"This is a report on a research agenda to better inform future societal decisions on ocean CDR [carbon dioxide removal]; the Committee is not advocating either for or against possible future ocean CDR deployments, and the Committee recognizes that ocean CDR would, at best, complement the role of climate mitigation approaches including decarbonization"--Page viii.
This synthesis will be of interest to administrators, personnel officers, and others interested in methods for upgrading capabilities of DOT employees through training and development. Information is provided on programs and processes used by states for recruitment, training (both for new employees and for retraining of existing employees), and management and career development. High rates of retirement and a shrinking supply of civil engineering graduates mean that state DOTs need to expand and improve their professional staffs to meet an increasing workload. This report of the Transportation Research Board describes the programs used by states to recruit new employees, train them, develop their capabilities, and provide management and career development opportunities.
NCHRP Report 662 describes how selected transportation agencies have reduced the time required to complete the project delivery process. This process takes new or renewed transportation facilities and services from conception to completion, ready for users. Project delivery is a primary indicator of an agency's effectiveness. Individual highway and other transportation projects are developed under programs intended to implement agency and legislative initiatives and other public policy. The way programs are organized and managed can determine the speed and efficiency of project development. Accelerating program functions can speed up project delivery. This report describes the experiences of eight state departments of transportation (DOTs) that made improvements in their project delivery and the lessons to be learned from their experiences. The information will be useful to DOT managers seeking to ensure that their agencies' organization, policies, and program operations facilitate project delivery.
This synthesis report will be of interest to department of transportation (DOT) preconstruction engineering supervisors and program managers, contract administrators, and project managers. It will also be of interest to engineering consultants who do work for state DOTs. It describes current practice in contracting with consultants for DOT preconstruction engineering work. The synthesis documents the practices in all stages involved with obtaining consulting services, from the initial designation of projects for consultant work to project completion and acceptance procedures. The study also collected the views of selected consultants on DOT practices. Information for the synthesis was collected by surveying U. S. transportation agencies and by conducting a literature search. This report of the Transportation Research Board provides information on the history and trends in outsourcing of preconstruction engineering activities and compares current levels with those found a decade earlier. The steps in the procurement and management of consulting services are provided in detail. These include deciding on when and what to contract out and the selection, negotiation, and consultant management activities that follow. Finally, the appendixes contain numerous samples of collected forms and procedures used by a variety of states to accomplish this work.
