Board schedules meeting, tour of D-5 routes
The Idaho Transportation Board will visit southeast Idaho as part of its May business meeting and tour Wednesday and Thursday. The District 5 tour starts in Pocatello Wednesday morning and travels south to Preston and returns later in the day. Board members will meet with local officials in Preston and Chubbuck.
The board will be asked to approve innovative contracting methods for two projects during its public meeting on Thursday.
ITD staff members developed procurement documents, defined procedures and guidelines and drafted a manual for the design-build delivery method. Its first design-build project, improvements to Idaho 44 and Linder Road in District 3, was awarded last fall. Efforts now are under way to establish the construction manager/general contractor process. The Innovative Contracting Unit also provides outreach and training on the innovative contracting methods.
ITD engineers believe the two projects are good candidates for the design-build method and will request board approval to proceed.
The Commercial Weight and Safety Compliance Station in District 6 is a $1 million project to upgrade inspection sites on U.S. 20 to include improvements such as illumination and stormwater collection and disposal, changeable message boards, scales and a warming operations shelter. It would be appropriate for the design-build concept because of opportunities for innovation, specialty items and the construction window.
In District 3, the Idaho 55, North Fork of the Payette River Bridge project is a desirable design-build project because of innovation opportunities with the maintenance of traffic, right-of-way constraints, utilities and third-party coordination. The $3.2 million project will reconstruct the structure on the same basic alignment.
FY14-17 Strategic Plan
State agencies are required to submit a four-year Strategic Plan to the Division of Financial Management by July 1. The document must include a vision and/or mission statement, goals, objectives, performance measures and benchmarks, and external factors. ITD’s draft plan will be presented to the board for its review.
Two key external factors also are identified. The first is a challenging and uncertain future. National energy concerns, revenue challenges, new federal legislation and advancements in technology influence the way ITD and other agencies approach travel. That changes how the department manages its transportation systems.
The other factor is Idaho’s growing population and economy. Revenue structures and funding sources are weakening, particularly the Federal Highway Trust Fund. Current financial resources are not keeping pace with the growing needs, yet ITD must remain responsive to shifting customer needs and requirements.
Service contracts issued
As required by policy, ITD staff will report on the service contracts issued by Business and Support Management during the past month.
Four new service contracts, totaling $185,856, and 16 service contract modifications in the amount of $4.1 million were processed. Eleven of the contract modifications related to the DMV modernization project. Some of the work is for data cleansing; ensuring data is correct; working on business process improvements, especially regarding reporting systems; and keeping the existing mainframe systems operating.
Published 5-17-13