“We could probably use double our current budget,” Stockton noted. With long-term needs in mind, USACE is exploring the possibility of alternative financing, which may include the use of private funding. “We have many needs and there is interest in obtaining private money,” he said. USACE has retained public finance consultants to explore how public/private partnerships may benefit the government and provide investors with meaningful returns.

Another key strategy is to make risk-informed decisions about how to invest precious federal dollars. Based on objective expert assessments, this may mean embarking on major rehabilitation projects at some locks, dams, and levees. But in other cases, it may involve deciding which projects to keep and which ones to repurpose for other uses. “A project may have been built for navigation 100 years ago, but that may not be its best purpose today,” he said. In some cases, USACE may re-purpose projects for other uses or even divest itself of some projects, passing them on to state or local governments.

One model may be the U.S. military, he said, which has used private companies to build new military housing. These companies do receive a return on their investment, something that could be applied to USACE construction projects. “Right now we are chipping away at a $60 billion backlog of projects with $2 billion for construction each year,” he said. “What we’re doing now is not sustainable.”

Other alternative financing options may include creating high-occupancy toll lanes for navigation, in the same way that drivers may pay tolls to avoid high-traffic areas. Another way to generate revenue could be by combining federal work, such as dredging, with dredging needs of states and localities. The local entity could pay USACE for this work rather than contract with a private company that may have higher costs. “We are just exploring these options,” he said, and USACE plans to have more information on these alternatives by the end of 2014.

 

Working Smarter

Internally, the Civil Works Directorate also is looking to eliminate redundancies and work smarter to deliver key services. One example is in dam safety, where the average age of a facility is 60 years and there are many needs for maintenance and modernization. “We don’t want to have every district within the Corps doing dam safety remediation by themselves,” he said, since these projects can benefit from engineering expertise throughout the agency. USACE now has only seven regional dam safety production centers to promote adherence to standards and best use of available experts. “We’re taking an enterprise approach to delivering products and services rather than having everyone doing their own thing,” he said.

Another key strategy is to make risk-informed decisions about how to invest precious federal dollars. Based on objective expert assessments, this may mean embarking on major rehabilitation projects at some locks, dams, and levees. But in other cases, it may involve deciding which projects to keep and which ones to repurpose for other uses. “A project may have been built for navigation 100 years ago, but that may not be its best purpose today,” he said. In some cases, USACE may re-purpose projects for other uses or even divest itself of some projects, passing them on to state or local governments.

Stockton described another goal as “increased vertical engagement,” through which USACE develops projects with inputs from regional and headquarters personnel. Through this approach, there are specific key decision points and deadlines by which regional personnel make decisions and then seek approval from USACE headquarters. “We found that we had a lot of delays because we weren’t compliant with this goal,” said Stockton. “This helps us move more quickly and still make the best decisions.”

He cited one example of this work as the comprehensive North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study underway in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. The process includes local government officials from New York and New Jersey as well as the private sector. “We’re trying to build a more thoughtful way of rebuilding with more integrated planning,” Stockton said. The study process also includes more than water resources development and coastal protection, taking into account land use, zoning, building, and evacuation during times of emergency. “It’s about how to rebuild in a smarter way,” he said. “Prevention is more effective than waiting for a disaster to strike.”

 

Civil Works and the 2014 Federal Budget

With its federal appropriation from Congress for 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has outlined a plan to fund studies, construction projects, and engineering/design activities at some of its highest-priority locations. The budget will support:

• 29 feasibility studies, including three in Alaska focused primarily on harbors and eight studies in California focused on river basins and ecosystem restoration;
• Six pre-construction engineering and design projects, in North Dakota, Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Alabama, and North Carolina. These projects include Mobile Harbor, in Alabama, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Matagorda Bay, Texas; the Fargo, North Dakota-Moorhead, Minnesota, Metropolitan area; and
• 38 construction projects, including reconstruction of the Wood River Levee in Illinois; major improvements to harbors in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Tampa, Florida; an Ohio Riverfront Project in Cincinnati; and major rehabilitations of the Lockport, Illinois, Lock and Dam and the Garrison, North Dakota, Dam and Power Plant.

The budget also will support studies of harbors in Long Beach, California, and Seattle, Washington, and fish passage on California’s Yuba River. More information on activities related to these various projects is available.

 

A Brief Summary of the Civil Works Portfolio

With responsibilities that range from flood control to navigation to ecosystem restoration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Directorate of Civil Works includes some of the nation’s highest-profile water resource projects.

• From 2005 through 2013, USACE promoted ecosystem restoration on 84,600 acres to promote more natural conditions;
• In 2012, USACE dredged 235 million cubic yards of material to meet commercial shipping needs;
• Each year, USACE operates 75 hydropower plants and 353 hydropower generating units; and
• In managing 135 reservoirs with dedicated water supply storage, USACE plays a key role in water supply storage in 25 states while managing 55,390 miles of shoreline used for recreation.

This article first appeared in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Building Strong®, Serving the Nation and the Armed Forces 2014-2015 Edition.