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One LTAP Strategic Plan Implemented
57 Ways
by Anna K. Bennett
The U.S. Department of Transportation, like other agencies of the federal government, is mandated by the Government Performance and Results Act to develop and implement a strategic plan. This article describes how one modest-sized Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) program that is administered through 57 different organizations in the United States and Puerto Rico is succeeding in implementing its strategic plan. The multifaceted approach suggests a number of creative ways that others may want to consider in putting their strategic plans into action. The Local Technical Assistance
Program LTAP is modeled on the agricultural extension system. Technology transfer (T2) centers, located at state DOTs or universities, link technical innovations in transportation at the federal and state levels to local agencies. The LTAP T2 centers provide low-cost or free training; publish newsletters; circulate publications, videotapes, and software; and offer technical assistance on transportation topics for local agency personnel. There are now 57 LTAP T2 centers, one in every state, one in Puerto Rico, and six Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) centers serving Native American tribal governments.
Developing the Strategic
Plan
The plan was produced in a bottom-up process with wide participation from LTAP's partners. Cheri Trenda, director of the Minnesota Technology Transfer Program, headed the committee that developed the national LTAP Strategic Plan. Other committee members represented the American Public Works Association (APWA), the National Association of County Engineers (NACE), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Intertribal Transportation Association (ITA), the LTAP and TTAP T2 centers, the Federal Transit Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and FHWA. The mission of LTAP, as developed in the strategic planning process, is "to foster a safe, efficient, environmentally sound transportation system by improving skills and knowledge of local transportation providers through training, technical assistance, and technology transfer." The strategic plan provides a vision for the future and identifies goals and strategies that involve international, national, tribal, state, and local interests.
Beginning Implementation
The implementation committee began its work by identifying actions the LTAP T2 centers could take to implement the national plan:
None of these activities is mandated. The T2 centers join in the implementation effort on a voluntary basis. Encouraging Centers to Plan
To help the centers do their own strategic planning, the implementation committee directed preparation of an LTAP Strategic Planning Workbook. The workbook presents a simple, 12-step approach to strategic planning, designed to take advantage of the effort that LTAP partners put into developing the national plan.
The workbook encourages each T2 center to use the strategic planning process to reach out to its current and potential stakeholders and to seek their agreement on the center's goals and strategies for the next five years. It recommends streamlining the strategic planning process by using appropriate elements of the national plan (selected from the statements of vision, mission, goals, strategies, and actions) as first drafts for the center's strategic planning committee to review and, where needed, tailor to meet the specific circumstances of their center. Sample strategic planning documents from five centers - Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Texas - are included in the workbook. Strategic Planning at the
Annual Conference The LTAP Strategic Planning Workbook was first presented to the centers in a conference session on "How to Develop a Strategic Plan for Your LTAP Center." In another session, participants heard about "Developing Measures to Evaluate the National LTAP Strategic Plan." Center Strategic Planning
Recognizing that some centers may want help in following the steps outlined in the workbook, the implementation committee recruited a cadre of peer consultants in T2 center strategic planning. The peer consultants had experience both in managing LTAP or TTAP T2 centers and in strategic planning. A training session in the 12-step process detailed in the LTAP Strategic Planning Workbook was held for the peer consultants following the 1997 annual conference. The peer consultants are now available to provide assistance via e-mail, fax, telephone, and, if needed, visits to centers. Partnering Local chapters of national associations, such as APWA, and state associations of county engineers figured prominently on many centers' lists of potential partners. As a result, the National Association of Transportation Technology Transfer Centers has begun working with both APWA and NACE to develop partnering agreements at the national level and to encourage the development of agreements between individual T2 centers and their local APWA chapters and state associations of county engineers. The national-level agreements will suggest, but not mandate, a range of activities for individual T2 centers and local chapters of the associations to consider in negotiating their own agreements. Measuring Performance
The results and lessons learned are to be applied to improve the program. The implementation committee created a Measurement Task Force, composed of five of its members, who represent AASHTO, NACE, and three T2 centers, to:
The Measurement Task Force recommended changes to the annual profiles in which the centers report their activities. With these changes, the profiles will provide the needed data on improvements in the quality and utility of LTAP products and services and in the quality of their delivery, without significantly increasing the centers' reporting burden. The proposed revisions to the profiles were circulated to all the T2 centers and approved at the 1997 Annual LTAP Conference. The revised profiles have been used to collect data since Jan. 1, 1998. Paralleling the approach taken to encourage center strategic planning, the Measurement Task Forces recommended the development of products to enable centers to measure their performance in five key areas: training, needs assessment, market reach and communication, cost-benefit analysis, and partnering. The LTAP Strategic Planning Workbook will be expanded to provide guidance to the centers on measuring performance in these areas. Many centers have already developed effective instruments for evaluating training and for assessing customer needs. Samples of these will be included in the expanded workbook. The Measurement Task Force also recommended that center staff be offered training in the methods of performance measurement, as described in the workbook, especially in the area of cost-benefit analysis. Another recommendation of the task force was to create a new, permanent committee on benchmarking that would look at and learn from what other organizations are doing in technology transfer. Conclusion Copies of the LTAP Strategic Plan: Partners for Change may be obtained from the FHWA Report Center; fax your request to (301) 577-1421. Copies of the LTAP Strategic Planning Workbook may be obtained from the APWA T2 Clearinghouse; fax your request to (202) 737-9153. For more information about implementation of the LTAP strategic plan, contact Anna Bennett at FHWA Region 9, (415) 744-2616. Dr. Anna K. Bennett is on temporary assignment with FHWA to work on implementation of the national LTAP Strategic Plan by LTAP partners and T2 centers. She is on loan from the University of California, where she directed the California LTAP. Before joining the University of California in 1989, she directed the T2 center at Arizona State University.
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