Section 4: Use of the Consultant Pool

Consultant firms who are under contract with the Bridge Division to perform bridge inspections in Texas are available for use by the districts. The necessary procedures that must be followed by the districts to utilize these consultants is described below.

Request for Consultant Inspection

  • Bridge Division identifies upcoming Routine Bridge Inspections in each District and emails spreadsheets to the District Bridge Inspection Coordinators and Bridge Engineer showing the upcoming inspections and place-holder assignment of a firm or firms.
  • District Bridge Inspection Coordinator populates the spreadsheets and requests consultants in generic format, i.e. Consultant A, Consultant B, Consultant C, etc. and verifies the inspection dates in MM/YYYY format.
  • The top ranked consulting firm is assigned work first during the first cycle. Bridge Division schedules the bridges and assigns consultant based on schedule need, work availability, and funds available in each contract. Bridge Division then sends Identification of Contract Need and Justification for Consultant selection to Professional Engineering Procurement Services Division (PEPS).
  • Bridge Division creates work specification in AssetWise and assigns the assets to the selected consultant(s).
  • Bridge Division prepares a detailed Work Schedule with a termination date, number of bridges to be inspected by type, and sends the package to Consultant(s) to complete the Fee Schedule. At this point, the Consultant will determine if Sub-Providers will be required for the Work Authorization, depending on their capacity.
  • The Consultant liaises with the District Bridge Inspection Coordinator to agree/negotiate on Specified Rates and any Other Direct Expenses (ODEs).
  • The Consultant then completes the proposed fee schedule and returns it to Bridge Division.
The Bridge Division will execute the Work Authorization through PEPS, and notify the district and the consulting firm once the Work Authorization has been fully executed. The consultant may begin bridge inspections only upon full execution of the Work Authorization.

Managing Consultant Bridge Inspections

To ensure that bridge inspections are performed in a competent and timely fashion, the district will perform oversight of the work by following these steps:
  • Verify the bridge inspection firms’ Project Managers and individual Team Leaders against the list of Approved Team Leaders provided by the Bridge Inspection Branch of the Bridge Division.
  • Periodically visit the firms’ inspection teams in the field to verify team composition and to observe actual inspections during the Work Authorization.
  • Refer to Section 3 “Quality Control” of Chapter 9 of this manual for quality control requirements and procedures that must be followed by the district.
  • The district should monitor the progression of work and budget to ensure that there are sufficient funds in the work authorization for any new structures that need to be inventoried, bridges needing unforeseen load ratings, etc.
  • If additional funds or time is needed to complete the Work Authorization, a request for a Supplemental Agreement must be made to the Bridge Inspection Branch of the Bridge Division at least 2 months before the termination of the initial Work Authorization.

Evaluation of Bridge Inspection Consultant Firm and Project Manager

When the bridge inspections covered by the Work Authorization are finished, the district work authorization manager (typically the District Bridge Inspection Coordinator) completes an evaluation of the consultant’s Project Manager and the consultant’s work as required by the Professional Engineering Procurement Services Division.
It is important that districts complete this process and notify the Bridge Inspection Program Manager of poor performing consultants.