FHWA assistance to Russia

Public Roads, Spring, 1994 by Bert Schacknies

after visiting AASHTO in

Washington during an FHWA-sponsored

observational study

tour through the United States

in the spring of 1993.

Observational Study Tours

Meetings of Russians and Americans in relevant work areas ranging from engineering to law making have facilitated better communication, understanding, and cooperation by both sides.

During a three-week observational study tour for eight senior Russian highway officials from March 20 through April 8,1993, the Russian officials spoke informally with their US. counterparts and gained a more concrete understanding of the interaction between the private and public sectors in the United States and among the public sector entities at the federal, state, and local levels. The FHWA-sponsored tour included visits to a number of professional organizations. Additionally, the Russians conferred with representatives of private companies, industry associations, and governmental agencies in New York, Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, San FranCISco, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.

The Russian officials were pleased by the strong interest expressed by U.S. business representatives in exploring investment opportunities in Russia. They were convinced, after attending a state-of-the-art technology exhibit at ConExpo in Las Vegas, that the United States has a significant competitive advantage over European equipment manufacturers. Also, they concluded that the U.S. experience in federal, state, and local government relations would be an appropriate model for their country

The positive results of the tour were important for American businessmen and contractors, as the United States is only one of many countries interested in establishing strong commercial ties in Russia by exerting an early influence on the reform process within the transportation sector.

Subsequent FHWA-sponsored tours will continue a broad approach to familiarize the first-time visitors with America's federal structures. However, for repeat visitors from Russia, the focus will narrow and emphasize indepth coverage of specific aspects of transportation-related structures and the decision-making process to support the Russians' institutional reform agenda. Largely as a result of the first FHWA-sponsored study tour and the formation of RADOR, the Russian version of AASHTO, the Russian highway group has contracted with a commercial tour organizer to bring more than 60 officials per year to the United States.

Personnel Exchanges and Training

In November 1993, seven employees from the FHWA Federal Lands Highway Program traveled to Moscow to appraise the FHD's road design capabilities and verify the availability of data for the preparation of contract documents for two of the World Bank's Highway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Projects. These projects were subsequently designed in the Federal Lands Eastern Division in Sterling, Va, with four Russian engineers, who came to the United States for six weeks in january and February 1994. Because the Russians are not yet experienced in competitive bidding procedures, the projects are considered a "training exercise" leading to the preparation of tender packages for local and international competitive bidding. Most of the subsequent design work will be undertaken by foreign and Russian engineering firms to be retained by the FHD/ PIU under the World Bank's international competitive procurement procedures.