Improve relationships and communication among industry partners relating to Highway Operations.

Objective:

To address issues of our MdQI partners.

Strategies:

Provide support and resources to teams by:

• Monitoring and reporting on activities of existing and future teams assigned to the sub-committee
• Providing a clearing house for assigning issues that are generated and assigned to the appropriated team
• Being supportive of other team efforts
• Establishing active participation in subcommittee meetings throughout the year

The subcommittee is working on follow-up items from the 2010 conference sessions "Change Orders" and "MDE Permits - from Design Office to the Field."

"Change Orders" 

The workshop goals:

• Clarify State and contractor responsibilities
• Identify common errors
• Identify improvement areas
• Designate action steps

 Concerns and comments from workshop:

• Timeliness is main issue. Average of 6-9 months
• Accountability- where is the CO in the chain of command?
• There should be a web-based solution
• Levels of authority

Follow-Up Items:

One of the follow up items from this session was the need for training.  The SHA Office of Construction (OOC) has developed internal training in which the following topics will be addressed;

• Establish a criteria in which the District staff will e-mail the Change Order (CO) to the contractor once approved by OOC
• Making the CO process consistent/uniform in each District
• Create a statewide tracking spreadsheet

This training began June 2010 and will be extended to maintenance, traffic, and landscape personnel as needed since they also generate change orders.

"MDE Permits - from Design Office to the Field"

Follow-up Items:

• Open dialogue with MD Department of the Environment (MDE) to discuss new regulations, MOU updates, and policy discussions
• Close "holes" in information sharing from the field office, MDE and SHA Environmental Programs Division
• Provide re-training in the Office of Construction Form 62 (OOC-62) process for contractors and SHA personnel
• As design develops, look for one set of ultimate controls within the reality of project constraints
• Develop improved documentation of the problems/issues that are raised in the field
• Provide Best Practices and examples of minimum requirements for a field change package
• Look to provide joint constructability/ESC review during design development.  Solicit contractor input where available