Overview
Mission of the PM Department:
The Program Management (PM) Department, which was created in September 2010 primarily in response to Measure R, is the oversight component of Measure R projects in addition to other projects that are ongoing. The PM Department provides an impartial early warning of issues and risks which may impact the budget or scheduling issues on a project. The PM Department is also responsible for overseeing cost estimation, project controls, and configuration management for projects, in addition to establishing consistent standards and tools for project management across MTA.
Goals of the PM Department:
Short Term Goals:
- Provide transparency and accountability to all stakeholders (MTA Board, management, staff and the public) as to the status of MTA and Construction Authority projects
- Provide a rigorous and consistent approach to cost, schedule, and configuration management services for MTA construction projects
- Develop enhanced tools and processes for the management of the highway program
- Establish integrated and expedited project delivery processes and teams to ensure all project activities are coordinated with appropriate interdepartmental resources (Countywide Planning, Transit Project Delivery, Highway Programs, Operations, Regional Communications, and others).
- Provide support for the Project Management Information System (PMIS), including a public-facing web component
- Increase the level of oversight for the Exposition and Foothill Construction Authorities
- Coordinate with contractors and consultants interested in supporting MTA’s design and construction program
- Assist in internal initiatives, such as process improvement projects and management of Federal grant application and administration
Long Term Goals:
- Facilitate an enterprise-wide project manager training program
- Facilitate internal process improvement initiatives to break-down silos and increase coordination across departments
PM Department Functions
Cost Estimation – The PM Department’s current cost estimating effort is mainly focused on providing cost estimates to support MTA procurement activities for professional services, construction, maintenance, and operations contracts. In addition to continuing to support these activities, the PM Department provides cost estimating support for the development of MTA design and construction (capital cost) budgets. The PM Department also provides cost estimating support during the planning and design phases of projects for design optimization and value engineering studies, life-cycle cost analyses, and risk assessments. Some examples of these responsibilities include:
- Preparing Independent Cost Estimates for procurement of professional services, construction, maintenance, and operations contracts;
- Preparing Independent Cost Estimates for professional services, construction, maintenance, and operations contract changes and claims;
- Furnishing cost and price analyses of proposals from consultants and contractors;
- Preparing estimates to establish project budgets for planning, construction, and procurement;
- Providing estimates and economic analyses to support design optimization, constructability, and facilities project feasibility decisions;
- Reviewing and providing comments on estimates prepared by consultants for planning and construction;
- Providing estimates and estimating support for value engineering studies;
- Preparing estimates to support real estate and joint development purchase and exchange decisions;
- Preparing estimates to validate funding requests from other government agencies and third party utilities; and
- Providing design and construction technical analyses and support to MTA Audit.
For additional information about Cost Estimation services, contact Paul Briggs at 213.922.1485.
Project Controls – Project controls encompasses the various cost, scheduling, reporting, and risk management for the planning, construction and maintenance/operations phases of transit, highway and construction authority projects. Project control responsibilities include:
- Analyzing cost, scheduling, and risk issues;
- Conducting cost and schedule reporting for transit projects;
- Reviewing and commenting on the contents of RFP(s) for the design and construction of the projects;
- Actively participating as a voting member on selection committees for contracts;
- Creating Project Management Plans for each project;
- Creating Project Master Schedules for each project;
- Preparing FY project budgets and make incremental adjustments, as needed;
- Creating Resource Allocation Plans for consultants and staff for each project;
- Conducting internal risk assessments for each project;
- Verifying that cost estimates are in line with risk assessments; and
- Assisting in conducting quality assurance of the financial data and analyzing it for financial reconciliation.
For additional information about Project Controls services, contact Rick Wilson at 213.922.7339 or Bill Brown at 213.922.7340.
Configuration Management – Configuration management encompasses document management (which involves managing most documents for a project file, including submittals, RFIs, correspondence, etc.) as well as change control (which relates to changes in any contract related to the project, whether for contractors, consultants, engineers, designers, etc.). Document management involves:
- Managing most documents for a project file, including submittals, RFIs, correspondence, etc.;
- Managing all documents which define scope, schedule, and cost, including: design documents, technical specifications, design criteria, standard plans and directives, standards specifications, etc.;
- Maintaining design standards related to specific projects;
- Tracking changes to and maintaining system-wide standards documents;
- Maintaining MTA procedures documents;
- Managing the document exchange between MTA and the contractor/consultant; and
- Acting as the mediator and facilitator to get items approved and distributed.
Change control involves:
- Working closely with the Project Manager, Construction Manager, Resident Engineer, County Counsel, Procurement Department, Project Controls Unit, and Cost Estimating Unit to manage the contract changes;
- Helping the Procurement Department to issue a modified contract to the contractor; and
- Gather information regarding the cost estimate, scope of change, and issues, and then facilitating the process to resolution and a potential contract issuance.
For additional information about Configuration Management services, contact Dianne Curzon at 213.922.3831.
Portfolio Management – Project portfolio management (PPM) describes methods for analyzing and collectively managing a group of current or proposed projects based on numerous characteristics, prioritized by the organization. The fundamental objective of PPM is to determine the optimal mix and sequencing of proposed projects to best achieve the organization's overall goals while honoring constraints imposed by management or other factors. This may involve holistic views and analyses of the portfolio. The PM Department efforts in this area are related to implementing dashboard tools for managing a portfolio, using budget reporting, staffing reporting, and risk management. Portfolio management involves:
- Developing and implementing enterprise-wide dashboard tools for portfolio management;
- Conducting enterprise-wide budget and staffing reporting; and
- Conducting enterprise-wide and project-level risk management activities.
For additional information about Portfolio Management services, contact Mayumi Lyon at 213.922.4020.
About Measure R
In November 2008, Measure R was approved by an amazing two-thirds majority vote, committing a projected $40 billion to traffic relief and transportation upgrades throughout the county over the next 30 years.
Measure R will help fund dozens of critical transit and highway projects, create more than 210,000 new construction jobs and infuse an estimated $32 billion back into the local economy, according to estimates by the nonprofit Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
For more information see the Measure R Homepage.
Last Revised
Friday December 21, 2012
FAQs
What is Measure R?
Measure R passed in November 2008, providing the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) with a potential $40 billion in revenue to support improving transportation and transit in the Los Angeles basin. Funds from Measure R, which will be provided through a ½¢ increase in sales tax, will allow MTA to fund a number of projects over the 30 year period that the measure is in effect. The MTA Board directed MTA leadership to accelerate the delivery of a prioritized set of these projects from 30 years to 10 years, which is described in a Measure R 30/10 Transit and Accelerated Highway Program. For more information see the Measure R Homepage.
What spurred the creation of the PM Department?
A Board Motion in December 2009 identified eight tasks that included soliciting input from an industry panel with a perspective from MTA and other major transportation agencies. Other tasks included developing recommendations for procurement, construction, project management, audit, organizational development, and funding – based on input from industry and staff – and supported by best practices in accelerated project delivery. Executive staff added a ninth task relating to efforts to secure additional funding and innovative financing. These recommendations were developed by Parsons Brinckerhoff the June 2010 report, MTA Measure R Strategic Advisor: Final Report on MTA Policies, Practices and Organizational Structure to Ensure Successful Measure R Project Delivery. This report evaluated MTA’s policies, procedures, practices, and organizational structure to ensure that the agency could deliver the Measure R projects in the fastest possible time frame and that there are no institutional barriers that would prevent MTA from achieving the fastest possible project schedules. This report identified nine categories of recommendations, one of which was establishing a Program Management (PM) Department. This recommendation specifically stated that “there needs to be strong leadership and a dedicated, central point of coordination at MTA for acceleration of Measure R. In order to fully implement the acceleration of the Measure R program, there is a need to end departmental silos and project handoffs, and provide a more integrated and holistic approach to project delivery for the Measure R projects identified in the 30/10 Plan.”
In September 2010, MTA allocated funding to a dedicated leadership position and created a revised organizational structure, thus creating a Program Management Department.
What functions does the PM Department contain?
The PM Department provides cost, schedule, and configuration management services for MTA projects. For more information, see the PM Department Functions.
Is the PM Department a new entity within MTA?
While the PM Department included a newly created, dedicated leadership position, it capitalized on existing cost estimation, project controls, and configuration management components within the previous Construction Department. The PM Department supplements these functions with additional program management functions, such as portfolio management, cross-department coordination, project manager training, and internal process improvement functions.
Is the PM Department only overseeing Measure R funds?
The PM Department was primarily created to coordinate Measure R projects; however, it spans across ongoing internal projects and initiatives at MTA, particularly those which require cross-department coordination.
What is the PMIS and what function does it serve?
The Project Management Information System (PMIS), is a Primavera-suite based product that tracks project management information across various transit projects overseen by MTA. PMIS includes the following components: Primavera Suite, Primavera P6, Contract Management, EcoSys EPC, and BI Publisher. PMIS went live in December 2011 for all transit projects.
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Last Revised
Wednesday April 11, 2012
Measure R Projects
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Last Revised
Wednesday April 11, 2012
