Regulatory Success = Relationships

Past Performance does not guarantee future success,

unless your working in the regulatory industry.

In the financial industry, there’s an often-quoted caveat that past performance does not guarantee future success. While that’s certainly true with portfolio investments, in working with the regulatory community, past performance can definitely be a strong indicator of future success.

Regulatory work is all about relationships. It is a process of building trust between the government officials who develop the specifications, and the private sector that submits the bids, with a goal of providing solutions for the former, and creating opportunities for the latter.

This was the case in Georgia, where there was a specification for noise barriers that needed some updating in a way that would save taxpayer money for the good folks of Georgia, and create an opportunity for precast concrete manufacturers.

After hearing from precasters about issues with the specification, I contacted the Georgia Department of Transportation officials, and worked with Monica Flournoy, P.E., state materials engineer, to review the specifications and update them for the benefit of both the state and the precast concrete industry.

GDOT’s revised noise barrier specification now describes precast concrete as a go-to material. This is an update that brings GDOT in line with today’s highly engineered, modern precast concrete noise remediation panels, and also puts it on the forefront of recognizing today’s wall panel technology. The relationships that were in place in Georgia, and the cooperative spirit that ensued, benefited GDOT, the state’s taxpayers, and the precast community. Wins all around. And, the result, is that when traveling through the state, you’re going to see some pretty awesome-looking and functional sound barriers along highway corridors.