Partners in Quality
Chesterfield County, Va.
hers, procures professional services from architectural and engineering firms to design structures, facilities, and buildings for the county. As the county’s construction manager collected data on construction projects over a recent 10-year period, he noticed an increasing rate of errors and omissions on architectural and engineering drawings. Thus, an opportunity arose for the county to develop a more proactive approach to managing supplier quality.

An ad hoc team was assembled to explore potential solutions to the problem, and it consisted of the county’s quality coordinator, the director of purchasing and staff members from construction management and the purchasing department. Over a six-month period, the team visited nearly every architectural and engineering firm that had existing county contracts. At the end of this period, an invitation was extended to every supplier on the county’s mailing list to attend the “Partners-in-Quality Forum.”

The Partners-in-Quality program, devised by the ad hoc team is comprised of four distinct actions:

• educating the consultant community about supplier quality
• changing the quality requirements in the county’s requests for proposals
• conducting a “Partners-in-Quality Forum,” and
• availing the consultant community for specific training on the subject of errors and omissions.

The education of the consultant community about supplier quality began with a two-hour presentation on quality principles and practices, with an emphasis directed at supplier quality.

As visits were made to suppliers over the six-month period, firms were informed that process management and systems thinking should be used, along with inspection, for quality control.

After conducting research on best-management practices and quality- control programs, Chesterfield County changed the requirements for their requests for proposals from suppliers.

The new requirements emphasize quality control and expect suppliers to provide information about their company’s design process, budget and change orders and efforts to improve quality and to minimize future errors.

Once these changes were made, notice was placed in various media outlets advertising the Partners-in-Quality Forum. To accommodate work schedules, two sessions were conducted to provide information to all affected firms about the nature of the changes. In addition, a three-day seminar was offered to help architectural and engineering professionals improve the quality of their designs.

Expenses incurred by the county for this program consisted of advertising costs, printing, postage and refreshments totaling $4,900, while the cost of staff attendance to the three-day seminar was an additional $3,000.

A Partnership Approach to the Building Permit Process
Washington County, Ore.
ften impede development in many counties. Development stalls while frustrated inspectors and plan examiners review proposals that are inadequate and fail to meet county building codes.

In an attempt to streamline the process of building permit issuance, Washington County, Ore. devised “A Partnership Approach to the Building Permit Process.”

The partnership was designed to get the county’s building services department involved in proposed commercial building projects at the earliest stages. By streamlining the building permit plan review process, the county hoped to conserve staff and resources, and provide better customer service.

The building permit process became more efficient as plan examiners began meeting with applicants before they made permit applications. On-site pre-application meetings provided examiners with an opportunity to explain county procedures and to refer the applicant to other agencies involved in the permit process.

Beginning with Intel, building services began forming “strategic engineering teams” designed to handle regulatory concerns that could hinder development. Typically, these teams include county plumbing, mechanical and electrical plan examiners, inspectors and the structural-fire and life-safety plans examiner, a fire marshal’s representative and representatives from the owner’s project development team.

As a result of on-site review meetings, Washington County has seen an overall increase in compliance with building-code requirements. Clients are made aware of what is required of them prior to submitting their applications for building permits, and building services has discovered that strategic engineering teams have much to do with the success of the program.

The initial cost to implement the program was between $5,000 and $7,000, and subsequent start-up costs for other large clients should cost less than $1,000.

Today, there are no costs associated with the jurisdiction for the expanded public/private partnership program. In fact, there is an actual savings in county staff time as the construction plans that are submitted are more complete and already contain the building code information that accelerates the process of review and approval.

(Hats off to… was compiled by Shawn Hills, research associate.)