Effective Construction Project Staffing Strategies for Transportation Agencies

Transportation agencies continue to struggle with constrained resources, often resulting in staff reductions. At the same time, agencies are challenged to ensure that legal, environmental, and other requirements are met and documented for all federal- and state-funded projects. As a result, many agencies have decided to hire full- or part-time consultants, create limited-term positions, or recruit co-op or similar staff in order to supplement their workforce. In order to provide more unified and efficient use of resources, there is a need to analyze current staffing practices, the use of supplemental resources, and the types of work being outsourced. Research is needed to develop guidance to help transportation agencies understand alternative ways to effectively and efficiently balance program oversight responsibilities using agency staff, consultants, and contractors. The objective of this research is to develop guidance for staffing transportation construction projects that (1) identifies current contracting methods and associated staffing used by transportation agencies; (2) identifies staffing strategies; (3) identifies knowledge, skills, abilities, and qualifications required for project inspection and testing staff; and (4) recommends best practices for balancing project oversight responsibilities using agency staff, consultants, and contractors for transportation construction projects.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=4059

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $500000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 20-107

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 225
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Rogers, William

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Kentucky, Lexington

  Lexington, KY  United States  40506-0281
• Principal Investigators:

  Taylor, Timothy

• Start Date: 20160628
• Expected Completion Date: 20180930
• Actual Completion Date: 20180930
• Source Data: RiP Project 40223

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Construction projects; Contracting out; Oversight; Selection and appointment; State departments of transportation; State of the practice
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Construction; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01572377
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 20-107
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 7 2015 1:01AM