and that, audit, was completed and presented to the board in 2011 in like both audited had a list of recommendations that were reviewed by the sfmta and provided an update and this is a progress report that commissioner campos has asked for and i will ask miss harris who is the director of the capitol programs and construction at sfmta to give the presentation and i will say that many of the things that he will talk about, also, benefit the small projects and some of these are highlighted by the director at the vision zero meeting last week and a special thank you to patricia who is chairing the task force and alicia who made the time to meet with us during the difficult periods last week. >> thank you. >> thank you, for being here. >> thank you, maria. >> mr. chairman and commissioners, good morning, i'm vince harris and direct for, sfmta and joined by the other staff and i want to acknowledge in particular, the manager for the project controls and alica who will be here to answer any questions that the members might have. and so i am sure that this morning, of course, to update, the commission, on the limited management performance audit of sfmta phase two capitol programs and in fact, as she indicated conducted in 2011. >> since that audit, sfmta made some, and we think some significant improvements to our processes and technology, and coordination and public out reach approaches leading to better project delivery. and in this presentation, i will walk the members through some of the ways that we respond to the audit recommendations to improve the process and i will also describe some recent projects and reflect these changes which have helped us to improve. and the project if the members can well imagine, the elements of the project delivery are the same for the small or large projects and the community out reach and environmental clearance and design and construction and, it can be lengthy and involved for both of the types of project and faster for smaller projects because the scope is simpler for the larger project. and the larger is faster because the project area tends to obviously be smaller. however, a small project can usually be done by the city staff or added to the project to implement faster than a stand alone contract. >> obviously we are preparing to deliver more project and perform an extensive analysis of the staffing needs should the ballot plans for november pass, this shows how we could not do that and we are well aware of the increase of fupds that would increase our staffing needs and preparing this by determining now when we will need the new staff, and what roles they will fill and when it will make sense to hire new employees or contract out to consultants and and shows the staffing needs and our division and the construction that will show an uptick in work as we begin delivering more projects. this slide provides members with an overview of the changes that we have implemented and at a high level, we can see the concerns that were identified in providing in terms of recommendations from the audit, and things like time and cost over runs and reporting an oversight and confusing financial information, and trying to rectify that and process improvements of the projects and as we go through the presentation, we will talk about how we are doing the improvements to some of these items. >> capitol planning and analysis. sfmta capitol policies have been, in effect, really since 2011 providing the policy framework for the management of scope, schedule and budgets that are obviously are the heart of any management and control system for project delivery. and develop, the clear procedures for a budgetary and scope changes and each of these changes are documented for analysis and lessons learned. for the three years of data, it is possible for sfmta to evaluate the data and the more proactive and proposed changes and processes the project delivery. but what we call the transportation capitol committee or the tcc recently approved the 5-year program that was adopted by the sfmta board on may 20th when the annual basis reviews, the cip past performance, and recommends improvements going forward. project p development phase, and since we have established what we call a free development phase to better design the scope of front, and prepare a better initial cost estimates that improves the opportunities for the project coordination and when the process of recruiting a project schedule and cost estimator and we are also accessing the as-needed consultant contracts to provide that expertise, and we develop the project delivery steps and provide training, and structure and guidelines. >> it equals coordination, and we are committed to complete the concept at sfmta to align the objectives and utilize the funding more effectively and this allows for the better intraagency coordination and better coordination with the city department agencies like dpw and planning and puc and of course, the sfcta. and since the last audit, sfta has made some significant strides in adopting and implementing the latest project management software. and some of our old systems really did not provide our project managers, with a detailed ability to track the scope, and schedule and cost, that is closely as we really need to. and the new systems such as p6 for work plans and schedules, or eco for financial reporting as shown here are much more dynamic and allow for a greater opportunity to track the projects and progress and to take the contributive actions to improve the project success and it is important to recognize that it is one thing to monitor the projects and another thing to have the opportunity to know when there is a problem and raise a red flag and be able to take the action so that we can still be successful. >> sfmta call to change initiative. and the agencies engaged in a concentrated and sustained effort, to improve our capacity to work together, and to deliver the projects, and services for san francisco, and to support of our strategic plan, and this effort is under way and already making improvements in agency communications, teamwork, and breaking down silos as you can well emergency, sfmta is a large organization and so trying to break down the silos is a critical and important feature of improving project delivery, and we have hired professional help to support in this activity and we are not just for a short period of time but for three years that shows our commitment to the change. our roots of engagement are working hard to improve the out reach and standardizing the approach to the community involvement and our communication division has developed the own version of sfmta public out reach and engaged team or called to significantly improve our direct communication with a video of communities in san francisco. >> i just wanted to thank the mta, you and the staff for it and for the projects of the projects, and i can see concretely the changes and the good faith efforts to try to reach out to neighborhoods and to engage them and i appreciate that. >> while planning in the next 25 years there will be a 45 percent in increase in jobs and 35 in household op population in san francisco and i am sure that members are aware of the task force, and the funding need and the ballot measures and coupled with that in terms of the other planning programs here at the sfda and in concert with that sfmta 20 year capitol plan. as i come to a close, just want to provide for the members, some examples of projects that are using some of the new processes ta we have enacted at sfmta and this is an example of one, and the street scape project is a case in front at 2013 at 11.8 million project budget and this street, and it was transformed into a neighborhood friendly street and the residents requested for the traffic and wider medians and the new street trees and plants and we think that it is a good example of the cooperation between the mta and dpw and puc. >> the 5 folsom and we are certainly proud of that pilot program, initiated in october of 2013. and the 12-month project is along the corridor and introduced limited stop service to provide quicker trips. and the benefit include improved safety and accessibility and reduced delays and quicker trips and better traffic flow, again a cooperation in the agency. >> it was mentioned earlier regarding fleet prokurment and from thinking outside of the box, it has joined a current competitively bid vehicle with the state of minnesota and the vehicles specified under the contract were updated to include the features necessary for sfta's unique operating environment and high, passenger loads. >> next steps, certainly, our capitol program and control system where we call our cpcs functioning in our division will be rolled out, agency-wide, starting even with the smaller project and completing the planning to enable the capacity for upcoming projects and instituting an extra agency charter to strengthen coordination between us and the other city departments. i want to thank you for the opportunity to be here and we would be glad to answer any questions of the members. >> commissioner campos? >> thank you, very much, mr. harris and i really appreciate your presentation and the work that the mta has done and i actually think that this is one of the important things that we can do as we move forward to ask the voters to invest more money in the system and i think that to be able to do that, successfully, and beyond it, and it is the right thing to do that we need to make sure that we have addressed some of the concerns, and do you keep track of how many projects or how many capitol projects does the mta have right now? >> well, within our division and if i could clarify, for the committee, capitol programs and construction is just one of the divisions in the mta that in fact, delivers project and that is significant as it relates to our five year cip, and within our division right now, we have 40 active projects. >> okay >> in categories that include, safety and security, state of good repair, and enhancements and of course, expansion projects, of which, certainly is an expansion project, and central subway that is independent, reporting to our director of transportation, and the next larger project that we have would in fact be the van ness project that is coming and there are a number of other projects within the agency and i will be happy to share with the membership, a complete list and bring that back to you and have the exact number of all of the other divisions that will be providing that. >> and i think that i appreciate that and i think that it is great to see all of the steps that have been taken to address some of the problems that were identified in the recommendations, and i would like to sort of now, where we are so that the 40 projects that you are talking about, how many of those projects are on schedule? >> well, we are actually in the process, and based on our capitol program, and control system, of tracking these projects, i don't have the exact numbers, but i might add up the solution and might be able to answer the question. >> the reason that i ask that is that one of the things that the management audit showed, was that there was not as much of a over all awareness, of what the projects were in terms of the time line, for the delivery and the budget, and so, i would like to know, the 40-plus, and how many are on schedule, and i think that it is a good thing for an agency to know that. and how many are within budget. >> and as the solution comes, certainly, commissioner, we certainly do track that and i did not have the information initially made but the point is that we do set, obviously the base line schedules and we set up a metric of which we do have a tracking vehicle and we do have that information, if you could? >> chairman, and members, bergun is my name and we are pleased with the progress that we have made with implementing the oracle, software and it does give us the ability to manage performance of all projects. and we have the analysis, and we have based on all of the projects and we have once you set up the base line and we drop the current schedules and the same with the budget and we can say with the schedule that we have a bigger challenge and i can say that 50 or 60 percent are on the schedule and 80 to 90 percent are on budget. and as it relates to their original base line as at the end of the cer and what we are recognizing is that there is a need to really define what a base line schedule means to the agency and to everybody, managing a project and what the base line budget means so that we are measuring and reporting out these numbers and it is consistent and the expectations can be the same across all divisions that is our next challenge is implementing the sis tell agency wide to all of the other departments. and then using the dash boards to actually report to the committee members here, and other supervisors, as far as the performance over all. >> i think that it will be helpful to get and i certainly will benefit from getting sort of the information on all of the projects, and of the 50 to 60 percent that are within, you know, the time line or the schedule, and understanding, you know, how that worked. and then for those that are, or where you are behind the schedule, is it more of an internal mta issue? or is it perhaps, the department, or an agency, that, you know, it is, the problem, or, maybe, it goes back to the original scope, and sort of what the expectations actually was? and likewise, you know, i am glad to hear, though that 80 to 90 percent of the projects are on the budget and i think that is a very important thing. but i certainly would like to have that level of information and i think that being able to speak about it in those terms and have that over all information readily available i think is a good thing. >> yeah, we definitely have that and you are right to say that the base line, schedule that we have in the system, sometimes they do reflect the prescope additions and we want to be measuring apples to apples going forward for sure and that will trend at a higher percentage. >> and one question that i would have for the ta, would be for the prop k funded projects, do you have a sense on how many of those projects or schedule and how many are within the budget? and how are we tracking that? >> mr. chairman for add to that point, and we do produce a number of reports and the one is the quarterly report that does just what you are asking for and i think that it is my understanding and he can correct me if i am wrong, the sfmta and the part and the list of recipients that received the report on a quarterly basis so that you will have a true sense of all of the projects that we are in, and the sfmta in terms of where they are. >> one thing that will be helpful as well is if besides giving us this information, if you could give us the information that you give the mta board of directors, because one of the things that was identified, in the audit is the fact that you had all of these projects that were behind schedule and all of these projects that were, you know, out of the budget, you know, over-runs and yet, the mta board, consistently approved, you know, giving more money, to these projects without really knowing without even asking if they are behind schedule or within the budget. and so, one of the things that the audit called for was to provide more complete information to that board. >> yes. >> and so, would i like to know, what information you have been providing them on these projects. are they asking these kinds of questions? in terms of projects being on schedule and being within the budget? >> i think that, one of the things that is improved in the audit process, is that even in developing the capitol provement, in the board that approved on the 20th is it dealt with a comprehensive mechanism for establish a list of projects and with that and the board was a part of that. and having that be the case, now the board has a more understanding of the base that we start with, so that they can ask the legitimate questions and in the quarterly report, and they do receive the document as well, because it provides the information, that the level, that the board can prepare against what was planned and as we continue to improve the tracking system that we are using as he talked about, we will be able to previed the board more information. and thus, answering your questions of what it might have and providing more information, thank you. >> and the next thing, mr. harris, i wanted to ask about slide e, 94, on your effort to ramp up to deliver more projects, especially as it comes up to 2016 and it gives some list of the different staffing needs especially the project managers for the big projects like market street, or geary and i am just wondering kind of how you are planning to ramp up to the significant increase in staffing needs. as you can see here, mr. chairman, we are really focused on the junior engineers and the mid level, project managers and in particular of the junior engineers because we recognize that this is a long term movement, and we want to be able to bring folks in at a level where they can be trained, and hopefully we will stay with us to the long term, and so, as a slide shows, we are incrementing up at the time that we believe, additional projects will be coming on-line. and so that is the intent of the mechanism that we are using and i would have to say that, the challenges, and providing the staffing resources, is complicated. and over all, the process which is getting better, the hr which was in sfmta is working hand in hand with us and it continues to be challenging so that we can have the persons in place at the time that the projects are being asked to be delivered and that is what we are trying to do here and we are trying to match up that time frame when we know that the funding and the new projects will be coming on-line and we need to be working on them. >> it seems like the increased coordination with dpw and the other departments is really and will really help with that too. >> absolutely. >> miss cheng? >> executive director, and i just wanted to follow up on the director harris's comments and thank him and director riskin who came to the vision zero committee earlier last week to talk about the project delivery as well and we would be glad to come back working with your office and sponsor and we have the data of 100 to 200 open projects in our program and we are tracking those together with the sponsors who report in real time what the percent complete is, in fact, the members of the public who are interested in any given projector type of project can go to my street sf.com and run a search and see for themselves and see what the status of the schedule of the project is, according to the project manager and we have a portal, and we can track it against the original allocation schedule and we can provide the reports like that to the board on a regular basis. >> thank you, i think that will be helpful. i think that it is, and it really, it always goes to show, how, you know, prop k money is being spent. >> right. >> and to assure people that you know, to provide transparency. >> right. >> and a final question for director harris in terms of the you had it, one of the questions that came up was the making sure that there was accountability when it came to project managers. and so i am wondering if you could talk about what you have done around that. >> absolutely. and the comment was to make sure that we get the project managers on board and involved, early. and we absolutely are doing that i like to use the term that one of my project managers used and we call it wo mb to tomb and as soon as we initiate we bring that project manager on board and they are held accountable through the project close out and that is the individual that we hold with the responsibility of knowing what is going on with the project and we are doing that. >> thank you. >> and again, i appreciate the work that has been done and i think that, with anything, you know, you can always, sort of figure out how you can improve and i am just glad that you are thinking about these things and i love to get that information. >> absolutely. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. harris. >> and seeing no other questions, let's open this up for public comment, is there anyone that would like to speak from the public? >> please come forward. >> (inaudible) >> is there anyone else that would like to speak? >> public comment is closed. >> so colleagues. this item was an informational item, and so could you call the next item? >> number ten, introduction of new items this is an information item. >> and i see no introductions, let's open this up for public comment. who would like to speak from the public? >> seeing none, public comment is closed. miss cheng call the next item. >> item 11, public comment. >> is there anyone that would like to speak. >> public comment is closed. >> is there any other business before us. >> no, item 12 is adjournment. >> thank you everyone. meeting adjourned.

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