Agenda

• Introduction and Opening Remarks
• Approval of the 2006 Minutes
• TRB staff comments
• Construction section comments
• Committee membership
• 2007 session preview
  1. Session 312 – Dr. Charles White
  2. Session 354 – Carolyn Jordan
• Status of Triennial Self Evaluation (TSE) Report and transition from TSE of the Triennial Strategies Plan (TSP).
• Sub-committee Reports
  1. TRB Web pages
  2. Presentation Committee
     1. 2008 Panel Presentation
  3. Technical Committee
     1. Papers per Review
     2. Synthesis Topic Development
     3. Research Problem Statements
  4. Liaison Committee
• Informal Presentation
• New Business

Introduction and Opening Remarks
Eugene Johnson opened the meeting, and the group introduced themselves around the table. It was noted the meeting was being taped to produce minutes. The Chair reviewed the agenda starting with covering the scope of the committee. Fred Hejl stepped out the room which moved his presentation on TRB Staff Comments, as an agenda item, after the Construction Section Comments. Committee member rotation was mentioned as an important discussion point on the agenda as well as the topic of DBE research. Also highlighted as an agenda item was other TRB committees that have subject matter that intersect with the DBE committee and the possibility of doing joint sessions with those committees. Nineteen people, including eleven committee members, attended the meeting.

During the 2007 Annual Meeting, Dr. Charles Wright and Richard Rolland moved, second, and the Minutes from the 2006 was accepted into record.

TRB Staff Comments
Fred Hejl, TRB Staff Representative, gave his report on what is new and changing at TRB. He explained committee member rotation and deadline for rotations. After, Eugene and Fred discussion on which members will be reappointed, Fred stated it has to be approved by TRB. Once it is approved by TRB, the members will receive an e-mail, basically saying they are invited to become a member of this committee. They have to respond to that invitation within 30 days to be on the committee. Fred stated that there would be over 11,000 people in attendance, for a six-day conference using 30 motels. The goal of the standing committee is identify research needs, disseminate those research needs out to the world, and then publish results of the research. TRB developed a database of research needs statements, where committees can input their own research needs statements. That database is going to become public around the middle of the year. TRB is going to input what we have for current research needs statements into the database. After the annual meeting, committee chairs, or their designees will be given the opportunity to go in and update that information. TRB wants these to be committee-sponsored research needs statements. The Committee consisting of peer-reviewers, the committee agrees that these are a priority and important research needs. All Committee Chairpersons will be required to choose someone to be the maintainer for research needs. If people want to know what research was completed, use Transportation Research Information Services or Research In Progress. According to Fred, there are no links to research statements being studied. He explained TRB publishes a catalog of research problem statements. The primary thing we are doing is identifying the research needs. NCHRP can fund research problem statements. No TRB employee or somebody from the US-DOT or the Federal Highways is the only ones that can not submit something to NCHRP. Members expressed concern for the process to develop a research problem statements. Fred summarized a synthesis topic as basically not doing any research but getting a contractor or a consultant to contact all the states and they ask them a number of questions. Places where synthesis topics are published, are on the TRIS website or NCHRP synthesis website. The synthesis statements are funded through the Transit synthesis program.

Construction Section Comments
Steve DeWitt gave the TRB Construction Section Chair Report. Steve stated that in the future, TRB will look very hard at all the committees, in terms of what they produce, what the function is, how well they are part of the process, and the sessions that are put together. TRB may dissolve some committees. Steve needs to know how the DBE committee views the world in the year 2020. The Construction Group is charged with putting together a highlighted speaker for dialogue with leaders in Transportation. The annual theme for the meeting next year is titled, Partnerships for Progress in Transportation. Steve is having a lot of discussion about how to get more involvement from a wide cross-section of our population, particularly in committee membership. The AGC has created a DBE field kit toolkit. A companion document has been created by AASHTO. FHWA and ARTBA are part of that too. They were involved with looking at the DOT side of implementing a DBE program from a field perspective. They hired a technical writer who is putting that together. One of the issues and concerns Steve had was having some input from NAMC, from the minority contractors’ side of the issue. Steve is looking for FHWA, AGC, and other contractor groups’ involvement. AGC is funding primarily their portion of it. AASHTO is funding a portion of it, and FHWA US office is part of the process. ARTBA is involved, but how much they’re putting into project is unknown. Per a committee member, he has not been able to get research topics and some projects over the last three or four years successfully funded. Steve stated the secret to research is finding the breadth and the depth of what you want to do. The key is to get those things posted on the Internet, so a DOT can sponsor, and AASHTO support it.

Committee Membership
Eugene Johnson stated that most of our Committee Members are staff practitioners or business people who don’t have resource to support research and it’s hard to get others involved in our research. In response the presentation by Fred, Eugene stated that one-third of the membership as shown on the attached roster should rotate. Eugene suggested that we should have at least 25 members, but currently we only have 20 members. Eugene distributed two documents, one for prospective members and one for current members. Fred stated that people that don’t get rotated off have to be reappointed, so essentially, nothing is done about rotation. He also noted that Eugene Johnson would be the only person left on the Committee. Fred stated that Eugene is not part of the rotation, however, his membership expires ’08.

2007 Sessions Preview

1. Session 312 – Dr. Charles Wright – facilitator
   Strategic Supportive Services for Stabilizing Disadvantaged Business Enterprises in Tough Economic Times

   Presenters and Topics
   Emerging Solutions for Stabilizing DBEs for the Next Decade and Beyond
   Charles A. Wright
   Using Internet and Geospatial Solutions in Advancing Strategic Supportive Services
   Michael Behney
   L. Jay Burks

2. Session 354 – Carolyn Jordan
   Radical Concepts for Increasing DBE Participation on Large Projects: Government and Industry Perspectives of Wisconsin Department of Transportation's Model

   Presenters and Topics
   Make It, Take It, Respond, and Deliver: How State DOTs, DBEs, and Industry Can Work Together to Achieve Goals on Mega Projects
   Reggie Newson
   Delivering on the Promises: The Madness, the Magic,
   Michele Carter-Rutledge
   When You Go to Battle, Position Yourself to Win
   Thomas L. Burse
   Value of Open, Continuous Dialogue in Gaining Agency-Industry Consensus on Achievable Project Goals for Mega Projects
   Thomas Walker

Status of Triennial Self-Evaluation(TSE) Report and transition from TSE to the Triennial Strategic Plan (TSP)

Subcommittee reports

1. TRB Web page
   Mike Behney stated on behalf of the committee, we have both a webpage, which information can be posted for the members and the friends of the Committee, as well as a listserv to be used as a communication tool. Mike also noted that we would be able to exchange ideas, share ideas, and other means of communication of the Committee. Mike gave handouts that list both the address for the website and also the listserv address.
2. Presentations Committee
   1. 2009 Panel Presentation
3. Technical Committee
   1. Papers for Review
   2. Synthesis Topic Development
      Fred discussed the objective of synthesis, He noted the objectives are to locate and assemble documented information. He also stated that we need to organize, evaluate, and document the useful information that is acquired and to disseminate the synthesis information to all who might benefit from it.
   3. Research Problem Statements
      Fred stated that we have to identify research needs; we have to disseminate those research needs out to the world, and the results of the research, once the research is completed. He also stated we are going to populate the database, after each annual meeting, committee chairs or their designees, will be given the opportunity to go in and update information, add new ones, delete old ones, and modify the existing ones.
4. Liaison Committee
   Discussions were held regarding how the states are capturing the race conscious versus the race neutral participation and other topics. The committee also focused on the year 2020 and how public/private partnerships will be reality. During the discussion, members also spoke of International relationships.

Informal Presentations

New Business