TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Hyatt Orlando Airport, Orlando, FL
January 8, 2013 | 10 am – 2 pm EST
I. Call to Order
The January 8, 2013 meeting of the FICE Transportation Committee was called to order by Chair Ryan
Forrestel, PE at 10:00 am EST.
Participating:
Whitney M. Allen, PE
Rick V. Baldocchi, PE
Nickson A. Benedico, PE
Donald G. Beyer, Jr, PE
Steven E. Black, PE
W. Darrel Burnett, PE
Michael Campo, PE
Nancy A. Clements, PE
Scott W. Collister, PE
Kevin J. Coughlin, PE
Ernest A. Cox, III, PE
Andrew M. Cummings, PE
James S. Daniel, PE
Michael L. Davis
David DeBerardino, PE
Ben W. Doan, PE
Richard T. Doyle, PE, AICP,F.ITE
Craig E. Dunkelberger, PE
Benjamin C. Faust, PE
Stephen J. Ferrell, PE
Paul G. Foley, PE
Ryan R. Forrestel, PE
Douglas D. Geiger, PE
Derek M. Gil, PE
Dana Ingram Gillette, PE, PSM
Adam S. Gosselin, PE
David W. Gwynn, Jr., PE
Frank Hickson, PE
James Jeffers, PE
Kenneth T. Kelley, PE
John W. Kilgore, PE
Gary L. Kuhns, PE
Andre E. Lauzier, PE
Erik Leschak, PE
Thomas G. Lochrane, PE
Wilson Lorenz, PE
Satya Sukumar Lory, PE
George Lovett
Larry D. Low, PE
Eugene F. Lozano, PE
Jason Lyle, PE, DBE/MBE
Luis F. Mahiquez, PE
Steven C. Malecki, PE
George Dewey Martin, III, PE
Stephen H. McGucken, PE
Ardaman & Associates, Inc.
AVCON, INC.
CDM Smith Inc.
ELEMENT Engineering Group LLC
Vertical V - Southeast, Inc.
Metric Engineering, Inc.
Kisinger Campo & Associates Corp.
Wantman Group, Inc.
Volkert, Inc.
KCI Technologies, Inc.
Ardaman & Associates, Inc.
Connelly & Wicker, Inc.
Bergmann Associates, Inc.
Keith and Schnars, PA
Tetra Tech
Professional Service Industries (PSI)
RTD Group LLC
Dunkelberger Engineering & Testing, Inc.
DRMP
HDR Engineering, Inc.
Kisinger Campo & Associates Corp.
American Consulting Engineers of FL
Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc.
ELEMENT Engineering Group LLC
Erdman Anthony
Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc
Volkert, Inc.
Infrastructure Engineers, Inc.
CIMS
STV/Ralph Whitehead Associates
Greenhorne & O'Mara, Inc.
Geotechnical and Environmental Consultants
HDR Engineering, Inc.
American Consulting Engineers of FL
Lochrane Engineering, Inc.
IBI Group, Inc.
Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.
GAI Consultants, Inc.
HDR Engineering, Inc.
England-Thims & Miller, Inc.
Patel, Greene & Associates PLLC
Tierra, Inc.
Atkins
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Kisinger Campo & Associates Corp.
Jessica McRory, PE
Tony L. Melton, PE
Antoinette D. Meskel, PE
Kenneth R. Muzyk, Jr., PE
John C. Nagle, IV, PE
Walter Nemecek, PE
Leila Jammal Nodarse, PE
Eduardo J. Palacio, PE
Gregory J. Peschong, PE
Antonio Piedra , PE
Lisa M. Robert, PE
Aage G. Schroder, III, PE
Allen W. Schrumpf, PE
Vay L. Scott, PE
Lynnette Selfslaghs, PE
Adrian B. Share, PE
Ido Reuven Shimony, PE
Nina C. Sickler, PE
Jeffrey J. Siewert, PE
Michael J. Simmons, PE
Greg T. Smith, PE
Douglas E. Stoker, PE
Enrique Tamayo, PE
John F. Temple, PE
Jonathan D. Thigpen, PE
Truong Anh Trinh, PE
Frank H. Wilson, II, PE
Michael D. Yeager, PE
AREHNA Engineering, Inc.
STV/Ralph Whitehead Associates
Meskel & Associates Engineering PLLC
Faller, Davis & Associates, Inc.
Parsons Transportation Group
ARCADIS
Nodarse, a Terracon Company
AECOM
Infrastructure Engineers, Inc.
Metric Engineering, Inc.
Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc.
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.
DRMP
Allied Engineering & Testing, Inc.
AREHNA Engineering, Inc.
HNTB Corporation
Eisman & Russo, Inc.
Landmark Engineering, Inc.
Stanley Consultants, Inc.
Michael Baker Corp.
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Kisinger Campo & Associates Corp.
Tamayo Engineering LLC
Cardno TBE
Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc
EAC Consulting, Inc.
Fred Wilson & Associates, Inc.
JEA Construction Engineering Services, Inc.
II. Approval of Minutes
There was a motion, it was seconded and it carried unanimously to approve the November 1, 2012
minutes as exhibited.
III. Welcome and FL Session Report
Executive Director Frank Rudd introduced Amanda Hudson, the current Director of Member Services.
Samantha Hobbs, Government Affairs Coordinator, was introduced as the new transportation
committee liaison. Rudd gave a brief legislative report stating the three issues in 2013 will be
Infrastructure funding, Design Professional Contacts SB 286 by Negron and HB 575 by Passidomo,
and protection of the CCNA law. He encouraged all committee members to participate in PE
Legislative days held in Tallahassee Feb. 5-6 and the Transportation Conference in Orlando May 2223.
IV. FDOT Customer Survey
A survey was sent out to transportation committee members the first week in January. All members are
encouraged to provide both positive and negative feedback as needed for each District. The survey
responses will be sent to FICE staff and sanitized; therefore committee members will be kept
anonymous. Once the survey is completed the report being sent to FDOT will also be sent to the
committee.
V. Guest Speaker – Senator Jeff Brandes (R-22), Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee
Senator Jeff Brandes with his aide Chris Spencer present addressed the committee. Topics covered
included transportation funding, healthcare, education, managed lanes, and rapid transit. A brief
question and answer period followed.
VI. Discussion of Revising 2 Page LOI
Andy Lauzier, PE presented the Letter of Interest document that the Production/Project Management
Subcommittee has been revising. The FICE Transportation Committee has developed the following
recommendations for potential modifications to FDOT’s 2 page Letter of Interest (LOI). The goal of this
revised format is to achieve Consistent-Predictable-Repeatable (CPR) requirements for submission and
evaluation results across all FDOT Districts. This revised format will result in a more focused and less
costly preparation of LOI’s. This, in turn, will provide a more transparent, efficient, and fairer
distribution of results in the shortlisting process. The outcome will be a more balanced and fair
opportunity for competitiveness among interested firms, benefiting both the consultant industry and
FDOT.
A lengthy discussion followed and the committee voted on each item. The revised LOI will be sent to
the committee before sending to FDOT 1. Keep the LOI at 2 pages maximum. (committee approved unanimously)
2. Margins: Recommended margins for legibility, Minimum 0.4”. (committee approved unanimously)
3. Minimum Font Size: Standard Arial 11 point- NO exceptions. (1 Nay)
4. Section Requirements: Each LOI shall contain the following sections: Team Composition (including
DBE commitment); Relevant Experience; Key Personnel and Staffing; Technical Approach; Quality
Control; and Other Relevant Information (discretionary) (3 Nays)
5. Section Size Limitations: None. Leave to discretion of Respondent.
6. Photos: No restrictions on quantity, font same as text. No graphics except for Company logos. (13
nays)
7. Technical Approach: FDOT will, as part of the Advertisement, list up to three (3) Technical Areas to
be addressed in the Technical Approach. No value will be assigned to Technical discussions outside
of the areas identified by FDOT. (9 Nays)
8. No value will be provided by FDOT for references to scope elements substantially completed
prior to award (e.g., 15% Line and Grade, Pond Siting Report, Community Involvement Plan,
etc.). (4 Nays to strike all)
VII.
Chair Report
Ryan Forrestel, PE provided the following report –
1. 5% Design and CEI Cost Savings – Good ideas from Design, not from CEI. Central Office staff is
reviewing the ideas for implementation. Those selected for implementation will likely be used in future
projects. Recommendations are due to the Executive Committee in mid-December. Implementation
1st quarter.
2. Design-build Stipends – Data developed by FICE was provided to David Sadler. Allen Autrey
provided feedback. There will be no changes in the way they will calculate stipends. Hobbs will
forward the committee an update email with explanation.
3. CPR a. CITS billing practices: It was noticed that CITS takes time to process. Any committee members that
have issues are encouraged to send an email to Chair Forrestel.
4. Update on FICE Outstanding Project Awards – John Temple, PE reviewed the general FICE outstanding
project awards programs details. Four award categories will include: Outstanding major project,
outstanding minor project, outstanding design-build/CM at risk or P3 project and outstanding special
project. The nomination criteria and form were also reviewed. There was a motion, it was seconded and
it carried unanimously to approve the FICE Outstanding Awards Program and implement the
program for the 2013 Transportation Conference. Nominations will be accepted for 2013 in March,
extending the January 31 date noted in the program procedures.
5. DBE Overconcentration – Nina Sickler, PE addressed the committee on innovative teaming. FDOT
has developed a new procedure to promote the use of under-utilized DBEs on FDOT contracts. FDOT
took the lead in this effort with the FICE DBE subcommittee providing input and review. The new
procedure should be in-place in early 2013. On select projects, FDOT will identify which Work Groups
are under-utilized in the ad. Teams submitting LOIs on the project will get extra considering in
shortlisting for adding under-utilized DBE firms to their teams. Compliance with the Brooks Act is
currently being reviewed and they hope to implement this program the Quarter.
6. New consultant selection process a. The FICE recommendations have been accepted by FDOT and should be implemented with new
ads issued in late January 2013. In a nut shell, most District-wide and 3R contracts will be selected
through an interview process; District-wide specialty contracts (such as geotechnical, survey,
utilities, statistics and bridge inspections) will be selected from a 5 page limited technical proposal;
capacity improvement and PD&E projects will be selected through a presentation process; less
complex CEI projects will be awarded from direct selection from a 5 page LOI; and Complex CEI
projects will be selected from an interview process.
b. D3 has requested a variation. On expanded LOI, PM designee will long list and recommend short
list. Selection committee does short list. TRC then scores the 3 short listed expanded LOIs.
7. Small Business Initiative – keeping current threshold, not Federal threshold. SBA projects will have
fees of $100k to $500k. 6.5% of projects are DBI = $22M average/year over 3 years.
On December 12th Carla Perry indicated following: “the Department is in the process of revisiting the
Business Development Initiative program. Several changes are under consideration, including”:
a. Current data indicates that approximately 6.5% of FDOT professional services contracts were BDI
reserved for FY 13. FDOT is looking to increase that percentage in the future for BDI reserved
projects to 10% of all professional services contracts.
b. FDOT will seek approval to use the previous Small Business Administration size standard ($4.5
million for Engineering Services) for our BDI, instead of the current size standard of $14 million
for Engineering Services which was set in March 2012. As you know, this is based on average of
annual gross receipts over the last three years.
c. FDOT is also exploring whether to limit the number of BDI projects a firm may be selected for.
When the program first started, firms were limited to being selected for no more than one BDI
reserved project per year. The proposed plan is for the District Selection Committees to give more
consideration at the time of shortlisting on a BDI project to firms who have not been recently
selected.
8. D/B in FY 12/13: 30 contracts worth $970M. This is higher than normal. Members were encouraged to
notify there District Secretaries if they have shelf ready projects. Mid-September will be the cut off
date to use federal funds.
9. Accelerate Final Design to get into construction – Secretary Prasad indicated he would like to have
consultants accelerate the schedule on projects in design to get ready for construction – bring into 1st
quarter of FY 13/14. Contact the District Secretary and Brian Blanchard. This would take the pressure
off converting projects to design-build.
10. Design Build Low Bid RFP package – To be updated in the 1st quarter of 2013.
11. Design Build Selection Process – Email Chair Forrestel on how this 2-step process is working.
12. Update from Design on Department changes of Manuals for D/B projects – New Structures Manual
should be released 1/13, PPM ~ 6/13. Other design manuals to follow.
13. Costs in LOIs and Proposals – Districts have advised they are still seeing instances where consultant
firms are including consultant costs in Letters of Response and technical proposals. Letters of
Response and technical proposals containing consultant fee (price) information will be found nonresponsive by the Department. FICE supports this action.
14. New Bridge Qualification Form – An update from Carla Perry at FDOT was provided to the
committee. FDOT will now advertise major bridge steel OR major bridge concrete, instead of requiring
qualification in both work types. This will allow firms to be qualified in one or the other work type.
15. Consulting Grading Process – Does FICE want to re-visit the process? Please send concerns to Chair
Forrestel and new topic or issues of discussion.
16. ACEC PAC Discussion – Andy Cummings, PE requested all committee members to participate in the
ACEC PAC and FEPAC. He noted that our influence in National and State Government is a direct
result of these contributions. Members were asked to give a minimum of $75 for ACEC PAC and $50
for FEPAC.
17. Future meetings – April 16, 2013 10am -2pm EST at Sheraton FLL Airport.
a. The April transportation committee meeting will include a design build panel discussion.
18. EDC Florida Caucus – Ido Shimony, PE provided a detailed report. Select EDC initiatives for January
13th implementation include: locally administered federal aid projects, programmatic agreements, 3D
engineered models for construction, intelligent compaction, and alternative technical concepts.
VIII.
Subcommittee/Task Force Reports
1. Production/Project Management Subcommittee - Andy Lauzier, PE - Report covered previously in
meeting.
2.
CEI Subcommittee - Doug Geiger, PE reported on CEI hybrid contracts.
3.
Alternative Contracting Task Force / FICE FTBA Subcommittee - Dan Metz, PE – No report.
4.
DBE/MBE Subcommittee - Nina Sickler, PE – Report covered previously in meeting.
5.
Specification Review Subcommittee - Allen Schrumpf, PE reported during the past few months,
Forty-three (43) specifications or other related revisions have been offered by the FDOT
Specifications Office for comment on the FDOT website. He reminded all members to send their
comments to FDOT directly.
6.
Local Agency Subcommittee - John Kilgore, PE reported the subcommittee will meet in February.
7.
FICE / FDOT Liaison Committee - Adrian Share, PE - Report covered previously in meeting.
VIII. Adjournment – The meeting adjourned at approximately 2:00pm.