Developing and Executing Consultant Contracts

Anna Ryazantseva, Process Improvement Intern

April 22, 2013 

 Update: March 6, 2014

A new Consultant Pre-qualification process is being actively implemented for all Consultants and will be completed by July 1, 2014.  This Pre-qualification will ensure all consultants are listed on the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT’s) Master Pricing Agreement, and that they will provide company financial information for review at the time of Pre-qualification.  This step is important because it will eliminate the individual contract audit activities which account for approximately 10 to 14 days of the current cycled time for the consultant contracting process.  This reduction, when fully implemented in July, will account for an additional 15% (approximate) reduction in cycle time for the process of contracting for consultant services.

And, an additional cycle time savings of approximately 15% will come from various automated process improvements that are being integrated into CDOT’s primary computer system, SAP.

Situation Overview

The Developing and Executing Consultant Contracts process is an important step in efficiently delivering CDOT’s construction program and properly managing a large portion of CDOT funds. The process had many steps that made it long and complicated, and resulted in long cycle times of up to six months; the process needed to be improved. The effort to improve the process resulted in a 42% reduction in steps overall and cut the cycle time down to three months.

Project Personnel

Project Sponsor: Tim Harris, Chief Engineer

Sponsor Coalition: Tim Harris, Chief Engineer; John Eddy, CMA Branch Manager; Laurie Freedle, OFMB Budget Manager; Reza Akhavan/ Robert Hayley, Region 6 RTD, Heidi Bimmerle, DOHRA Director

Project Team: Ed Archuleta, Region 5 Program Engineer; Lillian Bourne, Region 1 Business Manager; Mark Andrew, Region 2 Resident Engineer; Martha Miller, Region 3 Resident Engineer; Ina Zisman, Region 4 Traffic Engineer; Steve Giampaolo, Engineering Contracts; Rick Erjavec, Region 6 Resident Engineer; Bill Ludwig, Audit; Kyle Lester, Region 5 Maintenance

Mentor: Gary Vansuch, Process Improvement Director

What did the Team do?

During the Rapid Improvement Event (RIE), the Consultant Contracting process was mapped out for the first time. The project team found that the contract cycle best case scenario included 157 steps and a worst case scenario included a whopping 351 steps. They found that most steps did not add value to the customers. The process contained too many hand-offs and was inefficient in mitigating errors in contract documents. Because of this, contracts were often reworked, over-processed, and consequently delayed.

Consultant Group

Consultant Group

By the end of the RIE, the team had a future state that consisted of 91 steps with an 87% reduction in steps that did not add value to the customer. The improved process focuses on reducing redundancies in authorizations and reviews. The future state of the process clearly defines the division of units and their corresponding responsibilities to help with tracking and accountability within the process. In addition to mapping a future state, the team also developed a list of action items designed to facilitate the implementation of the improved process. These action items include tasks such as modifying the current website and developing standard methods for various sub-processes.

Targeted Outcomes

The project team’s primary focus was making the Developing and Executing Consultant Contracts process fair and transparent.  Their goals for the future process included a more equitable distribution of work and better tracking of funds. They charted three targeted outcomes that included:

Improvement Opportunities

Using the targeted outcomes as guidelines, the team identified several improvement opportunities that involved evaluating certain aspects of the process, standardizing it, and optimizing it. Some important improvements the team believed would better the process included:

The team developed ideas for several strategies, revised tools and templates, and developed processes that aimed to eliminate wasteful activities and ultimately, streamline a process that was burdensome for customers.

Implementation

The project team divided the implementation into three phases. The first phase consisted of quick action items, many of which have been completed, some of which have been moved to the second phase. Several action items in the second implementation phase have been completed ahead of schedule. Overall, the project team is on-schedule with implementation and hopes to have an improved process in place in early 2014.

Final Thoughts

The Developing and Executing Consultant Contracts project team members are working diligently on implementing improvements to the process of developing and executing consultant contracts. The improved process will be fair, transparent, and less demanding of the internal and external customers. Improvements will reduce contract cycle times and potentially reduce costs for customers. The project teams’ efforts to improve the Consultant Contracts process illustrates CDOT’s initiative of everyone, every day, improving every process and every product for every customer.