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DOTD outlines strategic-improvement plan in response to Boston Consulting Group review
Summary
DOTD officials described a multi-prong strategic improvement plan tied to a Boston Consulting Group benchmarking report. The plan targets on-time project delivery, organizational realignment, better data governance and new public-facing performance metrics; lawmakers pressed for clearer KPIs and transparency on staffing and budgets.
Department of Transportation and Development officials presented the agency's strategic improvement plan and the department’s response to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) benchmarking review.
The plan and why it matters Secretary Donahue said the administration commissioned the BCG work and used its recommendations to shape a strategic-improvement plan intended to improve program delivery, transparency and data governance. He told the committee the department has started several initiatives, including a six-month letting list and an organizational realignment that will require civil-service and, in some cases, legislative action.
"We have started putting out a 180, a 6 month let list with the initial goal of having a % accuracy 90 days out basically," a DOTD official said, describing an effort to make letting dates more reliable for industry and legislators. The official said the department plans to move toward a one-year letting list and to improve accuracy for planning and procurement.
BCG findings and departmental priorities Committee members focused on several BCG findings: limited, consistent tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs); project‑delivery reliability that trails peer states; and data governance gaps that led to conflicting answers across DOTD offices. The department described plans to publish dashboards, standardize data and create KPIs that link funding to measurable output.
Staffing, pay and the Transportation Trust Fund Lawmakers raised concerns about staffing, turnover and pay. The secretary and deputy secretary told members Louisiana is an outlier among state DOTs because much staff pay and retiree benefits are treated as transportation trust‑fund expenses, not general‑fund personnel costs. The deputy secretary explained the practical effect: DOTD largely operates on a reimbursement model for federal and state program dollars and personnel pay comes from trust‑fund‑related accounts.
"Every dollar that you pay, your employees more is a dollar less that you have in construction," the secretary told the committee, framing the tradeoff between staffing compensation and construction dollars. The transcript also records engineering turnover rates: agency‑wide engineering turnover reported by DOTD staff was about 7.21% across engineering classifications.
Data governance and rule changes DOTD staff said data governance work is under way and that the first notices of intent to change agency rules will target access permits, tandem truck permits and vegetation management — items officials said affect economic development and day‑to‑day operations. The secretary said a full review of departmental rules and manuals is planned over several years to improve predictability for locals, industry and other agencies.
Winter weather response and field performance Members praised district offices for snow‑and‑ice response during a recent winter event. One legislator said county and local responders provided positive feedback on DOTD’s district‑level operations during the storm.
Ending Legislators asked DOTD for clearer KPIs and for a more accessible presentation of where funding sits in the agency’s budget categories. DOTD officials said the strategic plan lays out near‑term steps and that an accountability dashboard and improved public materials are coming.
