Meeting Notes

RAC Leadership Teleconference

1:30 – 3:30 Eastern time,July 6, 2010

Participants: Sandra Larson (chair), Clint Adler, Jeffrey Brown, Mara Campbell, Ron Curb,Chris Hedges, Chris Jenks, Tim Klein, Wes Lum,Jim McDonnell,Tommy Nantung, Leni Oman, Dale Peabody,Sue Sillick,Daniel Yeh.

Decisions and action items are underscored.

1:30 Role Call

Minutes from last meeting

A MOTION (Ron Curb/Dale Peabody) to approve the minutes was PASSED.

1:35 Old Business

AASHTO Report:

Jim McDonnell reported that the SHRP 2 Oversight Panel met 17-18 June to discuss project status and upcoming implementation plans. Representatives from each of the four Technical Coordinating Committees presented plans for implementation activities budgeted at $29 million that could be initiated right away.

An AASHTO staff position has been advertised for SHRP 2 Implementation Manager; Margie Sherriff is leading FHWA implementation efforts and Jerry Dimaggio is the SHRP 2 implementation staff officer.

AASHTO experts participated in a recent conference call with Senate Environment and Public Works committee staff to discuss bridge-related topics of Senator Oberstar’s authorization bill.

AASHTO DOT experts are reviewing a number of current federal proposed rulemaking including one from the Environmental Protection Agency dealingwith coal ash, fly ash, and slag. AASHTO wants to make sure the rules encourage beneficial uses of the materials such as recycling and are not restricted to safe disposal practices.

Mara Campbell asked Jim about AASHTO’s position on proposed new OMB reporting requirements. Mara noted that starting in October, OMB will require more detailed reporting on all federal aid projects. Following up on Mara’s question, Jim provided a briefing paper on OMB’s request for additional information on federal-aid projects (see attachment 1). This briefing was recently provided to the SCOFA Subcommittee on Fiscal Management and Accounting.AASHTO’s finance division (Jack Basso and Joung Lee) has a consultant working on getting additional clarification from FHWA and OMB and will get back to us in a couple of weeks.

Regarding AASHTO’s efforts on this issue, Joung Lee in AASHTO’s finance division had the following to say:

Back in early/mid 2009, AASHTO pointed out the burdensome nature of the supposedly "temporary" ARRA accountability and data collection requirements, but the letter went essentially unheeded by OMB. AASHTO plans to continue to take up this issue and explain the real-world cost and implementation impacts to state DOTs by drafting a letter listing all the state DOTs concerns, having it reviewed by SCOFA (and other Committees are welcome), and having it signed by SCOFA Chair Nancy Richardson. There is no guarantee that this will elicit a favorable response from OMB, since this is a federal-government-wide mandate.

Leni noted that the latest annual solicitation forAASHTOWARE software support was distributed to state DOT CEOs on June 18th.

RAC has asked drafted text for a plaque to commemorate Ken Kobetsky’s many contributions to RAC. The plaque is being prepared by AASHTO staff and will be presented at Ken’s retirement party on July 16th. Jim will check the status and make sure it is ready by that date. Jim will also check to see if any RAC or SCOR members will be attending the party (possibly Gary Allen) who could present the plaque to Ken.

TRB Report:

Chris Jenks reported that 7 new CRP publications have been released in the past month.

  • Joint NCHRP 649/NCFRP Report 3 - “Separation of Vehicles -- CMV-Only Lanes”;
  • NCHRP 658 – “Guidebook on Risk Analysis Tools and Management Practices to Control Transportation Project Costs”;
  • ACRP 32 – “Guidebook for Addressing Aircraft/Wildlife Hazards at General Aviation Airports”;
  • ACRP Legal Digest 9 – “Case Studies on Community Challenges to Airport Development”;
  • ACRP Synthesis 19 – “Airport Revenue Diversification”;
  • TCRP Web Doc 48 - “Ground-Borne Noise and Vibration in Buildings Caused by Rail Transit”;
  • TCRP synthesis 85 – “Effective Use of Citizen Advisory Committees for Transit Planning and Operations”.

The AASHTO Board of Directors has approved all FY2011 NCHRP projects. A solicitation for FY2012 problem statements will be sent in the next day or two; the deadline for submission will be Sept. 15.

$31.9 million of a total committed $38 million has now been received from the states for the FY2010 NCHRP program. Chris will send reminder to RAC members who states have not yet sent in their contributions.

June 15 was the deadline for TCRP problem statements. 97 were received, which is about average. A screening panel meets in August and the TCRP governing board meets in October to select projects for funding.

The ACRP (Airport) governing board meets on July 18-19 to pick FY2011 projects.

The Freight and Hazmat Cooperative Research Programs issued a joint solicitation for problem statements; the deadline for submissions is July 31st.

TRB’s Policy Studies division will be conducting two new studies on (1) unintended acceleration of motor vehicles, and (2) causes of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

RITA Report:

RITA is soliciting information and descriptions (white papers) for activities to validate initiatives in support of the U.S. DOT Commercial Remote Sensing & Spatial Information Technologies program for transportation infrastructure development and construction. White papers are due by 4:15 PM, EDT, July 15, 2010.

RITA and FHWA are seeking proposals for: ongoing innovative research on intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications to improve environmental performance, and possible development of new applications; capturing and managing real-time data that are relevant to environmental applications development and performance measurement; and ongoing development and enhancement of evaluation techniques, performance measurement, and technologies to capture environmentally-relevant data. Proposals are due by 4:00 PM, EDT, on July 16, 2010.

UTRC is pleased to announce the initiation of an online distance education program in transportation, the Transportation Leadership Graduate Certificate Program (TLGC) sponsored by the regional university transportation centers. See:

FHWA Report:

The FHWA Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program released a broad agency announcement (DTFH61-10-R-00036) for proposals in three topics: (1) Agent-based modeling and simulation for transportation; (2) Breakthrough approaches for network level travel data; and (3) national transportation demand model: foundational research for new approaches. Proposals are due September 30, 2010, with awards anticipated in 2011. The EAR Program plans to award around $5 million to proposals responding to the solicitation. For more information about the topics and proposal requirements, see FedBizOpps.The EAR Program anticipates announcing additional topics in the fall with a due date in 2011. If you have questions about the EAR Program, please contact Terry Halkyard at (202) 493-3467 or or David Kuehn at (202) 493-3414 or .

A recent Federal Register notice announced the FY11 Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program (STEP). In anticipation of future surface transportation legislation, FHWA is requesting suggested lines of research for the FY 2011 STEP (to be submitted by September 30 via the STEP Web site at

2:00 New Business

Task Force Updates

For the latest TF Updates:

Coordination and Collaboration (Sue Sillick). A survey of state research funding programs has been completed; all but 2 states responded (see attachment 2). The information will be used to update the Directory of funding sources on the TRB Website at

RITA is helping to integrate the committee’s SharePoint website into their own; they hope to roll out the revised site in September. WTI has received funding to develop a web tool for searching UTC (whether they are federally funded or not) research capabilities, including expertise areas and facilities. Regional chairs should let their members know that the committee is happy to receive new members.

Transportation Knowledge NetworksTask Force (Leni Oman). A TKN national meeting was held in conjunction with the SLA and TRB LIST committee meetings in New Orleans on June 17. The meeting was hosted by the NTL with support from the Library Connectivity pooled fund study (Wisconsin lead state). There were about 35-40 attendees. The committee is working on a strategic plan for the national and regional TKNs. The committee doesn’t expect a high attendance in Kansas City, but those available will use the time to share information about the definition and benefits of TKNs. Leni was asked how the development and expansion of TKNs will proceed in absence of funding and direction from federal legislation. Leni would like to engage the RAC leadership on this topic and create an informal advisory group, as recommended in TRB Special Report SR284. Leni noted that activities are building on the recommendations of NCHRP 643 which outlines a framework for building and coordinating TKNs.

The western TKN has initiated a survey with the TRB data section to identify priority data resources to which access should be facilitated and improved.

The TKN task force helped to shape two new problem statements that were funded in NCHRP 2011 program. The committee is reviewing a web tool developed through NCHRP 636, and is exploring the development of a process to automate the input of additional information, and to index the site with additional commonly-used search terms.

Funding Task Force (Daniel Yeh)The committee has recently developed a draft workplan which has been distributed to the RAC officers. The plan has six main focus areas (see attachment3). They will use the RAC national meeting to assign tasks to its members and initiate action on the plan. The committee will follow-up on funding aspects of reauthorization when it takes place. Chris Jenks noted that as committee Chair, Daniel will be added to an ad hoc RAC/SCOR working group formed by AASHTO to support funding needs in authorization. Sandra suggested that they also review the SCOR strategic plan for other possible activities. Regional chairs are asked to encourage their members to consider joining the funding task force..

Leni mentioned a bipartisan committee that is examining federal government finance issues. As yet there is no specific statement about scientific research funding, but research has been mentioned in the media as an area that should be reviewed and that all programs will be subject to changes. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform website is (

Value of Research(Mara Campbell). The committee is reviewing a draft second edition of a brochure highlighting the value of research to senior executives. A revised draft will be available at the national RAC meeting in Kansas City. Daniel Yeh would like to have copies for distribution to newly elected officials in his state after the coming elections. Chris Jenks will take this into account when determining print runs. Regional chairs are asked to determine how many copies each RAC member would like to have. Chris will check the print run for the previous edition.

Over 100 high-value research submittals have been received for the national meeting; these will be compiled in booklet format for distribution in Kansas City. A matrix of performance measures has been developed; some are appropriate for projects, some are targeted at the program level.

Program Management and Quality (Tommy Nantung). The Committee has been inactive since the last Officers’ meeting.

Administration Task Force (Chris Hedges). Skip Paul has distributed a draft mentoring program for new RAC members. RAC officersare asked to provide comments to Skip at the earliest opportunity.

Peer ExchangeWebinar Update

No update.

Summer 2010 RAC Meeting, July 26 – 30, 2010, Kansas City, MO

There are 85 registrants so far; 100 are needed to break even. Some members have to wait for the new fiscal year before they can request travel approval. It was recommended that these members make a hotel reservation as soon as possible and cancel it if travel approval is not granted. RAC 101 has been moved to a Monday evening session. The RAC regional meetings are listed as closed meetings in the program, but chairs are free to remove that restriction if desired.

Summer 2011 RAC meeting, July 25 – 28 2011, Salt Lake City, UT

Clint Adler reported that a contract has been signed with the Little American Hotel in Salt Lake City for the 2011 meeting. Region 4 will begin preliminary planning during the Kansas City meeting.

CUTC Liaison Group

Wes Lum distributed latest draft of MOU (see attachment4). Wes noted that the MOU is focused at high level national activities and does not deal with individual state DOT-UTC activities.

The first part of the RAC-CUTC session at the annual meeting will be limited to CUTC Liaison Group members, RAC Officers, and CUTC executives. This opening session will focus on the MOU, looking for common ground and clarifying the roles of each party. The second part will be open to all. Tim Klein has been asked to moderate the second half of the session; and Sandra Larson and Bob Plymale will present overviews of the purpose, role, and activities of RAC and CUTC. Sue Sillick asked that there be coordination with theCoordination and Collaboration Task Force to facilitate these two groups working together when addressing overlapping issues.

RiP/TRIS Proposal

The Coordination and Collaboration Task Force is working with Barbara Post on a review of RIP project status categories; recommendations are pending to define and possibly consolidate some categories (e.g. elimination of “suggested” status).

3:30 Adjourn

Next Conf Call:Thursday, August 122010

Attachment 1.

Implications for State DOTs of Stricter Federal Funding Accountability and

Transparency Act Data Reporting Requirements

Briefing Paper

June 24, 2010

Executive Summary: Under the federal Transparency Act of 2006, OMB has announced that it intends to require USDOT to collect and report information to the public about the amount, purpose and location of individual federally-funded project contracts awarded by state DOTs after October 1, 2010. The intent of the Transparency Act is to improve governmental accountability. Project information will be displayed in a searchable database at OMB’s USAspending.gov website. Reporting requirements are separate from those required for ARRA.

OMB has yet to finalize details about what Transparency Act data must be collected and how it must be reported from state DOTs to USDOT, but state DOTs can expect to hear from their federal counterparts this summer about plans for a data collection system to meet the Transparency Act reporting requirements.

The new Transparency Act reporting process is likely to require state DOTs to submit quarterly electronic project award reports. Most or all of the data in these reports is already required as part of DOTs’ FMIS and ARRA Section 1512 reports and it is possible that Transparency Act reporting could somehow be combined with quarterly ARRA reporting. The level of additional effort needed to meet the new reporting requirements should be modest – relative to current ARRA reporting - because Transparency Act requirements only affect new awards and do not appear to require ongoing reporting over the life of a project. Transparency Act reporting will, however, be required on a permanent basis.

AASHTO can help ensure that procedures for meeting Transparency Act data collection are based as much as possible on existing procedures and electronic reporting systems, such as FMIS and RADS, rather than “reinventing the wheel.”

Key Dates May 2010 – OMB draft guidance on standard award term and condition language for the collection and reporting of information.

July 2010 – OMB draft guidance on system architecture for reporting.

Aug 2010 – Final OMB guidance published.

Sept 2010 – Federal agencies revise their systems.

Oct 1, 2010 – New requirements go into effect.

Background

The Transparency Act of 2006 - The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Transparency Act) of 2006 mandates disclosure to the public about awards of federal funds. Its purpose is to improve the transparency and accountability of government to the public. The Office of Management and Budget has responsibility for implementing the Transparency Act’s requirements. The most visible impact of the Transparency Act to date is the usaspending.gov website which was launched in January 2008 and which offers a searchable database of federalaward information.

OMB’s Current Transparency Act Data Reporting Requirements – Given the complexity of providing clear, accurate and comprehensive reporting on federal awards made by dozens of major federal agencies and hundreds of smaller federal agencies, OMB has focused its initial efforts to implement the Transparency Act on gathering and reporting information about federal awards made to prime recipients, such as to a state DOT. Information reported includes: