The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is currently incorporating a construction management software suite it hopes will ensure everyone – from heavy/highway contractors to department personnel – is working off the proverbial same set of plans.
“That consistent message is what we’re hoping translates into consistent contract enforcement,” said ODOT’s Eric Kahlig, P.E., regarding the AASHTOWare Project™ (AWP) program unveiled to the state’s heavy/highway contractors early this year and is now being introduced to ODOT districts.
“One of the aggravations we continually hear is differing districts run things differently, and that causes contractors problems,” said Kahlig, who serves as Alternative Project Delivery administrator in ODOT’s Division of Construction Management.
It is ODOT’s, Kahlig’s and ODOT AWP-Business Administrator Janet Treadway’s hope the software suite will provide the as-advertised, seamless management of the entire construction contract.
AWP’s all-encompassing suite of web-based software is being used by nearly every state DOT, two Canadian provincial transportation agencies, several hundred cities and counties and thousands of engineering and highway contracting firms in the U.S.
AWP is an application that is developed by a licensee collaboration and is designed, supported and maintained by Infotech Inc., the official AASHTOWare Project contractor. Infotech is an infrastructure construction software solutions company headquartered in Gainesville, Fla., and an OCA member. AWP encompasses modules that work on a single platform for Estimator/ Estimation, Preconstruction, Bids, Civil Rights & Labor, Construction & Materials and Data Analytics.
Infotech’s working relationship with the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO) dates to the mid-1980s, when it provided early Bid Analysis & Management System (BAMS) software to the group. In the nearly 40 years since, the working relationship between Infotech and AASHTO has evolved to AWP.
AASHTOWare products are not new to Ohio’s heavy/highway contractors, as they have been utilizing its previous generation of software, SiteManager, since 2010 and most recently earlierreleased AWP modules since 2016. “Our contractors have actually utilized AASHTOWare Projects for several years in order to report payrolls or prompt payments,” said Treadway, who has been with ODOT for 20+ years and additionally serves as ODOT’s Electronic Project Delivery Management lead. “… We have now added in the functionality of estimate approval, change-order approval, shipping of materials … and then we will be adding areas of direct entry of their sub-contracts.”
ODOT officials and contracting members agree time had come for SiteManager to be shelved. “It is very old – and clunky – would be a way to put it,” said Treadway of the management software that dates back 13 years. “The (SiteManager) version that we are on, because of so many customizations that the state had to make to relate to our funding and financial and other things is a very-old version …” She added that and of itself was a reason for the transition to AWP, which she noted its improved security points and better useability.
“SiteManager, while it served us very well it did have its limitations,” Kahlig said. “There were multiple ways to do the same thing, and different districts went off into different directions … Because of that, I think things were managed a little differently, and expectations were different across the districts.” The 27-year ODOT veteran added that use of AWP will help bring districts back to “sharing the same consistent message.”
The implementing of the “modern, cloud-based” AWP to the single-program platform is a multi-year effort to replace ODOT’s existing construction management system. According to the department, the move affects more than two thousand users – including ODOT employees involved in Construction & Materials and business partners on the construction side, which includes contractors, consultants and suppliers.
While members of Ohio’s heavy/highway construction industry received AWP training in January, ODOT personnel are continuing to be trained throughout 2023 on implementing the program’s modules.
Treadway said contractors learned about AWP in the latter part of 2022 and received training in January on the different software modules. She added that additional discussion and training regarding the transition to the AWP modules remains available through weekly teleconference calls. “Once we rolled off the training, we have had open calls with contractors every Friday morning at 8:00 to give them opportunities to either address concerns, ask questions or ask for additional training or provide feedback,” she said.
ODOT has a website specifically for its AWP implementation that provides updated information, training videos and documents as well as contact information at www.transportation.ohio.gov/working/ construction/awp-construction-materials.
AWP implementation is occurring one ODOT district at a time, according to Treadway. “The reason for that is that we have anywhere from 100 to 200 individuals on the DOT side to train in a particular district or with their consulting staff,” she said. “As personnel are trained, AWP use begins in that ODOT district. “Any contract that is awarded this year, depending upon where you are on the rolling schedule, gets directly placed into AASHTOWare Project. It doesn’t go into SiteManager anymore.”
The transition of multi-year projects already underway and projects let thus far in 2023 from Site Manager to AWP is being deemed a success by ODOT, as nearly 300 active contracts have been migrated into AWP through July.
“There is a little bit of effort to take a project that was in SiteManager to get it switched over and ready to go in AASHTOWare Project,” Kahlig said. “… And then it comes down to training.” Kahlig made special mention of Treadway, ODOT Construction Data Administration Manager Scott Hootman and district champions for their assistance in the department’s AWP training.
However the year-long rollout of AWP to the ODOT districts has been a cause of frustration for contractors, as it is resulting in the different districts using multiple software programs on a day-to-day, project-to-project basis.
“The rollouts at multiple times makes it a little difficult for contractors who work in multiple districts because there are so many systems being used and processes are inconsistent,” said Eagle Bridge Company Project Manager Rachel Bates, who besides utilizing AWP for projects in 2023 has also had to utilize SiteManager, Signet, GoFormz and more, though she realizes “this is more of a growing pain of this year …”
“AWP has potential to be an asset for both the owner and contractor. It currently does not, especially in rolling out per districts and not all at once,” added Shelly & Sands Inc.’s Steve Williams, who develops processes and provides training for the company in AWP’s Contractors Material Log (CML) and other modules.
Bates and Williams have been involved in nearly a combined 25 projects that have used AWP and have mixed reviews on the change-order, estimates and CML portions of the suite.
“Change orders and estimates are about the same as SiteManager, and we like that part so far,” Williams said.
Bates agrees, adding, “For change orders and estimates, I think that AWP is a much-better system. You have more visibility to see what you are signing, and it’s stored in that system.” This lack of visibility was a negative with SiteManager according to several contractors.
However, the CML portion of AWP has caused early aggravation for contractors, with both Bates and Williams talking about it being labor intensive.
“It takes many manhours to complete the spreadsheet,” Williams said of CML’s use of Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet. “A $32-million project CML was just completed, and I logged 87 manhours filling out the CML … There were missing materials and supplier codes that were causing issues …” He added that producers/ suppliers were being removed from the system after the CML is submitted.
“The CML file is very time consuming,” agrees Bates, “and applying the supplier codes correctly or if the materials have to be altered causes some hiccups. We’ve had some growing pains on the project with selecting materials … For a small job, the CML isn’t terrible; for larger multi-milliondollar projects it is time consuming.”
And for contractors – time is money. “ODOT is taking about five weeks to review and enter the CML in AWP. Supplement 1136 states 15 days,” said Williams. “This will be a problem and payment will be delayed at no fault of the contractor.”
“… My biggest concerns are that the materials do not import correctly or timely and it affects payments,” Bates added.
Payment delays are a constant worry for small contractors, like Rietschlin Construction Inc. President Meg Rietschlin. “I don’t want to be in a position where I have to finance projects for any length of time due to slow pay,” said Rietschlin, who is serving at OCA’s 2023 chairperson. “My greatest fear is that one of these requirements being handed down will be the last one that a small contractor can manage.”
As training continues before ODOT fully implements AWP statewide in 2024, Kahlig and Treadway thanked contractors for their patience during the process and said they want to hear about issues the industry may be experiencing with the new construction management platform.
If a contractor has questions or is having issues with AWP, Treadway said, “First thing I would ask is that they participate in the Friday morning (8:00) calls.” She added that only about three contractors regularly take part. She also reminded contractors that one-on-one assistance is available by going to ODOT’s AWP website at www.transportation.ohio.gov/working/construction/awp-construction-materials/awp-construction-and-materials and clicking on her contact information. “I’ve met with contractors independently, so I don’t mind doing that,” Treadway said.
Once fully implemented statewide, Kahlig believes contractors will appreciate what the AWP modules will provide in their day-to-day project management. “I’m hoping contractors will see more uniformity on management of projects,” he said. “What I mean by that is how the information that we request from them, the timeliness and the method of interactions within our systems and what is expected.”