Report 2018-104 All Recommendation Responses

Report 2018-104: Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program: The State Could Save Millions of Dollars Annually by Implementing Lessons Learned (Release Date: August 2018)

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure that large transportation infrastructure projects throughout the State benefit from appropriate oversight, the Legislature should require that all publicly funded major transportation infrastructure construction projects estimated to cost $500 million or more, have oversight committees subject to open meeting laws. When practical, each oversight committee should include individuals from at least three major agencies involved in the project, with roles that reflect financial interests as well as project execution and oversight. Further, when possible, each committee should include at least five members to support its ability to conduct day-to-day business without violating open meeting law requirements. The oversight committees should act as the authorities for critical decisions and have sufficient staff to support their decision-making roles.

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature did not take action in the 2021-2022 legislative session to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

AB 1277 (Obernolte) would have required a public agency administering a megaproject—defined as a transportation project with total estimated development and construction costs exceeding $1 billion—to establish a project oversight committee composed of specified individuals to review the megaproject and perform other specified duties. This bill died in the Assembly.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Legislation Proposed But Not Enacted

Description of Legislative Action

AB 1277 (Obernolte), as amended on March 19, 2019, would require a public agency principally tasked with administering, planning, developing, and operating a transportation project with total estimated development and construction costs exceeding one billion dollars to establish a project oversight committee composed of at least three directors, or their designees, with one member each from the administering agency and two other public agencies involved in the project. The committee would be subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act or the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

Assembly Bill 1277 (Obernolte) was introduced on February 21, 2019, and would require a public agency undertaking a publicly funded major transportation infrastructure construction project that is estimated to cost $500 million or more to form an oversight committee subject to applicable open meeting laws and to develop and use risk management plans throughout the course of the project. The bill would require the oversight committee to be composed of specified individuals, to act as the authority for critical decisions regarding the project, and to have sufficient staff to support decision making.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure that oversight committees perform their duties in a manner commensurate with the demands of large transportation infrastructure projects, the Legislature should require that the oversight committees have duties similar to those of the Oversight Committee, including the following: providing project direction; reviewing project status, costs, schedules, and staffing levels; resolving project issues and evaluating project changes; and developing and regularly updating cost estimates, risk assessments, and cash-flow requirements.

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature did not take action in the 2021-2022 legislative session to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

AB 1277 would have required project oversight committees to have duties similar to those of the Oversight Committee.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Legislation Proposed But Not Enacted

Description of Legislative Action

AB 1277 would require the project oversight committee to provide project direction; review project status, costs, and schedules; resolve project issues; evaluate project changes; and, develop and regularly update cost estimates and risk assessments for the project.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken any action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure that oversight committees effectively address both the fiscal and project management elements of large transportation infrastructure projects, the Legislature should require consolidated reporting at least annually detailing cost savings, cost overruns, and updates on project completion.

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature did not take action in the 2021-2022 legislative session to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of August 28, 2021, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

AB 1277 would have required a public agency to provide quarterly reports to the project oversight committee, and required the project oversight committee to provide annual reports to the California Transportation Commission until the year following the completion of the megaproject.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Legislation Proposed But Not Enacted

Description of Legislative Action

AB 1277 would require the project oversight committee to provide annual reports to the commission that include details of the project and all information necessary to clearly describe the status of the project, including, but not limited to:

1) A progress report.

2) The baseline budget for capital and capital outlay support costs.

3) The current or projected budget for capital and capital outlay support costs.

4) Expenditures to date for capital and capital outlay support costs.

5) A comparison of the current or projected schedule and the baseline schedule.

6) A summary of milestones achieved during the previous year and any issues identified and actions taken to address those issues.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken any action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure that oversight committees and the agencies involved in large transportation infrastructure projects engage in sufficient and appropriate risk management, the Legislature should require all publicly funded transportation infrastructure projects with a total estimated cost of $500 million or more to develop risk management plans that use both qualitative and quantitative risk analyses throughout the course of the projects.

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature did not take action in the 2021-2022 legislative session to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of August 28, 2021, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

AB 1277 would have required a public agency administering a megaproject to take specified actions to manage the risks associated with the megaproject, including establishing a comprehensive risk management plan and regularly reassessing its reserves for potential claims and unknown risks.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Legislation Proposed But Not Enacted

Description of Legislative Action

AB 1277 would require a public agency principally tasked with administering, planning, developing, and operating a transportation project to establish a comprehensive risk management plan that clearly defines roles and responsibilities for risk management and addresses the process by which it will identify and quantify project risks, implement and track risk response activities, and monitor and control risks throughout the duration of the project.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Legislation Introduced

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken any action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation #5 To: Metropolitan Transportation Commission

To ensure that future projects have adequate risk management, MTC should formalize a scalable risk management policy by June 2019 so that the projects it directs benefit from sufficient and ongoing risk management.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2020

On December 18, 2019, the Authority adopted BATA Resolution No. 133 that formalized Project Risk Management Policies for BATA Capital Projects. Regretfully, our delayed adoption was due to our extended review of industry risk management best practices and lessons learned and existing agency project management practices. The reviews helped to develop and refine our scalable risk management policy.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

MTC has formalized a scalable risk management policy for projects it completes under its own direction. In December of 2019, the Bay Area Toll Authority Board voted to approve a policy that applies the scalable risk management framework utilized by Caltrans to MTC directed policies.

1-Year Agency Response

My staff is continuing our development of a scalable risk management policy to account for the varying projects directly managed by MTC. We plan to adopt a policy by end of 2019. Once adopted, we will provide a copy for your records.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

My staff has been reviewing risk management policies used by other agencies to identify best practices for development of a scalable policy to account for the varying projects directly managed by MTC. We plan to adopt a policy by June 2019 as noted in your report. Once adopted, we will provide a copy for your records.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

We will be adopting a scalable risk management policy to better manage our portfolio of projects andprograms. My staff is currently reviewing the risk management policies used by other agencies to identify best practices for MTC. We plan to adopt a policy by June 2019 as noted in your report.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2018-104

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.