Appendix AB –Minor Projects Design Procedures
Publication 10X (DM-1X)
SOL 482-13-27 December 2013
APPENDIX AB
MINOR PROJECTS DESIGN PROCEDURES
FOR CONSULTANT DESIGNED PROJECTS
AB.0. INTRODUCTION
The Minor Projects Design Procedures for Consultant Designed Projects applies to all projects scoped as minor
projects except for limited circumstances as approved by the District Executive. A listing of typical minor projects is
provided in Publication 10, Design Manual Part 1, Transportation Program Development and Project Delivery
Process, Chapter 2, Defining a Transportation Project. These procedures are only applicable to Local Lead projects
(projects being led by a Local Project Sponsor) when their design consultant meets certain experience requirements
outlined in Publication 740, Chapter 3. These procedures are not applicable to design-build projects and projects
designed in-house.
For minor projects designed by consultants, the Department Quality Control (QC) reviews and approvals in final
design do not occur. QC reviews for minor projects are solely the responsibility of the design consultant. The
Department is responsible for funding and fiscal administration.
AB.1. PRELIMINARY DESIGN
During preliminary design, work performed by the design consultants will be submitted for Department review and
approval. It is important to resolve all issues in preliminary design and to have a very clear scope of work for the
project prior to final design.
The following activities that typically occur during preliminary engineering will be reviewed and approved by the
Department:
 District Safety Review Committee
 Line, Grade and Typical Section
 Design Field View (DFV)
 Design Exceptions
 Environmental Clearance
 Environmental Commitment Mitigation Tracking System (ECMTS) DFV matrix
 Type, Size and Location (TS&L)
All required Central Office approval requests must be submitted from the District. For more information on
preliminary design activities refer to Publication 10C, Design Manual Part 1C, Transportation Engineering
Procedures, Chapter 3, Preliminary Engineering Procedures.
AB.2. FINAL DESIGN
The design consultant will be responsible for the final design. The District will not review or approve any submittals
from the design consultant during final design except for the following which typically occur in final design, and as
noted in section AB.2.C:
 Foundation Report
 Hydrologic and Hydraulic Report (not applicable to Local Lead projects)
 Pavement Design Approval request (for Local Lead projects, only applies if more than 500 feet of work on
a state route)
 Right-of-Way Clearance submission
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Appendix AB –Minor Projects Design Procedures
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Utility Clearance submission
Railroad Clearance submission
Permit Applications (not applicable to Local Lead projects)
Technically Infeasible Forms
Proprietary Items
Permanent and Temporary Traffic Signal Plans
Road User Liquidated Damages
Third Party Agreements
Plans, Specifications and Estimate (PS&E)
Traffic Control Plan (only applies to Local projects, and only if involving a detour route on a state route)
For more information on final design activities refer to Publication 10C, Design Manual 1C, Transportation
Engineering Procedures, Chapter 4, Final Design Plan Development.
A. Quality Control (QC) by Design Consultant. The design consultant will perform the QC review process as
outlined in the consultant’s scope of work and the consultant’s Quality Control Plan. The QC plan must include
development of design review checklists for each type of review and associated criteria. The consultant is also
responsible for executing their Quality Assurance (QA) procedures which ensures the QC procedures are performing
as intended.
B. Sealing. All plans must have the design consultant’s professional engineering seal and/or professional land
surveying seal as required. The District will not seal any plans.
C. Approval and Signatures. When the District does not perform a review and the subsequent approval, the
District is not required to sign the plans. For example, traffic control plans, which have a box for the District Traffic
Engineer signature, will be revised so that no such box appears on the plans. Similarly, the District Bridge Engineer
will not sign the structure plans.
As required per Title 75 Pa.C.S., Vehicles, §6109(d) and Title 67 PA Code, Transportation, §212.5, the District will
review and sign all permanent and temporary traffic signal plans. The design consultant will submit signal plans to
the District for review, approval, and signature.
The Right-of-Way plans must be signed and approved by the Department. Right-of-Way plans for Local Lead
projects are not signed by the Department unless right-of-way is being acquired on behalf of the Department.
The District Executive, Deputy Secretary and Secretary of Transportation will continue to sign the title sheet of all
appropriate plans. See Publication 14M, Design Manual Part 3, Plans Presentation, for more guidance on required
signatures.
D. Status Updates. The design consultant must provide the District with monthly project status update reports for
the duration of final design. The updates will include a brief summary of any project issues and an Open Plan
schedule update per Publication 615, Scheduling Manual Operating Procedures for Design Schedules Using Open
Plan / WelcomHome. The District may also hold periodic progress/status meetings with the design consultant if the
project warrants.
Any deviations from approved design documents will be included in the status reports. The design consultant is also
responsible for notifying the District of circumstances that require reevaluation of the NEPA documentation. Those
circumstances include: (1) changes to the project scope, impacts and/or mitigation; and (2) the passage of three or
more years since a major authorization or phase change.
E. Environmental Commitments. The design consultant is responsible for the ECMTS in accordance with
Publication 10X, Design Manual Part 1X Appendices to Design Manuals 1, 1A, 1B, and 1C, Appendix T,
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Appendix AB –Minor Projects Design Procedures
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Environmental Commitments and Mitigation Tracking System (ECMTS) Process. This includes updating the
ECMTS matrix with additional mitigation commitments that arise during final design.
F. Third Party Coordination. The design consultant's responsibility for third party coordination during final
design should be clearly identified during preliminary engineering. The design consultant will offer the Department
the opportunity to participate in all third party coordination activities for which the consultant is identified as
responsible. Third party coordination includes, but is not limited to, the following entities:
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Public Involvement
Emergency Responders
School Districts
Local Governments
Adjacent Property Owners
Local Businesses
Local Police
State Police (requires Department participation)
Other project stakeholders
G. Grouped Projects. If a minor project is grouped with other projects that are designed by other parties, then the
design consultant will coordinate the design, traffic control and any other design issues directly with the other
designers. The District should group projects in preliminary design, but if grouping of projects occurs in final
design, the District is responsible to inform all necessary consultants of the grouping.
AB.3 LETTING AND POST BID
A. Plans Specifications & Estimate (PS&E) and Project Letting. After the consultant’s PS&E review, the
design consultant will submit the PS&E to the District, with a letter certifying that all QC/QA reviews have been
performed. In this certification letter, the consultant will also list all reviews which the consultant has performed
including all third party coordination performed. See page AB-6 for a sample certification letter.
Upon receiving the consultant’s certification letter, the District will review and approve the PS&E package prior to
advertisement in accordance with Publication 51, Bid Package Preparation and Policies Manual. As part of the
PS&E review, the District will complete the PS&E Certification List in Publication 51, and attach the form to the
Project Development Checklist in ECMS. The District will use the process outlined in Publication 51 and upload
documents into EDMS (Electronic Document Management System) and advertise the project.
During the advertisement period, the design consultant is responsible for preparing answers for all questions in
coordination with the District.
For information on advertising and letting see Publication 51.
B. QA Review by District. The District will perform a Quality Assurance review on all minor projects. These QA
reviews are to be conducted to ensure that broader projects requirements are met and should only include valueadding comments. The QA reviews will occur after advertisement, but prior to let. The District Quality Assurance
Form on page AB-5 will be completed as part of this QA review and will be posted to the Project Development
Checklist in ECMS. If a “No” is checked on the District QA Form, take appropriate action to resolve the issue(s).
Projects should not be let until all issues are resolved from the QA review.
C. QA Review by Central Office. Central Office will perform Quality Assurance reviews of a sampling of minor
projects. In addition, Central Office may request to review any project they deem appropriate. These QA reviews
will occur after advertisement in coordination with the District.
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Appendix AB –Minor Projects Design Procedures
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AB.4. PROCURING OF DESIGN CONSULTANTS
A. Advertisement and Selection. The project advertisement, both project specific and open-end agreements, must
identify that a project could follow the Minor Projects Design Procedures and the selection criteria in the
advertisement should consider the quality of the consultant’s QC/QA program. The consultant’s statement of
interest, technical proposal, and prequalification package must include details of their QC/QA plans specific to the
minor project process. The selection team members will evaluate the adequacy of the submission, especially the
QC/QA details, in accordance with Publication 93, Policy and Procedures for the Administration of Consultant
Agreements. The design consultant’s scope of work must clearly identify that the design consultant is solely
responsible for the project QC during final design and that the Minor Projects Design Procedures will be followed.
If a project has been exempted by the District Executive, the advertisement will specify that Appendix AB
procedures are not applicable.
B. Consultant Accountability. As with all projects, the design consultant for minor projects is responsible for
submitting a design which is in conformance with all Department standards, specifications, and publications and
which meets the standard of care for design professionals. Any design errors, mistakes or omissions that do not
reflect a standard of care, which are identified by the Department, will be the responsibility of the consultant to
rectify, at no cost to the Department, in accordance with Publication 93, Policy and Procedures for the
Administration of Consultant Agreements, Chapter 5, Consultant Agreement Support, Section 5.7, Design Error
Process. The consultant will be held responsible for payment of all costs incurred above what the Department’s cost
would have been without design errors that are determined to be the responsibility of a consultant, including but not
limited to, design and review costs, actual construction costs, and delay costs.
AB.5. EXEMPTED PROJECTS
As stated in Section AB.0, minor projects can be exempted from the Minor Projects Design Procedures for limited
circumstances as approved by the District Executive.
Districts must provide a list of exempted projects to the Bureau of Project Delivery, Highway Design and
Technology Section Chief. The list must be provided annually by the end of January for all exempted projects that
were bid in the previous calendar year including reason(s) why each project was exempted.
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Appendix AB –Minor Projects Design Procedures
Publication 10X (DM-1X)
SOL 482-13-27 December 2013
District Quality Assurance Form
ECMS#:
County:
SR/Sec:
Project name:
Reviewer:
Date:
The Quality Assurance review is to be conducted to ensure that broader project requirements are met, in
conformance with Department policy and procedures, rather than specific details involved in a quality
control review. The Quality Assurance review will include the following items at a minimum:
If “No" is checked, please provide comment. Attach additional sheets as necessary.
YES
NO
1. Design is in conformance with the Design Field View decisions.
2. Design is in conformance with Safety Review.
3. Design is in conformance with ProTeam decisions (as applicable).
4. Design addresses all mitigation measures from NEPA.
5. Design in accordance with approved TS&L and Foundation Report.
6. Correct Roadway Construction Standards utilized (i.e. barrier height,
guiderail, end treatments, etc).
7. Specifications are in accordance with Department policy.
8. Other comments:
Post one completed form per project to Project Development Checklist in ECMS.
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Appendix AB –Minor Projects Design Procedures
Publication 10X (DM-1X)
SOL 482-13-27 December 2013
SAMPLE CERTIFICATION LETTER
May 21, 2012
______County
SR ____, Section ____
ECMS # ________
Plans, Specifications and Estimate Certification
Mr. /Ms. __________
District Executive
Engineering District 7-0
Attention: __________
Dear Mr. /Ms. _______
We are submitting a complete set of plans, specifications and estimate for the ____ County, SR
____ Section ___ project. We hereby certify that a complete quality control and a quality assurance check
have been performed. In addition, the following reviews have been performed:
 Constructability
 Final Plans Check
 Final Structure Plans
 Final Roadway Plans
 Traffic Control Review
 Signing and Pavement Markings
 ADA curb ramp reviews
 Environmental Commitments
 ECMTS Final Design matrix
 PS&E
Third party coordination performed in final design includes detour coordination with _______
Township, ____ school District, state police, and ABC Warehouse ____ for driveway access during
construction. Public involvement includes a public meeting on __/__/__.
Please contact _____ at (___) ___-____ if you have any concerns or questions.
Sincerely,
Mr./Ms. _________
_______ Design Consultant Company
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