ENR 2024 Top 25 Newsmakers
Robert J. Mahoney: Denver Water's Chief Engineering Officer Leads an Ongoing Effort to Update Standards
Bob Mahoney (right) began the effort to update capital project procedures and standards to help handle an influx of large projects including the Gross Reservoir Expansion.
Photo courtesy Denver Water
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Around 2009, Denver Water’s capital plan was packed with upcoming work. Major projects—including the Gross Reservoir Expansion, Northwater Treatment Plant and lead pipe replacements—threatened to overwhelm the utility’s engineering department.
To help handle the influx of work, Denver Water Chief Engineering Officer Robert “Bob” J. Mahoney and his team began assembling a comprehensive Capital Project Procedures Manual, laying out the various workflows, templates and everything else needed to manage a project from cradle to grave. They also updated Denver Water’s Engineering Standards, and launched new Capital Projects Construction Standards (CPCS) and CAD Standards. Additionally, they published all of it online to make the documents available to staff, as well as contractors, consultants and anyone else who might need them.
The primary goal was to establish a minimum threshold for efficiency, and the standards have done that, Mahoney says. But they also resulted in greater consistency across projects, including private development within Denver Water’s service area. With the fourth edition of the CPCS, first published in 2021, they also decided to include all technical content including specifications and standard details, making it easier to use.
Having the standards out means that when Denver Water goes out for design work, they only need project-specific information and can reference their standards for the rest. In one example Mahoney gave, the standards helped eliminate 14 design drawings for a vault project. That cut costs, and also helped ensure quality and minimize change orders.
“The engineers can do more projects because they’re not dealing as much with the noise,” Mahoney says.
The benefits extend beyond Denver Water’s jurisdiction. Its standards have been used by most smaller waterworks utilities in Colorado that don’t have the same staffing or budget as Denver Water, says Katie Ross, the utility’s engineering manager. And the standards have been downloaded by users in nearly every state and about two dozen countries.
Since they began putting all the specs online, contractors bidding for Denver Water work don’t need to worry about different engineers’ preferences varying from project to project. That’s helped tighten the range of bids, often with three or four firms bidding within a couple percent of each other, says Mahoney. Plus, keeping everyone on a project team on the same page in terms of expectations falls in line with the level of collaboration that Denver Water sets on its projects.
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“Bob is a guy that’s fully engaged,” says Chris Loeffler, project director for Kiewit Corp. on Denver Water’s $531-million Gross Reservoir Expansion. “He’s all about partnerships.”
Denver Water engineers update the CPCS monthly, and are preparing to publish its fifth edition, which will include additions on roller-compacted concrete, electrical specs tied to hydropower units and non-copper service line specifications.
“We’re working really hard to put all the lead replacement program information in our specs, because that’s what other cities will use,” Mahoney says.
Making all those updates is a collaborative effort. Ross has been tracking specs and design drawings from about 18 staff subject matter experts. They also work with peer waterworks agencies in other large cities, manufacturers and others.
“So, at no point does this document become a relic or something that the engineers will no longer trust,” Ross says.
