Building Consensus among
Diverse Stakeholders
Unique customer service opportunities in capital project
delivery
General Services Academy VI
October 9, 2008
Panelists
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Mike Lango, Contra Costa County
Kanon Artiche, Solano County
Gerald Leoper, Alameda County
Mike Wagner, Sonoma County
 Moderator:
 Robert Kambak, Sonoma County
Topics
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Defining the Customer
Layers of Approval
Defining the Project
Public vs Private Sector
Measuring Customer Satisfaction
Defining the Customers 1
 Depends on who you ask
 Client department
 User groups
 Stakeholders
 CAO
 “Budgetarians”
 A lot more stakeholders than customers
 Building maintenance and operations
Defining the Customers 2
 Public at large
 Political interests – public relations
 Electorate
 It all rolls up to the electorate
 Consultants
 Regulators
 Contractor – help them be successful
 Different motivations
Defining the Customers 3
 Everyone is a customer
 People that use the building
 Departments and staff that work in the
bldg
 Size and complexity of the project
has different customer groups
 Developer and or brokers
Layers of Approval 1
 Funding approval
 Grants
 Client agency/user approval
 Client’s project manager – single contact
 Critical involvement
 CAO
 Feed back from consultants and
contractors
 CEQA/NEPA
Layers of Approval 2
 Regulatory Agencies – outside
 Some counties are self regulated
 Building permits
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Internal controls and procedures
Risk Management
Not linear/like a maze
Consensus is difficult to pin down
Layers of Approval 3
 Every county is unique in how they
fund and manage capital projects
 Whoever has the money gets their
project
 Capital improvement plans vs. funding
 Capital cost vs. operating costs
 Other jurisdictions (cities, etc)
Defining the Project 1
 Real asset management plan
 Total inventory and total life of the project
 Leased or owned
 Design and construction
 Small part of the overall cost, but major impact
on service delivery and life cost
 Needs assessment/master planning
 Space standards
 Programming and planning
 Beware of preconceived solutions
Defining the Project 2
 Need to consider the big picture – the
entire portfolio and county needs
 Space assignment and use (CAO drives
space utilization)
 Needs vs. wants
 Sign off by stakeholders at phases
Public vs. Private Sector 1
 Organization structure
 Private sector – investors
 Public sector – constituents
 Private sector – competition for services
(customer has a choice)
 Public sector – no competition; no choice
 Permitting process
 Varies by county
 More stringent in public sector
Public vs. Private Sector 2
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Project labor agreements
Policy
Private = profit; Public = public service
Public sector = longer life of facilities
Contract award (negotiation vs. bidding)
Perception by the public
 Image (Taj Mahal)
 Different level of scrutiny
Measuring Customer Satisfaction 1
Post project surveys/briefings
Post occupancy assessment
Regular meetings with customers
On budget, ahead of schedule = everyone
is happy
 Quality of project
 How can it be improved
 Roof projects – does it leak?
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 quantifiable
Measuring Customer Satisfaction 2
 Public wants good services delivered in an
efficient manner
 Each customer is different
 Under promise and over delivery – set
realistic expectations
 Audit meeting 90 days after completion –
customer, contractor, designer
 Lessons learned
 Website
 Media reports can affect how the project is
judged
Wrap Up
Where’s my handout?
Completed PowerPoint to be posted on
CGSA website (www.countygsa.com)