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• i , Giordano Associates, Inc. equal or better design for less initial cost, or less overall cost during the lifetime of the project. This cost - saving process is often automatically performed in the private sector simply because of the demands of the client and private financing, but public sector projects are traditionally subjected to much thicker layers of standardization which have had the unintended effect of creating less innovative, more "vanilla" projects. Designers are sometimes afraid to stray from the standard designs due to liability or other reasons, and therefore tend to stick with more standard, possibly over - designed projects that were ultimately more expensive. CGA believes that a true value engineering effort must include objective input from external reviewers that are not necessarily familiar with the project. No matter how astute, the in -house designers involved in a project are typically disadvantaged for being able to discern an innovative cost - saving solution or alternative. We therefore utilize professionals from other consulting firms that we have a good working relationship to participate in projects in which we invoke this external value engineering process. "Community Engineering" The term "community engineering ", or perhaps the more accurate "political engineering ", is a term we often reserve for municipal projects to remind us that no matter how great we think our ultimate design may be, it has to pass the less tangible test of being accepted by the public and community leaders. This means that the design must be consistent and compatible with the adjacent surroundings and fit in with the objectives of the neighborhood and prevailing political environment. On a more national scale, the Federal Highway Administration and other professional engineering organizations have adopted the term "Context Sensitive Design," and have established guidelines for federally funded projects in order ensure large projects are compatible with the local character of the community. • Therefore, "community engineering" or "context sensitivity" must be part of the first step of the design process, and continue through to final plans preparation. Even in very small local improvement projects, this concept is very important. Just imagine presenting a final intersection design that consisted of standard steel- gray galvanized traffic signal mast -arms, concrete separators and concrete light poles at the end of a corridor that was just designed by others with new landscaping, brick -paver islands and antique verde green street lamps as part of another enhancement project. • Post - Construction Re- Examination This post- construction evaluation process is a process that CGA undertakes at the end of certain projects in • order to learn more about what could have been done to produce an even better design. Much of the time, we examine contractor's requests for information or unanticipated change orders that occurred during construction. Sometimes we find that items that may have seemed clear to the engineer or designer were not • clear or were misinterpreted in the field by the contractor. Sometimes contractors try to find ways to invoke change orders, but other times, there are legitimate issues with the plans provided. As an example, we often find that the provision of additional details, special details or more specific of notes would have alleviated • many of these issues, and therefore we try to include these items in future plans.