Illinois Tollway / ACEC-IL Liaison Committee Meeting Illinois Tollway 2700 Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove, IL 60515 Room 219 December 5, 2016 3:30 pm to 5:00pm Meeting Chair: Thomas Hein Meeting Minutes A. Welcome and Introductions (See attached for attendance list) B. Review and Approval of May 12, 2016 meeting minutes 1. Meeting minutes from the May 12, 2016 meeting were accepted with no comments. C. Tollway Announcements 1. Capital Program Update i. Paul Kovacs opened the meeting by thanking everyone for attending. He stated the importance for the Tollway staff to meet with ACEC to update the members as ACEC is a strong partner with the Tollway and the Tollway relies on the ACEC to help deliver the Tollway s program. ii. Mr. Kovacs stated that Po Collins is no longer with the Tollway and Clarita Lao is temporarily handling the responsibilities of that position. Mr. Kovacs also stated that Wayde Tabor is now head of Tollway Maintenance & Traffic Operations. iii. Mr. Kovacs thanked everyone for their hard work in 2016. The Tollway is very pleased with the I-90 status and achieving the goal of having all lanes open by the end of the year. Currently sections are being opened as soon as it is safe to do so. iv. Safety is a priority for the Tollway and for everyone involved with these projects. v. Everyone was reminded of the importance of closing out projects quickly. vi. Pete Foernssler stated that in June 2017 the Active Traffic Management System or (Smart Road) was expected to be on line. The Smart Road is expected to operate on I-90 between Barrington Road east to the Tri-State Tollway (I-294). Over the winter and through the spring, the final electrical work and testing would be completed. Also during this time the Tollway would launch an education program for the public to understand the uses of the Smart Road. During the summer of 2017, PACE on I-90 is expected to come online. vii. Mr. Foernssler stated that the current I-90 contracts will be closed out over the next year. viii. Clarita Lao gave a brief overview of the Systemwide contracts. She spoke of the success of getting Farnsworth Avenue Bridge at I-88 open to two lanes prior to Black Friday. ix. Paul Kovacs stated the reconstruction of the Mile Long Bridge on the Central Tri- State is a priority and the project will move ahead. The Master Plan for the Page 1 of 5
Central Tri-State is expected to be completed the first part of 2017 (approximately March) and will need the Tollway board approval to be accepted. Under the current Move Illinois program the Central Tri-State is to be reconstructed in-kind at an estimated cost of $1.67 billion. x. The Tollway is applying the lessons learned over the past 10 years by coordinating with the railroads, utilities, and communities early in the design/planning process. The Central Tri-State reconstruction faces challenges with ComEd towers and the railroads. xi. 2016 is the final year of the Congestion Relief Program. The program was completed approximately $100 million under budget. xii. Greg Stukel stated tolling started in July 2016 on the Elgin O Hare. The next section of the Elgin O Hare (east to Illinois Route 83) will be open by the end of 2017. The Tollway has made progress with the City of Chicago and O Hare airport regarding the western bypass. xiii. The Tollway filed with the Surface Transportation Board in an effort to get the railroads to talk with the Tollway about the western bypass. xiv. The next year will include I-90 wrap up contracts, work on I-88, and completing the Farnsworth Bridge project. xv. Mr. Stukel stated Maintenance Facility M-7 is currently under construction and M-6 will be bid soon. 2. PSB s and Procurement i. The Tollway did not approve the GEC selection (Item 1 on PSB 16-2) at the October Tollway Board meeting. The GEC services contract will be re-advertised on a future PSB. ii. The current GEC (AECOM) is expected to have a supplement approved at the December Tollway Board meeting. iii. The Tollway will proceed with processing and selecting consultant services for PSB 16-3. The Tollway expects to select firms for PSB 16-3 in February 2017. iv. The Tollway is concerned with the number of disqualifications that continue to occur on each PSB. There were 11 firms disqualified on PSB 16-3. Eight (8) firms were disqualified due to incorrect qualifications, two (2) submittals were late, and one (1) submittal had incorrect Forms A & B. The disqualifications require a lot of additional coordination and delay the process of selecting firms on that PSB. v. The Tollway reminded everyone that DBE s must be eligible via the online directory on the date of the SOI submittal and not the date shown on the DBE s letter. DBE s must be certified by the Tollway s approved agencies. vi. Greg Osbourne is expected to meet with the Tollway to discuss possible uses of IDOT s EPAS as a way to mitigate disqualifications. The Tollway would have to enter the bulletin items into the system but the system seems like it may work. The subcommittee will schedule a meeting with Carrie Kowalski (IDOT) and the Tollway to discuss EPAS uses. vii. The Tollway s goal is to achieve zero disqualifications on PSBs. viii. PSB 16-4 maybe advertised prior to the end of the year. ix. PSB 16-5 will most likely be renamed PSB 17-1. x. The dates of the PSB 16-5 and PSB 17-1 maybe accelerated in order to start the work sooner. Page 2 of 5
xi. The Tollway is trying to advance design work originally schedule to be completed later in the Move Illinois Capital Program and do the work in 2017 and 2018. xii. The Tollway legal department is reviewing ways to prevent conflicts of firms who have submitted on PSB 16-3 and that may want to submit for the GEC when it is re-advertised prior to PSB 16-3 selections. xiii. The Tollway is considering updating the consultant selection process. The new process would be in accordance with QBS, but they are looking for a process that is more transparent. The Tollway s legal department is reviewing the idea of modifying the selection process. xiv. The Tollway will consider listing the top three firms of an item on the PSB selection notices similar to what IDOT is currently doing. 3. Tollway Safety Initiative i. Safety is a top priority for the Tollway and should be for all consultants. ii. Two fatalities occurred on the Tollway projects this past year. Safety is the responsibility of contractors performing construction activities. iii. 30 hour OSHA training for contractor s superintendents and foreman is an initiative under consideration by the Tollway and Roadbuilders (IRTBA). The Tollway is considering having all consultant Construction Managers complete the training as well. iv. The beam demolition and erection process is in place. The process is getting more consistent and is working well. v. The Tollway is considering implementing a new process for overhead items. Hits to overhead items are still problematic. 4. Policies and Procedures i. Chris Arman provided an E-builder update. Electric invoicing is currently being tested. Electronic bidding is expected to be implemented in the future. ii. The time it takes to process payments on invoices has been reduced. Consultants receive payment in 32 days and contractors in 10 days. iii. The Tollway set a goal of closing 80 projects and have closed 83 projects this year. This is important because it returns funding to the program. iv. The Tollway has received very competitive bids recently. v. Paul Kovacs stated he receives two frequent questions from the Tollway Board. 1. Why does the engineer s estimate differ so much from the contractor s bid? 2. What is the DBE status of the project? vi. The Engineer s estimates have historically been within 2.5% of the contractor s average bid price. All projects are being finalized within 1% of the award amount. vii. The Tollway reminded everyone to review the engineer estimates and base the estimates on the best available information and consider current market trends. viii. The Tollway reviewed the Contractor Dispute Resolution Procedure and the Errors and Omissions on Consultant Work Procedure. As part of the C5 committee, the Tollway reviews submitted ATP s for errors and omissions related issues. If there is a contract pay item or if the cost is under $100,000 the Tollway will not pursue an errors and omissions claim. If the C5 committee Page 3 of 5
determines there is an errors and omissions issue, then the Errors and Omissions Procedure is enacted. The Tollway is tracking larger error and omissions issues. ix. The Contractor Dispute Resolution Procedure is a process in E-builder. The Tollway asked the Construction Managers to be better prepared during claim meetings as contractors appear to have more experience and are better prepared in presenting their claim. The Construction Managers should try to resolve and come to an agreement with the contractor prior to the claim process being initiated. x. Design bulletin 16-2 for retaining walls will be issued. Performance based requirements will not be utilized as much going forward. The designer will be required to determine the wall types being used on the Tollway system. xi. Future design bulletins will be issued for temporary impact attenuators. Severe use narrow systems will only be allowed. These systems have a higher initial cost but are easier to repair if they are damaged. Neither the Tollway nor the contractors want to manage the risk of the other types of impact attenuators. xii. The Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) policy will be issued by the Tollway via Design Bulletin 16-3. It will become a new chapter in the Tollway Bridge Manual. The bulletin is currently out for review comments. The new policy will be better at documenting the design decisions regarding ABC. 5. Diversity Update i. Networking event is scheduled in conjunction with the next PSB. ii. Mentor Protégé Program will be expanded to the Construction industry. The term Mentor Protégé was determined to have a negative connotation and will now operate under the new title Partnering for Growth. No changes are scheduled for the program related to professional services since the new program was introduced 2 years ago. The Tollway is looking to ACEC to determine what/if any changes are needed. iii. The new disparity study was completed that concluded that DBE goals could be adjusted higher due to the availability of the DBE firms. The VOSB goals will also be increased in accordance with the findings of the study. iv. DBE goals continue to be determined on a project by project basis. v. DBE commitments continue to come in above the goals. vi. Small business set aside contracts for professional services are being considered by the Tollway. The Tollway acknowledges that there are challenges to implementing a policy like this. These contracts would be for small firms but no definition of a small firm has been determined. Concerns regarding this issue should be directed to the DBE committee through ACEC. D. Discussion items 1. Future partnering opportunities i. The Tollway is aware that the consultants want to meet with the Tollway and the Tollway would like to meet one-on-one with the consultants. However, during an open procurement period, the Tollway legal department has advised the Tollway staff not to meet with consultants. Over the past nine (9) months, the Tollway has had an open procurement and has prevented any consultant meetings. Page 4 of 5
ii. The Tollway is looking for ways to meet with consultants and not violate any procurement code requirements. iii. A coffee and donut meet/greet was a potential idea. Having ACEC provide a list of firms to the Tollway that are not submitting on an open procurement. These firms could then meet with the Tollway. E. Subcommittee Reports 1. Seminar March 2017 Standards and Manuals i. Manual reviews will be sent out in the near future F. Calendar 1. Future Tollway / ACEC IL Meeting May 2017 2. Upcoming ACEC IL events i. Winter Conference Awards February 8 & 9 ii. Offer was extended to attend the event in Lisle. Next year s event will be an evening event. G. Meeting Adjourned at 5:00pm Page 5 of 5