FTA Interviews and Guidance

The FTA interviewees referred to numerous challenges that project managers face. One regional engineer said project managers are in the unenviable position of trying to keep their projects on time while stakeholders may be giving them contradictory instructions about what they should and should not do.

The FTA noted that project managers need to manage budget, schedule, and scope, as well as expectations. They also must be familiar with numerous statutes and regulations. If a project does not comply with applicable federal, state, and local levels – the project manager can jeopardize the agency’s entire project and its likelihood of obtaining future grants. The list of laws and regulations are extensive, and include those relating to procurement, environmental protections, historical properties, access for individuals with disabilities, health, safety, and workforce.

The interviewees identified numerous attributes and skills that a good project manager needs.

The most frequently mentioned capabilities did not relate to technical elements of design and construction, but rather to soft skills such as strong leadership, communications, and interpersonal abilities. Interviewees noted that project managers need to be consensus builders with empathy and political savviness. When working with contractors and consultants, they need strong negotiation skills plus they must be firm and understanding. Project managers who have worked in the private sector may be in a better position to navigate these relationships.

Some FTA officials said having an engineering background can be helpful because engineers are taught how to break down work and optimize it. Engineers are also likely to have had experience in project controls, i.e., managing scope, schedule, and risk. However, most FTA officials did not think a project manager needed to be an engineer. One FTA regional office engineer pointed out that an undergraduate degree in civil engineering might not be very helpful in managing projects, although a master’s in engineering management could be very relevant.

FTA’s Office of Program Management manages the Project Management Oversight (PMO) program which monitors major capital projects to determine whether project sponsors have all the processes and procedures in place to effectively manage and deliver the promised benefits of the project on time, within budget, and in compliance with all applicable federal requirements. As part of this oversight, PMO contractors evaluate whether an agency has the appropriate management and technical capacity to successfully implement its project.

For each project, the Office of Program Management tasks PMO contractors whose skills and experience match the needs of the project to independently perform technical oversight reviews. PMOCs provide resources experienced in all aspects of transit construction. For example, a subway project could have PMO contractors with expertise in heavy rail, tunneling, scheduling, and utility relocation. The contractors report to engineers in the FTA’s regional offices.

One of the ways that PMO contractors ascertain project management capacity is by reviewing agency’s Management Capacity and Capability and its Project Management Plans. FTA requires agencies undertaking large transit capital projects to prepare these plans which serve as the overarching documentation of a project. Project Management Plans span the final stages of the project development phase through the close of the FTA’s grant. The plan is an evolving document that identifies specific administrative and technical procedural documents.

Project Management Plans must document many elements including the following:

• Organizational chart along with description of relationship between people and organizations
• Job descriptions and job qualifications.
• Managerial and technical skills
• Budget covering staff, consultants, property acquisition, utility relocation, etc.
• Construction schedule
• Document control procedures and record-keeping system
• Change order procedures
• Quality control and quality assurance programs
• Safety and security management
• Procedures to be used for testing of operational system and its major components
• Management of risks, contingencies, and insurance

PMO contractors and the regional offices rely on several documents to guide how they assess the capacity of a project’s management team. The first series of documents, the FTA’s Project Management Oversight Procedures contains the “Project Management Plan Review” and “Management Capacity and Capability Review.”

This document identifies procedures and reporting requirements that PMO contractors follow when assessing sponsors’ management, organization, and capabilities. For example, PMO contractors review resumes and conduct interviews to determine whether the agency has qualified and sufficient staff (and/or consultants) dedicated to the project. The review procedures do not define the terms “qualified” and “sufficient,” but rather allow the contractors to make determinations and recommendations based upon their own professional expertise and experience.

Another important document is the FTA’s “Project and Construction Management Guidelines” which assists agencies in advancing transit capital projects to deliver successful projects in terms of project scope, function, schedule, cost, safety, and quality. The guidelines also help PMO contractors in assessing an agency’s capability to do so. (These guidelines are discussed in more detail on the following pages).

A related document is the FTA’s Construction Project Management Handbook. This handbook is designed to provide guidelines for use by public transit agencies undertaking substantial construction projects, either for the first time or with little prior experience.

After the FTA and the PMO contractors review an agency’s Project Management Plan and meet with agency officials, the FTA will make suggestions, raise issues and identify voids or gaps. For example, the FTA might suggest that an agency designate someone as a deputy project manager or add someone to the team with experience acquiring property for FTA-funded projects. Officials at both FTA’s headquarters and regional offices emphasized that the FTA and its PMO contractors do not prescribe changes as they review an agency’s management capacity.

Numerous FTA officials pointed out that some small grantees are not prepared to properly manage large transit projects. The problem is most acute when the grantees are small cities, who choose to directly manage a project rather than have the city’s local transit agency undertake that role.

The FTA’s “Project and Construction Management Guidelines” document stresses the need to manage scope, budget, schedule, and quality along with procurement, risk, safety, security, and internal and external communications. The guidelines repeatedly emphasize the importance of documenting information and processes.

When it comes to managing projects, the Guidelines identify principles and best practices rather than mandating transit agencies to implement specific approaches and procedures. An example of a principle in the guidelines is: “Delegation of authority should promote transparency in decision-making. All decision-makers should be accountable for their actions, and the actions should be based on clear documentation, sound analysis, and an understanding of the consequences.”

The FTA focuses on principles rather than proscribing mandates since transit agencies have different capabilities and their projects encompass a wide range of complexity. Several FTA interviewees said, “If you’ve seen one transit agency, you’ve seen one transit agency.” The same can be said for the agencies’ projects as well.

The guidelines do not offer any suggestions on how to balance consultants with in-house staff, but they do state, “A benefit of using contracted support services for a project of finite duration is the ability to terminate services and the associated expense when their involvement in the project is complete. … When outsourcing services, responsibility for consultant and contractor oversight should stay with the sponsor’s management personnel. The sponsor should have its own qualified organization to maintain overall control of the project, provide timely decision-making, and maintain appropriate communication with project participants and stakeholders.” The guidelines even note that when project sponsors do not have sufficient resources, it is acceptable “delegating the responsibility of project management to a program/project management consultant … Note: This option should include continuous oversight of all consultants by the sponsor’s management regarding project scope, budget, and schedule.”

The guidelines do not mandate specific experiences or training requirements. However, they do identify the following four professional organizations as resources to promote the development and practice of project management and construction management: Project Management Institute, Construction Management Association of America, Design-Build Institute of America, and Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering.

The FTA noted that APTA conferences and the National Transit Institute’s “Management of Transit Construction Projects” can be a valuable resource for project managers. The FTA also hosts its own forums.

The FTA’s Office of Program Management convenes Transit Construction Roundtables with sponsors of large capital projects. The FTA typically invites representatives from 60 to 70 agencies who have projects in construction or in the CIG pipeline. The meetings are typically held in a city that has an FTA-funded major project underway. The peer connections that happen at these meetings are important, one FTA official said. When sessions are held in person with a limited number of people, the participants are most candid with each other.

The FTA has also hosted a focused meeting such as a “BRT Construction Roundtable” which was geared to BRT project managers and chief engineers.

Interviewees

Betty Jackson (FTA headquarters), interview with Plotch, October 3, 2022.

Corey Walker and Chris Nutakor (FTA headquarters), interview with Plotch, March 21, 2023.

Cynthia Moses and Bill Kalt (FTA Regional Office in Missouri), interview with Plotch, October 7, 2022.

Donovan S. Vincent and Ralph A. Branche Jr. (FTA regional office in New York), interview with Plotch, October 20, 2022.

Hassan Dastgir (FTA regional office in Chicago), interview with Plotch, October 12, 2022.

Laura Wallace (FTA Regional Office in Texas), interview with Plotch, October 4, 2022.

Lisa Gavin, (FTA headquarters), interview with Paul Lewis and Plotch, September 9, 2022.

Matt Keamy (FTA regional office Massachusetts), interview with Plotch, October 7, 2022.

Susan Fletcher (FTA regional office in Seattle), interview with Plotch, October 3, 2022.

Tiffany Gallegos (FTA Regional Office in Colorado), interview with Plotch, October 21, 2022.

Tony Cho (FTA Regional Office in Philadelphia), interview with Plotch, October 13, 2022.

Documents

“Kam Shadan Presents at Federal Transit Administration 2023 Capital Program Management Workshop,” news release, PMA Consultants, August 14, 2023, https://pmaconsultants.com/kam-shadan-presents-at-federal-transit-administration-2023-capital-program-management-workshop.

FTA, “Construction Project Management Handbook,” 2016, https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/FTA_Construction_Project_Management_Handbook_2016.pdf.

FTA, “Oversight Procedure 20 – Project Management Plan Review,” September 2015, https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/2024-05/OP20-Project-Management-Plan-Sept-2015.pdf.

FTA, “Oversight Procedure 21 – Management Capacity and Capability Review,” September 2021, https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/2022-05/OP21%20Management%20Capacity%20and%20Capability%20Review%20-Sept%202015.pdf.

FTA, “Project and Construction Management Guidelines,” 2025, https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/2025-02/Project-and-Construction-Management-Guidelines-January-2025.pdf.

FTA, “Project Management Oversight Procedures,” https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/project-management-oversight-procedures.