Standards Explained

The First Edition of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission’s Regional Construction Standards (Standards) was published in December 1999. In October 2006, the Fourth and latest edition was published, with new editions scheduled every three years.

The cities and counties that make up the Region of Hampton Roads, Virginia, have recognized the need to develop uniform construction standards for improvements in public rights-of-way. The intent was to develop standards that would accommodate most of the “typical” construction projects in the region. Therefore, these documents are intended to support the majority of issues communities face in building minor roads, drainage, and utilities. Large utility pipelines, major roadways, and vertical construction (including buildings) are not intended to be addressed by the Regional Construction Standards, although projects have adapted the Standards for “vertical” applications. In a nutshell, the Standards are intended to provide quality construction throughout the region, simplify the bidding and construction administration process, and reduce construction costs.

The development of the document relied on the collective industry knowledge and skills of many individuals in the region. The Full Committee is the governing body and consists of up to 34 voting members: up to two voting representatives from each of the 16 cities and counties in the Hampton Roads Planning District and one voting member from the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) and the Hampton Roads Utility and Heavy Contractors Association (HRUHCA). The Virginia Department of Health - Division of Water Programs (VDH), the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) participate in Full Committee meetings and provide comments.

Technical Review Committees (TRC) were established by the Full Committee to provide technical reviews of the Standards. During the development of the First Edition, three Technical Review Committees were formed and met on a regular basis. The TRCs consisted of up to 15 members with at least one member of the Full Committee who served as the Committee Chairperson. The three Technical Review Committees focused independently on:

1. Front End Documents (bidding and contractual arrangements),
2. Technical Specifications, and
3. Standard Details.

After the publication of the First Edition, only one TRC was needed to oversee technical issues associated with the entire document. At key stages of the project, Focus Groups were convened to provide critical input. One group was comprised of municipal Attorneys and Purchasing Agents whose task was to review the Front-End portion of the document. The second group included consulting engineers, contractors, and suppliers who reviewed the entire document, with emphasis on the technical specifications and the standard details.

The TRC continues to collect information from jurisdictions that have used the document with an emphasis on reviewing Special Provisions to determine common elements that could be incorporated into the next Edition. The more comprehensive the Standards become, the fewer Special Provisions will be required for future projects. A standard format was developed for the jurisdictions to use in preparing Special Provisions.

Modification to the Standards may be proposed by interested parties by going to the HRPDC website and downloading the “Proposed Revision Form”. The completed Proposed Revision Form is returned via e-mail and allows the user to offer potential changes with supporting information for initial consideration by the TRC. A “Proposed Revisions Log” is also maintained on the HRPDC web site to provide the status of Proposed Revisions. The website also contains a section called “Publication Updates” which displays Proposed Revisions that have been ultimately approved by the Full Committee. The Standards do not test or approve products. Product reviews are performed at the locality level. Each locality must then decide if the Publication Update should be incorporated into their Standing Special Provisions.

HRPDC provides training on the use of the document on a quarterly basis at their Chesapeake Office in the Board Room. The training lasts approximately 2 ½ hours. Participants are presented with a Certificate of Completion for the completion of the course and are awarded 2.0 Professional Development Hours (PDHs). There is a nominal charge for these training sessions to recover the reproduction costs of the Training Manuals that are provided. A new 1-Hour Training Session was offered in 2009 with a focus on understamding and completing the Bid Form.

The document may be obtained electronically at www.hrpdc.org. or by purchasing a “hard copy” with CD, for a nominal charge at the offices of the HRPDC. The front end documents are available in Microsoft Word software, while the technical specifications and standard details are available in Acrobat Reader (.pdf) format. The user must acknowledge all modifications to the Regional Construction Standards and should illustrate changes in the Front End documents using strikethroughs and bold for deletions and additions, respectively. The user is entirely responsible and completely liable for misrepresentations to this document. In October 2008, the document was copyrighted to prevent unauthorized modifications to the document.

Hundreds of projects have used the Regional Construction Standards ranging in construction value from under $40,000 to over $20 million for roadways, drainage, sewer rehabilitation, VDOT Urban-funded roadway improvements, streetscape, water distribution system replacement, sanitary sewer, storm water management pond, site plans, and demolition.

Updated December 9, 2009

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