1. State DOT – UTC Partnerships Based off presentation given by Gen Guiliano at 2017 CUTC Summer meeting Chandra Bhat

2. Successes Contribution to the growth and success of UTCs
Stable match source with few strings attached in earlier years
supported strong research programs
Contribution of UTCs to professional workforce

3. Lessons learned Regular communication, coordination
Anticipate problems due to different processes, objectives
There is no such thing as starting a contract process too early
Understand DOT needs and seek to meet them
Comply with expectations
Timely progress, on-time completion
Administrative oversight
Invest in staff required to manage DOT processes and requirements

4. Lessons Learned Collaboration Communication Contracting
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Lessons Learned
Collaboration
Communication
Contracting
Lessons learned fall into 3 broad categories: collaboration, communication, and contracting.
Collaboration
In the prior grant-like UTC program, we frequently didn’t know what research was being conducted. Also, the way we interacted with the functional divisions (our customers) was different. There were times when a PI would have an idea for research and DRISI would “shop” for a customer. Sometimes we found a customer, sometimes we didn’t.
When we became more involve in what research got conducted, we included our functional divisions to know their research needs (like the practice we had for our functional research program) – mostly Transportation Planning, Aeronautics, Rail and Mass Transportation and sometimes Traffic Operations. We have tried different approaches. A few years ago DRISI hosted a workshop for UTCs and functions divisions to discuss research needs and for UTCs to say how they could meet the need, if at all. Lately, we will approach our customer divisions once a year to specifically ask what research UTCs can deliver to support their work.
We review UTCs draft requests for proposals announcements that they send to consortium members to ensure Caltrans research needs are included. Some UTCs will include a specific section on Caltrans research needs.
Both the UTCs and Caltrans review proposals and together select proposals for funding.
Communication
We say the our research program is customer focused. Each research task has a panel that gives input to the scope of work to ensure the research will meet Caltrans needs. Panel at a minimum are the PI, a DRISI project manager, and a at least one person from a Caltrans functional area. Depending on the research topic and the duration of the research, the panel may meet at agreed upon intervals. The panel will review and provide input on the draft final report.
On the administrative side, we have very good working relationships with our UTCs. DRISI assigns a primary contract for each UTC and the UTC assigns a primary contact as well. As such issues are quickly resolved – from the PI has submitted a quarterly report to how DRISI and a given UTC (UCCONNECT) could work together to get invoices through each of our processes more efficiently and quickly.
Contracting
In moving from a grant-like program to a more structured task order based process, which was needed for good reasons, we unintentionally made it administratively burdensome of ourselves and the UTCs. Now we are working to find a middle of the road solution where we still direct what research is conducted, however, the contracting process takes less staff time for all parties.
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5. Lessons learned Delays cause problems:
DOT administrative delays cause RFP syncing problems
PI lack of oversight causes research project delivery problems
DOT restrictions can reduce impact of research
Sometimes mismatch between DOT priorities and PI interests
Need dedicated admin. resources
Coordination can result in a big-time win-win