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U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration

MEMORANDUM

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has had significant success in delivering the Construction Program Management and Inspection Guide Workshop, reaching more than 35 States in the past 18 months. With your help, we will achieve the Agency's goal to make training available to all divisions within 2 years. Attached is a map, designating where we have been, and where we are currently scheduled to present the workshop.

The role and experience base of the FHWA's engineering staff have changed considerably in recent years. Today, our field engineers are typically involved in a diverse array of issues that were not common in the Federal-aid program of decades past. A decline in staffing resources and experience, coupled with increased demand on our current field engineering staff, requires a more focused and programmatic approach to fulfill our construction stewardship and oversight responsibilities.

In December 2001, the FHWA leadership created the Construction Quality Improvement Team to address these challenges. The publication, Construction Program Management and Inspection Guide, is a product of that effort. This guide highlights the FHWA roles and resources to assist the State in delivering a quality construction program. The guide was developed to assist the FHWA field engineers in maintaining and improving technical competence and in selecting a balanced program of construction management techniques. Participants in the workshop have expressed their satisfaction in the learning experience and frequently share comments such as these:

• "Good to hear how other divisions are doing things."
• "Good interaction between the division office and their State Counterparts during this training."
• "There were several engineers new to Federal-aid who especially appreciated the workshop."
• "The division office will be revising our stewardship agreement with the State DOT this year, and construction oversight will probably change based on this workshop and other factors."
• "The workshop generated good discussion of the topics and interaction among the participants."

Copies of these course materials were transmitted to each field office by Mr. King W. Gee's memorandum dated July 29, 2004. If your division/State has not availed itself of this workshop, I encourage you to do so. If you or your State would like to have a return presentation, we are available to fill that request.

To schedule a Construction Program Management and Inspection Guide Workshop for your office, State, or for more details, please contact one of the workshop Co-Leaders: Jeff Lewis, Field Operations Team Leader, California Division, (916) 498-5035, Rob Elliott, Construction and Project Management Team Leader, Resource Center, (404) 562-3941 or Ken Jacoby, Construction Quality Management Engineer, Headquarters, (202) 366-6503. Also, if you have one or more persons on your staff that would like to be involved in delivering this material, please ask them to call either of the Team Leaders noted above.

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