BACKGROUND

State departments of transportation (DOTs) and other transportation agencies routinely establish commitments to complete specific environmental impact avoidance or mitigation as part of project planning and design under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and related federal and state laws and regulations. Federal agencies and state DOTs are responsible for ensuring these legally binding commitments are implemented throughout the life of a project and ultimately fulfilled. Proper implementation of environmental commitments affects all phases of project delivery including planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance.

Tracking environmental commitments is essential to ensuring that specific commitments are implemented. DOTs face challenges in the successful documentation and verification of such commitments. Common challenges include inconsistencies with terminology and language and failure to ensure that commitments are incorporated into design, construction, operations, and maintenance. Lost and unfulfilled commitments can lead to legal issues, violations and fines from regulatory agencies, loss of public trust, and ultimately poor environmental outcomes.

Research is needed to provide a comprehensive approach to documenting and verifying environmental commitments. 

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to produce a documentation and verification process workflow with tools to facilitate the definition, implementation, monitoring, verification, and maintenance of environmental commitments established through the life of a project. 

TASKS:

 PHASE I: DATA COLLECTION

 Task 1 Conduct a Literature Review

 The research team shall conduct a literature review to identify the experiences of the state Department of Transportation (DOT) community and other industries to identify, document, track, and verify environmental commitments. The emphasis of the literature review will be to identify policy, practical issues, and challenges agencies face to tracking and verifying environmental commitments throughout and post project development.  Successful examples will be sought for development into the final report, workflow, and tools.

 The research team will collect documented processes and practices directly from the state DOT community to identify the state-of-the-practice for addressing environmental commitments via web-based queries of the appropriate environmental manager or staff from all 50 states. The purpose of this initial outreach is to identify existing state DOT practices and processes in place for identifying and tracking environmental commitments. Additionally, the data should address the roles and responsibilities of personnel assigned responsibility to track, verify, and report the implementation of commitments throughout project development and implementation, including planners, designers, and construction and maintenance staff.  The literature review will seek to understand whether these processes are addressed in the state’s environmental procedures manual or other documents. The review shall also identify and assess any tools or tracking systems used by each state; as well as the costs, benefits, challenges, and needs of the DOT community to bring forth effective documenting, tracking, verifying, and reporting environmental commitments.

 The literature review will be documented into a technical memo containing a detailed analysis of the literature review process and data collected.

 Deliverables: Literature review technical memorandum

 Task 2 Conduct outreach with state DOTs and other appropriate stakeholders that solicits the perspective of practitioners across functional units and disciplines.

 In consultation with the project panel, the research team shall identify appropriate representatives of state DOTs from a variety of disciplines with responsibility for identifying, tracking, verifying, and/or reporting environmental commitments throughout the project lifecycle to participate in a virtual peer discussion group, to be convened at two specific points during the research project:

·       After completing data collection activities in Task 2; and 

·       After fully developing the draft workflow in Task 6.

The research team will contact environmental and other practitioners from various stages of the project development and implementation process and from various states and environmental planning contexts with responsibility for documenting, verifying, tracking, and reporting environmental commitments to participate in a practitioner focus group.

The research team shall prepare a proposed list of participants, and a plan containing the focus group discussion format, and agenda.  The research team shall convene and document a virtual panel meeting to present and discuss the focus group meeting plan and revise it in accordance with the discussion. The research team will be responsible for convening and documenting the focus group proceedings for the panel.

Deliverables: Stakeholder outreach

Task 3 Prepare a state-of-the-industry practice report 

The research team will prepare a state of industry practice report using the data and information collected from Tasks 1 and 2.  This report will include an analysis of lessons learned from the data collected, including a report on the maturity of the industry in identifying, tracking, verifying, and reporting environmental commitments throughout a project’s life cycle by various staff and positions within a state DOT.  The report will include the assessment of any processes, procedures, methods, tools, or techniques in use by the state DOT community today and identify any opportunities for integrating practices used by agencies from other industries in which environmental commitments are adopted and tracked.

This report will be submitted to the panel for review and comment. A virtual panel meeting shall be convened and documented by the research team to discuss the lessons learned to date, and what information the research team recommends building into the workflow and tools in anticipation of advancing into Task 4.  The research team shall incorporate panel comments into the draft workflow and tool products.

Deliverables: State-of-the industry report

Task 4 Prepare a detailed outline of the content and format of a proposed environmental commitment process and verification workflow and tools 

 The research team will prepare a detailed outline of the content and format of a proposed environmental commitment process and verification workflow and tools that addresses:

 ·       The parameters and purpose of an environmental commitment process and tracking systems, including appropriate terminology, legal and regulatory context, and other factors driving the need for effective tracking of environmental commitments;

·       A project timeline for establishing, implementing, and tracking environmental commitments over the full life cycle of a project, from planning to post-implementation operations and maintenance;

·       Performance criteria of an effective system for mitigating/tracking systems and workflows;

·       A compendium of established and recommended environmental commitment methods and practices for the identification, documentation, and tracking of environmental commitments for a project throughout the project lifecycle. It should be flexible to accommodate the unique needs of state DOTs and should accommodate commitments agreed to inside and outside of the NEPA regulatory structure;

·       Consultation methods, documentation, and record keeping;

·       Methods for managing, extracting, querying, and reporting project level environmental commitments;

·       Methods for managing change in environmental mitigation commitments, such as those caused by the late discovery of environmental impacts or mitigation technologies or techniques;

·       Methods (and sample language, as appropriate) for establishing formal roles and responsibilities with external parties for compliance with commitments; and

·       Methods for risk management, particularly through contract language and agency agreements that ensure long-term management and compliance with environmental commitments.

 These draft deliverables will be submitted for panel review and comment and included in the Interim Report for discussion during the Task 5 interim meeting.

 Deliverables: Outline of workflow and tools

 Task 5 Prepare an interim report that summarizes the process and outcomes of the previous tasks.

 The research team will prepare an interim report that summarizes the process and outcomes of Tasks 1 through 4, including providing detailed assessment of the data collected and outlines prepared in Task 4 of the final deliverables. This interim report shall be submitted to the NCHRP for a 30-day panel review and comment. The research team shall collect and submit a point-by-point response to comments received for discussion with the panel at the Interim Meeting.

 The principal investigator and select members of the research team will be prepared to present the interim report and product outline(s) at an in-person meeting to be convened by the NCHRP. The interim report will be revised as appropriate to reflect feedback received from the project panel.

 Deliverables: Interim Report

 NCHRP approval is required prior to advancing into Phase II. 

 PHASE II: PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

 Task 6 Develop the workflow and tools

 The research team will develop the draft workflow and tools in consideration of stakeholder and panel input received to date. These deliverables will be the focus of the virtual peer exchange to be convened in Task 7.

 The research team proposes to hold a second virtual focus group meeting to solicit input on the draft workflow. The final list of participants, format and agenda of the focus group meeting, and any presentation materials will be developed in consultation with the project panel.

The components of the workflow and tools shall include the following:

• The parameters and purpose of an environmental commitment process and tracking systems, including appropriate terminology, legal and regulatory context, and other factors driving the need for effective tracking of environmental commitments;
• A project timeline for establishing, implementing, and tracking environmental commitments over the full life cycle of a project, from planning to post-implementation operations and maintenance; 
• Performance criteria of an effective system for mitigating/tracking systems and workflows;
• A compendium of established and recommended environmental commitment methods and practices for the identification, documentation, and tracking of environmental commitments for a project throughout the project lifecycle. It should be flexible to accommodate the unique needs of state DOTs and should accommodate commitments agreed to inside and outside of the NEPA regulatory structure;
• Consultation methods, documentation, and record keeping;
• Methods for managing, extracting, querying, and reporting project level environmental commitments;
• Methods for managing change in environmental mitigation commitments, such as those caused by the late discovery of environmental impacts or mitigation technologies or techniques;   
• Methods (and sample language, as appropriate) for establishing formal roles and responsibilities with external parties for compliance with commitments; and
• Methods for risk management, particularly through contract language and agency agreements that ensure long-term management and compliance with environmental commitments.

Deliverables:  Workflow and tools

 Task 7 Organize and facilitate a virtual peer exchange to review the draft products

 The research team shall be responsible for convening, facilitating, and documenting a virtual peer exchange discussion to review the draft products developed during this project.

 Deliverables: Peer exchange meeting held and documented

 Task 8 Prepare the draft final deliverables for a minimum 30-day comment period

Prepare and submit all draft deliverables to NCHRP staff for a 30-day (minimum) panel review and comment period.

The research team shall schedule and convene a final virtual panel meeting to discuss panel comments and provide input towards the development of the final drafts for publication by NCHRP.

Deliverables: Draft final deliverables to NCHRP for panel review and comment

Task 9 Prepare final deliverables for publication 

 The Research Team will prepare and submit all final deliverables in accordance with NCHRP policy. 

 Among the deliverables will be a point-by-point response to each written comment received by the panel and how that response is reflected in the final products. 

 The final deliverables will include:

• An environmental commitments documentation and process workflow;
• Tools that will facilitate the development, execution, and validation of environmental commitments established for a project through its entire lifecycle;
• Presentation materials that explain the purpose and value of project products, and recommendations and lessons learned from the research to agency staff and leadership;
• An implementation plan focused on the practitioner that markets and encourages adoption of the products of this research, including potential pilot applications to demonstrate implementation; and 
• A conduct of research report that describes and documents the full research project.

STATUS: Contract start date is October 1, 2024.  Project is currently in Phase I.