Guide to Producing Successful Communications Products: Supplement to the Federal Highway Administration Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center R&D Communication Reference Guide

CHAPTER 7. MARKETING and OUTREACH COORDINATOR AND INFORMATION SPECIALIST REVIEWs

Chapters 4–6 provided details on style, formatting, editorial content guidelines, and publication numbers for Office of Operations (HOP) products. Chapters 7–9 will walk through the approval processes of HOP, Office of Public Affairs (HPA), and Office of the Chief Counsel (HCC) to ensure that these standards were met. Appendix H gives an overview of the average timeframes for HOP, HCC, and HPA approval processes and the printing and Web posting tasks so that the HOP Project Manager (PM) can incorporate these review periods into their deliverables schedules.

This chapter addresses the HOP review process. The HOP PM has the responsibility for ensuring that the Contractor has followed the standards included in this Office of Operations – Guide to Producing Successful Communications Products supplement to the FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center R&D Communication Reference Guide and the U.S. Government Publishing Office Style Manual standards. Additionally, the HOP PM should also ensure that the content has been reviewed by other FHWA program offices that may have some expertise and/or jurisdiction over the program. Any HOP product that a HOP PM forwards through the HOP/HCC/HPA approval processes carries his/her endorsement that the product is in final form and ready for public release.

Once a HOP PM determines that a product is in draft final form, he/she should forward the product to the Information Specialist (Specialist) and the Marketing and Outreach Coordinator (Coordinator) for review. All reports are to be submitted in the following two formats:

• Microsoft Office 2010-compatible file (e.g., Microsoft Operating System 7 and above).
• Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) of the print version for review.

Note: The Section 508-HTML compliant version of a product should NOT be created at this point in the process. Instead, HOP PM should direct Contractor to wait until the product has been approved for public release by HPA. For further information on Section 508-HTML requirements, refer to Chapter 11.

During the review process, the Specialist and the Coordinator will inspect the product for formatting, style, and layout quality, and will assess whether editorial and style standards have been met. The revised document containing editorial comments will be returned to the HOP PM to oversee Contractor completion of the revisions.

The Specialist and the Coordinator initial review process may take up to a total of 10 Federal business days.

The Contractor will correct any issues found at their own expense and return the revised copy back to the HOP PM, who has the responsibility to review the revised draft final before sending it to the Specialist and the Coordinator for another round of reviews. If a product has to be returned to the HOP PM for corrections, then the Specialist and the Coordinator subsequent reviews will also take up to five Federal business days total.

Once the product has passed the internal HOP review process, the HOP PM can now move forward to the next step, preparing for HCC approval process.

Contractors should undertake scrupulous version control practices.