Section 2: Developing the Agreement
Anchor: #i1000030Overview
Once an agreement in principle has been reached by the parties concerning a general course of action for preservation of the historic bridge, a written agreement must be made.
No charges should be made to a historic bridge project until a historic bridge agreement has been fully executed by all the parties.
In developing and executing the written agreement, it is important that all parties to the agreement understand the terms of the agreement. The parties should jointly review and discuss the provisions.
If a party to the agreement or amendment is a local government, a resolution or ordinance authorizing the local government to enter into the preservation agreement or amendment should be adopted and placed in the TxDOT contract file of record. This approval can be included in the original resolution approving the regular off-system federal Highway Bridge Program project or it can be in a separate written official action such as minutes, resolution, or ordinance approving only the historic bridge project agreement.
Anchor: #i1000059Agreement/Amendment Forms
For projects involving preservation of a historic bridge, a written agreement is executed among the parties involved in accomplishing the preservation work. The agreement is generally one of the following types:
- on-system—a two-party agreement between the state and a recipient
- off-system—a two-party amendment to the existing off-system bridge agreement between the state and the local government (owner/recipient)
- off-system—a three-party amendment to the existing off-system bridge agreement among the state, the local government (owner) and another party (recipient)
- Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program Historic Bridge Preservations Program—a two or three-party advance-funding agreement among the state, the local government (owner), and another party (recipient
- other multi-party agreements—contact the Bridge Division project manager
Standard agreement forms for the first three types above can be accessed from the Contract Services Office (CSO) internal website at http://crossroads/org/ogc/cs/standard_contracts/StandardContracts.htm or transmitted via email from the Bridge Division.
NOTE: The internal website is available only to TxDOT personnel.
Examples of these agreements are shown here and here.
Completing the agreement form requires only a small amount of information in addition to the details of work and funding. The required information includes: the names of the parties, the date of the original off-system bridge agreement, and the tentative letting date for the off-system project. The scope of work and funding details needed for the agreement are described in Chapter 3, Section 3.