Companion Guide to Video August 2012

www.fhwa.dot.gov/federal-aidessentials

Project Construction and Contract Administration

Project Management

Construction Quality Assurance

Aristotle once said,

“Quality is not an act, it 

is a habit.” For the 

Federal Highway 

Administration (FHWA), 

construction quality 

assurance, which is often simply called QA, is 

not a slogan. Rather, it is a systematic approach 

to ensure the constructed quality of each 

Federal-aid project is what it should be. It’s 

making sure the public gets what it paid for.

In doing so, it’s important to know the

principles of QA and its requirements for

Federal-aid construction contracts and how a 

local public agency, or LPA, can comply with 

these requirements.

QA for highway construction is built on key

principles that have been developed and 

accepted nationally by FHWA, the American 

Association of State Highway and

Transportation Officials, or AASHTO, and

construction industry organizations.

Quality Assurance is a broad umbrella term

covering the shared responsibilities of both the 

contractor and the agency for achieving a 

project's contracted level of quality. Under the 

umbrella, the basic categories of responsibilities

are:

• Quality control, or QC, activities 

performed by the contractor

• Acceptance activities performed by the 

local public agency.

The contractor’s QC function requires ongoing

monitoring and measurement to continually 

adjust and control the quality. This is 

accomplished through QC inspection, sampling, 

and testing at both materials and production 

facilities and at the project site.

Necessary quality assurance must be provided for achieving a 

project’s contracted level of quality
Federal-aid Essentials for Local Public Agencies

The agency’s acceptance function means taking

responsibility for verifying and accepting the 

quality of materials and construction

workmanship.

Complete QA implementation requires three

major components, which can be illustrated as

tiers within a pyramid diagram to show how

these components build upon each other.

First, and foundational, is Joint Agency and

Industry Support. This means commitment,

communication, training and funding by both

contractors and agencies to ensure that

sufficient resources, including personnel and

equipment, are in place to perform the required

quality functions. These ongoing support 

activities are needed so that QA principles are 

mutually understood and correctly applied.

LPAs and their consultants should be aware of

existing resources, such as QA training available

through their State department of 

transportation (State DOT) and other 

organizations.

The second tier of the pyramid is a formal QA

program developed and documented by the 

agency.

The QA program outlines overall requirements 

for all projects. A well-developed program 

outlines the proper agency and contractor roles 

and responsibilities. Each State DOT must have 

a QA program approved by FHWA, and LPAs are 

encouraged to use these for your projects.

A complete QA program includes the six core

elements of: 

• Contractor Quality Control

• Agency Acceptance

• Independent Assurance

• Dispute Resolution

• Laboratory Accreditation-Qualification

• Personnel Qualification-Certification.

Specific requirements for each element are 

provided in FHWA’s regulations and related 

FHWA and AASHTO guidance documents.

Let’s go over the QA program requirement 

based on road designation for Federal-aid 

projects.

For projects on the National Highway System 

(NHS), the LPA must have an FHWA-approved

QA program that addresses the six core 

elements.

The NHS includes the interstate highway system

and other major roads designated by each 

State. In this case, an LPA may either:

• Adopt the State DOT’s approved 

program requirements

• Or develop an LPA QA program that 

complies with FHWA requirements and 

is approved by the State DOT and

FHWA.
Federal-aid Essentials for Local Public Agencies

For projects not on the NHS, FHWA does not

have specific QA program requirements.

However, LPAs are responsible to ensure that

each Federal-aid project receives adequate

supervision and inspection. With this in mind, 

LPAs should have a program that is acceptable 

to the State DOT, and that includes the six core 

elements.

Several State DOTs have developed special QA 

programs for use on LPA projects. FHWA

recommends that an LPA identify the

acceptance activities to be performed by the 

agency, or by its consultant, as a key part of any 

QA program. In addition, FHWA recommends 

your program identify the minimum 

requirements for a contractor’s QC system to 

ensure real-time inspection that will head off 

quality issues.

The third tier of the pyramid is quality 

assurance specifications. These provide projectspecific instructions for implementing the QA 

program, which will be included in the contract.

These specifications include:

• Contractor QC requirements, such as 

minimum inspection and testing activity

• The agency acceptance criteria, 

including the items to be inspected, 

materials to be tested, and quality

standards that will be applied

• How to make payments that are based 

on the measured construction quality, 

including any incentives and 

disincentives

Let’s summarize and review what we have 

covered.

• Construction QA is built on key 

principles accepted nationally.

• QA is an umbrella term covering both 

quality control activities by the 

contractor and agency acceptance 

activities.

• Successful QA implementation has 

three major components that build 

upon one another like the tiers of a 

pyramid. They are: Joint agency and 

industry support, a QA program, and 

QA specifications.

• For National Highway System projects, 

LPAs may either adopt the State DOT’s 

approved QA program or develop an 

LPA QA program that meets FHWA 

requirements.

• For all other Federal-aid projects, FHWA 

does not prescribe specific QA program 

requirements. However, the LPA should 

have a QA program that is acceptable to 

the State DOT.

• QA specifications are included in the 

contract to implement the QA program.

If you would like to know more about Federalaid requirements for construction quality 

assurance, please refer to the FHWA Web site.

You should always check with your State DOT or

FHWA division office for specific policies and

procedures in your State.
Federal-aid Essentials for Local Public Agencies

The content of this 

document is not a 

substitute for 

information obtained 

from State departments 

of transportation, 

appropriate FHWA 

Division Offices, and 

applicable laws. 

Scenarios have been 

simplified for emphasis 

and do not necessarily 

reflect the actual range of 

requirements applicable 

to the scenario or this 

topic. This document

was created under 

contract number

DTFH63-11-D-00066 by 

the Federal Highway 

Administration, U.S. 

Department of 

Transportation, and is 

offered to the public to 

heighten and focus 

awareness of Federal-aid 

requirements within the 

local public agencies 

community and 

reinforces the 

importance of these 

necessary policies, 

procedures, and 

practices.

This companion resource 

is the script content for 

the video production of 

the same name. 

Additional Resources

• Regulation for construction quality assurance

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2011-title23-vol1/pdf/CFR-2011-

title23-vol1-part637.pdf

• FHWA policy on regulatory requirements in 23 C.F.R. § 637 Subpart B

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/0637bsup.cfm

• Questions and answers on the quality assurance regulation 23 CFR 637

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/materials/qanda637.cfm

• FHWA guidance on construction quality assurance

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/qa/index.cfm