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Partnership Agreement for the Cooperative Development of Highway Construction Courses
Among the Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council (TCCC)
And the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Office of Infrastructure
And the Federal Highway Administration, National Highway Institute (NHI)
Background
In continuing the partnership and commitment to support the training and certification of transportation construction personnel, this Agreement will enable the TCCC, the FHWA Office of Infrastructure and the NHI to support an integrated, coordinated framework to develop, deliver, and sponsor a core set of joint transportation courses to meet the needs of transportation construction personnel. The NHI was created specifically to develop and administer training programs and instruction, in cooperation with State departments of transportation (DOT), for employees of FHWA and State and local transportation departments involved in or soon to be involved in Federal-aid transportation work.
The Office of Asset Management initiated an FHWA-led pooled fund study "Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council (TCCC) Training Management and Development" in April 2002. The purpose of this study is to facilitate management of the TCCC at the national level and for the development of curriculum and core training materials identified by the TCCC technical panel. The TCCC is working to ensure that a qualified transportation work force will be available to meet the needs in the materials, construction, and maintenance arena. As part of this 5-year effort to support the TCCC, activities were identified to aid in reducing the duplication of efforts among the transportation industry while revising and developing identified core training materials and short courses. Among these activities, core curriculum materials will be identified under direction of the TCCC and fully developed under an FHWA NHI contract to address national and regional needs. - Purpose
This Agreement establishes a voluntary partnership among the TCCC, the FHWA Office of Infrastructure and NHI to foster long-term coordination and cooperation. It will identify each entities' roles and responsibilities in developing, delivering, funding, marketing and
administering a core set of transportation training courses for the benefit of our mutual Federal, State, local and private sector transportation customers. The intent is to enhance customer service by offering a fully integrated training program, encompassing the products and services of both training organizations and delivering them through a fully coordinated, unified process that minimizes the visibility and impact of the different organizational structures and charters of those training organizations.
The signatories to this Agreement pledge to work together and follow these guiding principles:
- Maximize resources through concerted efforts in the process of training needs identification and training course development;
- Increase the skills and abilities of personnel in the transportation construction industry;
- Promote uniformity in training content and qualification requirements in high quality transportation courses for our mutual multimodal customer bases;
- Share training and qualification materials and techniques with our partners
- Maximize usage of AASHTO standards in training development;
- Contribute equitably to assure success;
- Collaborate on the development and delivery of training courses, without negatively affecting any agency's Program; and
- Market all core courses through a unified, coordinated process.
Scope
The parties to this Agreement will agree to work together to:
Work together for the development of training materials, using the TCCC to identify priorities for use of pooled funds, and NHI and other mechanisms for the course development. Establish subject matter experts to serve on "Technical Panels" to advise on individual course content, and assist in soliciting contractor support, including reviewing contractors' proposals for the development and delivery of courses; and selecting the most qualified contractors and/or Federal instructors to deliver the courses. Through procedures developed by the NHI, these Technical Panels will oversee the development and substance of materials for individual training courses. The composition of the Technical Panels may include representatives from:
- FHWA
- TCCC
- State DOTs
- Industry
- National Partnership for Highway Quality
- Other appropriate agencies
- Stakeholder/advocacy groups, where appropriate
Promote the use of jointly developed materials by partner agencies and other organizations. As with all publicly available information, ensure that course materials are available to both TCCC and NHI for training and certification purposes, regardless of which agency funded and/or developed them, and regardless of separate approaches of the agencies in the areas of budgeting and cost recovery. Ensure that the courses are jointly and proactively advertised to target audiences and are easily identified and accessible to our customers. Collaborate on identifying and implementing a common set of outcome measures for assessing the effectiveness of the training programs. Collaborate in identifying and implementing a common set of evaluation criteria and assessment instruments for rating the performance of individual course offerings.
- Statement of Work
The consensus of the parties involved in this Agreement will be required to address the following issues.
Appoint qualified subject matter experts to Technical Panels to advise on the technical content of individual training courses. The NHI's Training Program Manager will serve as the Contracting Officers Technical Representative for the contracting process. The NHI supports the Technical Panels' involvement in "selecting" the contractor support, by serving on evaluation committees, reviewing proposals, interviewing finalists, etc. Increase coordinated marketing efforts of transportation courses to our customers. The needs and scope of each marketing effort will be tailored to the course, and determined by consensus among all parties. Acknowledge each party on the mutually developed courses to underscore a unified curriculum. Collaborate on course evaluation processes for courses.
- Principal Contacts
The principal agency contacts for this Agreement are:
New Enqland Transportation Technician Certification Program
Leo Stevens
NETTCP
84 Moatview Rd
North Conway, NH 03860
Phone: 781-837-2680
Fax: 781-837-2683
E-mail: lstevensjr@adelphia.net
Mid-Atlantic Regional Training and Certification Program
Woody Hood
Regional Materials Engineer
Maryland State Highway Administration 2323 West Joppa Road
Brooklandville, MD 21022
Phone: 410-321-4100
Fax: 410-321-3099
E-mail: whood@sha.state.md.us
Southeast Task Force for Technician Training and Qualification
Tom Malerk
State Materials Engineer
Florida Department of Transportation
5007 NE 39th Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32609
Phone: 352-955-6620
Fax: 352-955-6623
E-mail: tom.malerk@dot.state.fl.us
Multi Regional Training and Certification
Chris Anderson
Technical Training & Certification Coordinator
Iowa Department of Transportation
800 Lincoln Way
Ames, IA 50010
Phone: 515-239-1819
Fax: 515-239-1092
E-mail: Christie.Anderson@dot.state.ia.us
Western Alliance for Quality Transportation Construction
Linda J. Hughes
Construction Training Coordinator
Washington Department of Transportation MS 47365
1655 South 2nd Avenue
Tumwater, WA 98504-7365
Phone: 360-709-5412
Fax: 360-709-5588
Email: HugheL@wsdot.wa.gov
Federal Highway Administration, Office of Asset Management
Chris Newman
400 7th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590
Phone: 202-366-2023
Fax: 202-366-9981
E-Mail: christopher.newman@fhwa.dot.gov
Federal Highway Administration, National Highway Institute
John Taylor
4600 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 800
Arlington, VA 20003
Phone: 703-235-0524
Fax: 703-235-0593
E-Mail: john.taylor@fhwa.dot.gov
Special Provisions
Non-Funds Obligating Document. This Agreement is neither a fiscal nor a funds obligation document. Any endeavor involving reimbursement or contribution of funds among the parties of the Agreement will be handled in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and procedures, including those for Government procurement and printing. Such endeavors will be outlined in separate agreements that shall be made in writing by representatives of the parties and shall be independently authorized by appropriate statutory authority. This Agreement does not provide such authority. Specifically, this Agreement does not establish authority for noncompetitive award to the cooperator of any contract or other agreement. Any contract or agreement for training or other services must fully comply with all applicable requirements for competition. Participation in Similar Activities. This Agreement in no way restricts any signatory from participating in similar activities with other public or private agencies, organizations, and individuals.
- Approvals
/s/ original signed by on 5/13/04
Alan Perkins, President
New England Transportation Technician Certification Program
/s/ original signed by on 5/13/04
Christopher Bowker, Executive Director
New England Transportation Technician Certification Program
/s/ original signed by on 5/24/04
Woody Hood, Regional Materials Engineer, MDSHA
Mid-Atlantic Regional Training and Certification Program
/s/ original signed by on 5/26/04
Tom Malerk, State Materials Engineer, Florida DOT
Southeast Task Force for Technician Training and Qualification
/s/ original signed by on 6/1/04
Chris Anderson, Technical Training & Certification Coordinator, Iowa DOT
Multi Regional Training and Certification
/s/ original signed by on 6/7/04
Linda Hughes, Construction Training Coordinator
Washington DOT Western Alliance for Quality Transportation Construction
/s/ original signed by on 5/18/04
David R. Geiger, Director, Office of Asset Management
Federal Highway Administration
/s/ original signed by on 6/28/04
Moges Ayele, Director, National Highway Institute
Federal Highway Administration
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