PLM Minutes Meeting 10-25-18
Date:
October 25, 2018
Business Meeting:
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
District 4 Parkview #15-700
111 Grand Avenue, Oakland, California
Networking Mixer:
3:15 PM – 5:00 PM
Agave Uptown Restaurant
2135 Franklin Street, Oakland, California
1.0 Welcome and Introduction of New District Director
Doanh Nguyen, Deputy District 4 Director of PPM, welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked the CalMentor
committee. He stated that D4 has project delivery program worth $16B of work in various areas like construction,
SHOPP program under the SB1 funding, to name a few. He introduced the new D4 District Director, Tony Tavares.
2.0 Executive Remarks
Tony Tavares acknowledged the presence of his colleagues from DPAC Sacramento for their encore presentation to
educate member on improvements to the DPAC procurement process. Mr. Tavares mentioned that the Calmentor
program, now on its 12th year, has 124 active mentor, protégé and graduate protégé firms participating including 4 new
protégé firms – Replicant AD, Star Gazer Enterprise, InContext and the Baines Group. He mentioned that since 2007,
60 protégé firms from Calmentor have graduated and with the newest one, Sun Mountain LLC. These graduate protégé
firms continue to successfully manage an estimated $50 million in Caltrans contracts in District 4 alone. However, he
stated that we should not rest on our laurels but there is a need to continue to grow the pool of highly qualified firms
available to support State and local transportation projects, especially as we continue to move forward with regional
improvements to our transportation infrastructure.
Mr. Tavares explained about the importance of supporting Prop 6, that will increase the gas tax by 12-cent enacted by
SB1 to pay for critical, unfunded improvements to State and local transportation infrastructure. This will help develop
growth and create jobs. He encouraged everyone present in the meeting, to help educate residents on the detrimental
impact of Prop 6. The modest increase in the gas tax will directly support local road and transit projects.
Mr. Tavares called Steve Mendenhall, District 4 Steering Committee Chair, to join him in front, to acknowledge the
graduation of Sun Mountain from the Calmentor Program, along with Jordana Smith of Alta Vista Solutions, Sun
Mountain’s mentor firm. They presented the CalMentor Graduation plaque to Kim Webb of Sun Mountain LLC and
the Bronze award to Mazeh Wahbeh of Alta Vista Solutions, Inc. for mentoring 2 or more protégé firms in the District
4 Calmentor Program.
3.0 Approvals
Ali Banani, Office Chief PPM, informed everyone that the minutes of the July 26, 2018 Calmentor meeting was
forwarded by email earlier this week. Please read, review and advise Marian Faustino or Ali Banani of any comments
or corrections.
4.0 Caltrans Look Ahead Report
Catalino Nicolas, Contract Manager, presented a contracting opportunity for engineering (support) services to provide
technical engineering support for suspension, cable investigation, technical support for lab testing, wire sampling and
estimation of cable strength. Again, this is just for support services. RFQ for $2.5M, 3 years and a DBE goal of 5%
which will be advertised in late October or early November 2018.
5.0 Public Agency Partner Reports
Luz Campos, Purchasing Procurement Specialist of the MTC, encouraged everyone to check their procurement portal
to get updates on future contracting opportunities. Hand-outs were given. Vendor verification is now active on their
website. For more updates please visit their website at https://mtc.ca.gov.
Artemise Davenport of the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District shared the contracting opportunity
for the Golden Gate Bridge underwater inspection services. The contract is worth $300,000. For detailed information,
upcoming events and contracting opportunities go to their website http://www.goldengate.org.
Olga Medina, Management Analyst of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority invited everyone to visit their
website at http://www.vta.org. There are 9 upcoming projects, 4 of these are expected to be advertised in the remaining
months of 2018: US 101 – SR85 Express Lanes Phase3; Overhead Catenary System Rehab Phase 2; Mathilda Avenue
Improvements at US 101 and SR 237 Project; and High Volumes Bus Stop Improvements. She mentioned that there is
a need to register to be on their on-call list which is good for 2-3 years up to 5 years. There are future contracting
opportunities for construction for existing road construction and professional services contracts are in the works.
6.0 CalMentor Steering Committee Report
Steve Mendenhall, Caltrans D4 Calmentor Steering Committee and NorCal Regional Manager of Guida Surveying Inc.
pitched to recruit new members. He handed out forms for protégé/mentor pairings. He stated that the initial is 2-year
term up to an additional 2 years.
7.0 Caltrans DPAC Update
David Prizmich, Division Chief of DPAC Caltrans HQ, shared that DPAC had several activities in the last 6 months
because of the SB1. He thanked the CalMentor committee on their contribution to the success of the program and
acknowledge Saad Samani’s tremendous help. DPAC cannot advocate but can only educate.
Esther Morris, Assistant Division Chief A&E, DPAC Caltrans, allowed each one on the panel to introduce themselves.
She shared the A&E contract process goal of improvement and efficiency.
Linda Laubinger, Negotiation Phase Program Lead, DPAC Caltrans, explained extensively the general A&E contract
process.
Alice M. Lee, Office Chief of External Audits, explained its role in the DPAC process.
Saad Samani, Caltrans District 4 DPAC Coordinator, helped everyone in the panel and responded to audience questions.
For details, please check the slide show on the Caltrans Calmentor website:
https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-4/d4-programs/d4-calmentor.
8.0 Adjourn Regular Meeting
The meeting was adjourned by Francisco Padilla at 3:00 PM. He commended the job well done by the Calmentor
committee and its members. Networking mixer took place at the Agave Uptown Restaurant.
Trans Staff
Banani, Ali (Office Chief, Consultant Services Unit)
Faustino, Marian (Branch Chief, Consultant Services Unit)
Horton, Sarah (Contract Manager, Consultant Services Unit)
Laubinger, Linda (Sr. Mgmt. Auditor, Caltrans)
Lee, Alice (Office Chief, External Audits)
McElhinney, Dan (Chief Deputy District Director, Caltrans)
Morris, Esther (Asst. Div. Chief, DPAC)
Mulingtapang, Cynthia (Consultant Services Unit)
Nguyen, Doanh (Deputy Director, PPM)
Nicolas, Catalino (Contract Manager, Consultant Services Unit)
Padilla, Francisco (Branch Chief, Consultant Services Unit)
Prizmich, David (Division Chief, DPAC)
Samani, Saad (DPAC Coordinator, DPAC)
Tavares, Tony (District 4 Director, Caltrans)
Villafuerte, Felicia (Staff Mgmt. Auditor, DPAC)
Yuan, Bo (Senior Contract Manager, Consultant Services Unit)
Zarei, Azin (Contract Manager, Consultant Services Unit)
Consultants
Adams, Herman (Baines Group, Inc.)
Bacon, Devon (LSA)
Bloomfield, Janai (HDR)
Brady, Ryan (Dudek)
Bryant, Scott (Psomas)
Chaudhary, Arvin (Chaudhary& Associates, Inc.)
Clark, Mydria (HNTB Corp.)
Conserva, Maria Elena (Earthview Science
Davis, Darold (Replicant AD, Inc.)
Depelchin, Chadi (Sun, Light & Power)
Duxbury, James (TY Lin)
Fisher, Kevin (CH2M/Jacobs)
Fu, Christi (Arcadis)
Kingsbury, Cathy (HDR Inc.)
Klatzker, Adam (Keish Environmental)
Lau, Eddy (Retired/Small Business Council)
Lundgren, David (Stantec)
McCarthy, John (Garcia & Associates)
Mendenhall, Steve (Guida Surveying, Inc.)
Mitchell, Christine (Aliquot Associates, Inc.)
Pimentel, Rodney (Parsons)
Rejaie, Allen (HNTB)
Rikkelman, Anna (BSK Associates)
Rodriguez, Tim (BSK Associates)
Sarmiento, Grace (Summit Associates
Sawyer, Erika (CH2M)
Sidle, Dan (LSA)
Stewart, Sonja (Star Gazer Enterprise)
Strickland, Karen (Golden Bear Associates)
Taylor, Darci (Geocon Consultants, Inc.)
Velu, Meera (Garcia & Associates)
Wahbeh, Mazen (Alta Vista)
Walker Jocelyn (WRECO)
Wang Terence (Ninyo & Moore)
Webb, Kim (Sun Mountain LLC)
Wong, Robert (Aliquot Associates, Inc.)
Local Agency
Baltao, Anne (SCVTA)
Campos, Luz (Purchasing Technician, MTC)
Davenport, Artemise (DBE Prog. Adm., Golden Gate Bridge)
Medina, Olga (Management Analyst, SCVTA)