Office of Environmental Services
Consultant Document (CE, EA, FONSI & Env. Special Studies) Review Process
Effective January 2015
Goal: To obtain on-time quality environmental documents with only one review in less than 30 calendar days (CD). All team members (OES and consultant) should make every effort to avoid a second review.
Objectives:
*Quality Environmental Documents
*On Time Project Delivery
*Highly Accountable Team of Environmental Professionals (OES & consultant)
*Stronger Partnership
Purpose of the below procedure is to provide a strategic approach for environmental document requiring more than one review.
On Time 1st Review should not take more than 30 days (including all reviewers). Consultants must provide their complete QA/QC review package separately with all report submittals transmitted to GDOT, even if no comments were provided. The separate QA/QC review package should accompany each draft submittal regardless of whether it was submitted to GDOT in electronic or hard copy format.
Possible Outcomes of the 1st reviewand Next Steps:
Outcome / Next StepA / No comment / OES Reviewer will submit document to FHWA or other agency or notify the consultant to submit document to FHWA or other agency (as applicable).
B / Minor comments / OES Reviewer will coordinate with consultant to inform them that the document will be sent back for correction and submit the corrected document within 7 CD**.
C / Significant comments / OES Reviewer will set up a phone meeting with the consultant to discuss all comments and/or an immediate escalation meeting with the GDOT PM and Prime Consultant. Revised document should be submitted within 7 CD**.
On time 2nd Review should not take more than 15 days (including all reviewers); may take up to 20 days, if Workshop is required as a part of the 2nd review. Second review will be the review of the comments from the first review + any added information. Each consultant report after the 1st submittal must include a disposition of comments/errata sheet that outlines how the consultant addressed each GDOT comment. The disposition of comments/errata sheet will facilitate quicker staff review. If the reviewer notices that something significant was left out during the first review, then this should be discussed with the AOH (Assistant Office Head) and the reviewer should call the consultant to inform them about what was missed during the first review. It’s essential that the corrections are made.
Possible Outcomes of the 2nd reviewand Next Steps:
Outcome / Next StepA / No comment / OES Reviewer will submit document to FHWA or other agency or notify the consultant to submit document to FHWA or other agency (as applicable).
B / Very minor comments / OES Reviewer will coordinate with consultant to inform them that the document will be sent for some minor corrections and submit the corrected document within 7 CD**. This option should only be used if the reviewer & writer are confident that the corrections can be made quickly without a “Workshop”.
C / Significant comments / Workshop * Outcome of the workshop = GDOT approved document
*Current GDOT project schedules do not allow for multiple review cycles. Therefore, multiple reviews must be avoided for on time project delivery. If the document is not approved after the second review, the Assistant Office Head will be informed and the consultant will be invited to attend a “workshop" within 7 CD to meet our goal of obtaining a quality environmental document. The consultant should bring all information needed to correct/re-write the document. The Prime Consultant and GDOT PM will be invited to the workshop. All corrections must be completed during workshop. The document must be submitted to FHWA or other agency within 2 days of the workshop (2 days are allowed for printing/copying/mailing).
**For an effective application of this process, GDOT and consultants must work as a team to obtain on time quality environmental documents. The expectation of turnaround, to meet schedule deadlines, is approximately a week, but could be less time or more time depending on project specifics. Turnarounds taking longer than one week should be the exception not the rule. If document turnaround/review time will affect the schedule the issues must be documented and coordinated with the GDOT Project Manager. GDOT PM or Consultant must include a reason for delay for any late submittals in the transmittal letter.
Permit & BV applications and PCNs will be continued to be prepared, reviewed and transmitted within 6-8 weeks.