Renovation, repair, and maintenance of the Federal Government’s facility portfolio remain areas in critical need of productivity improvement, waste reduction, and improved transparency.
Yet few Federal Departments and Agencies, including the single largest portfolio owner, the GSA, have made significant progress in these domains.
Virtually all Federal Departments and Agencies spend more on “sustainment” vs. new construction. That said, the most critical aspect to improving productivity, reducing waste, and assuring mission critical requirements… and the most overlooked… is the consistent deployment of efficient, collaborative, construction project delivery methods.
Construction delivery methods set the tone for any project as well as establish responsibilities, quantify deliverables, and impact ultimate project success or failure more than any other variable. Just imagine Owners, Contractors, Subs, AE’s and Oversight Groups working together, toward shared goals, with the same information.
In this regard, many/most Government Departments and Agencies lack a standardized basis for cost estimating, procuring, managing, and reporting on their numerous “routine” facility maintenance, renovation, repair, and construction projects. Many are not even following existing Federal Acquisition Relations (FAR, DFARS, AFARS…) in this area.
Collaborative construction delivery methods that would enable the Government to execute more facility renovation, repair, and maintenance projects on-time and on-budget are readily available. Job Order Contracting, or JOC, is just one example. Associated training and supporting technology to assure full cost transparency, enable consistent and low cost deployment, and monitor progress has been in existence for over a decade. Certainly JOC, SABER, IPD, PPP, and other methods exist, however their deployment and implementation needs to be expanded and improved respectively.
It’s time for all levels of Government to deploy proven best management practices, robust and common cost data architectures, and supporting technology capable of delivering more construction projects on-time and on-budget.
It is the responsibility of senior Government leaders to empower their teams to “do more with less”, instead of just saying it.
LEAN Construction Project Delivery Methods - Job Order Contracting, IPD, 5D BIM 