Neal Flesner Presents at Caltrans District 7 Resident Engineer & Partnering Award Meeting

On Thursday, March 8th, 2012, Neal Flesner, Construction Partnering Facilitator, facilitated a panel with Caltrans personnel and District 7 General Contractors on the benefits and best practices around partnering on Caltrans projects.

The panel included:

• Issam Abumuhor of Caltrans
• Yanina Bashoura of Caltrans
• Emile Eid of Caltrans
• Mike Kotal of Chumo Construction
• Toby Krutz of Flatiron Constructors
• Joe McLoughlin of J McLoughlin Engineering

For the next 20 years or more, public transportation agencies will foster the teamwork relationship with public/private and design/build partnerships. Caltrans and its many partners will refer to lessons learned from the past on how to maintain an open dialogue, maintain quality and consistency in performance and materials and keep spirits and attitudes high.

Caltrans’ Partnering Program helps the department and its contractors to work more effectively towards achieving mutual goals that ultimately benefit the project, the state and its citizens. For example, a conflict between two teams can evolve when a lane closure schedule looks good on paper, but in reality, it’s not going to work for one reason or another. A dispute occurs. Or, a contractor needs more time using a crane because of an unforeseen issue. Opening a checkbook can’t solve every problem, so through effective communication and reasonable facilitation, the contractor and Caltrans must find a solution. This is partnering.