addendum. I think she indicated sole sourcing was not an issue. 12. Will we be required to charge everyone for classes even agencies? We need to discuss, but strongly suggest that we charge agencies who don t participate. 13. Who will determine the cost to take classes and how? The TCCC. (Initially we intend to work with NHI on a fee structure, which should provide direction of experience for how to proceed if the program is solely associated with AASHTO.) 14. How would we address charging for providing course to the states for their LMS? Set up fee for service and admin cost. Program changes may change charges. 15. Does AASHTO get a portion of all proceeds from course fees or will they be strictly service-based reimbursement from the pooled fund? Would try to arrange it so it breaks even. FHWA can contribute. AASHTO does have a help desk. AASHTO would let industries take training. 16. How will the funding work if through AASHTO? Tech services programs invoice sent to state for voluntary contributions. SP&R can be potentially be used. Would have to request. 17. If NHI stops hosting courses who and how would the hosting be addressed? 18. If NHI discontinues marketing how would new course advertisement be addressed? 17 & 18 Advertising would continue through AASHTO. AASHTO could host or there could be a third party hosting. Didn t know about cost structure. Would we have to track attendees for online courses? Those numbers may not be required but you may want them. 19. How can AASHTO, NHI, and TCCC collaborate on the delivery of new courses? We already do collaboration since the states are already AASHTO. 7

TCCC/AASHTO PARTNERSHIP TRANSITION ACTION PLAN SEATTLE, WA OCTOBER 10, 2012 ACTION REQUIRED 1 Decide if pooled fund money committed for 2013/ 2014 will be received into pooled fund 2 Decide if Resolution to be submitted for May meeting or current meeting (due Friday) 3 Prepare resolution for May meeting 4 Communicate to the states who have committed to the pooled fund to commit to Service Program 5 Put a Memo out to folks about the pooled fund being shut down that outlines the procedures for go-forward 6 Set the amount of funds that are requested for the Service Program when the request goes out. A state usually contributes the invoiced amount. 7 TAC submit recommendation to FHWA to turn off the pooled fund (close down). Send to /Jason/Brian. 8 FHWA follow up with states that have committed funds to tell them not to. 9 Develop a transition plan to move toward May meeting 10 Prepare communication to the states 11 Get on agenda for the May meeting WHO MUST ACT ACTION OWNER ACTION DUE DATE INFORMATION NEEDED Complete Motion to cut the pooled fund off early. Vote 8 voted yes conditioned on partnership with AASHTO moves forward. Mark C./ Jason/Mark (Marketing) Jason / (FHWA) Resources Group Pooled fund manager Marketing AASHTO State members? Mark C Mark Jason Mark Greta Complete Shooting for May 7 voted yes 8

12 Prepare a presentation for the May meeting 13 Make advance contact with Research folks in the states to make them aware of what, when, why, how 14 Create a financial plan/business plan (from existing) in context of the service program 15 Schedule meetings with Greta Smith and Steve Lenker in preparation for the May meeting 16 Determine how to spend the remaining funds 17 Once the funding/contracting home determined (i.e. FHWA or AASHTO) then surface the decision about who will host the training 18 Continue discussions with NHI re: MOU. 19 Awaiting FHWA lawyers assessment of MOU and provide comment when available 20 Awaiting response from NHI about TCCC taking over the responsibility of the state sharing program (source files needed) 21 Fill in list of TCCC Web-based training to identify which state contributed content 22 Research where development funds for each course came from 23 Ask FHWA about any restrictions on the use of the TCCC logo 24 Determine if team will use the AASHTO logo moving forward or develop an alternative branding strategy 25 Decision to use current template for course developments already in place 26 Determine course list for the existing contract 27 Review options of technical service structure for future state Marketing Marketing Mark/Ken Mark? Jeff Saddler Meeting Course Development Committee Course Development Committee NHI FHWA Marketing Course Development Committee Course Development Committee (Oct/Nov) Chris Chris Rick Jason Mark Chris Chris 28 Rewrite by-laws Complete Complete Complete 9