U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Water Resources Support Center 

Institute for Water Resources 

LIVING WITHIN CONSTRAINTS: 

AN EMERGING VISION FOR 

HIGH PERFORMANCE PUBLIC WORKS 

19970103 039 

Concluding Report: 

Federal Infrastructure Strategy Program 

Summary of Results, Findings and.Re~oc~nJ.F2 tions 

January 1995 

.. , 

Approved for publi~ ~elease; 

Distribution Unlinuted 

IWR Report 95-FIS-20 
Federal Infrastructure Strategy Reports 

This report summarizes the results, findings and recommendations relating to the Federal 

Infrastructure Strategy (FIS) program, a three-year effort involving a wide range of participants in a forum 

on the development of integrated or multi-agency Federal infrastructure policies. It documents the results of 

FIS activities that took place from late 1991 through September 1994. The principles essential to the 

development of Federal policies are outlined, and an action plan and opportunities for interagency cooperation 

are presented within the context of PIS policy research. 

The specific outputs of the FIS studies supporting the recommendations presented herein have been 

previously documented in a series of interim reports published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the 

U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. These interim reports were used to chronicle 

the strategy's development and facilitate discussions within Federal and non-Federal public works 

communities during the program. The results of several interagency cooperative studies following up on key 

FIS recommendations are scheduled for publication subsequent to this summary report. A complete listing 

of FIS publications appears on page iv. 

Much of the policy research was accomplished in consultation with other Federal agencies, often with 

the assistance and leadership of independent third party experts who organized and facilitated the 

consultations, workshops and inquiries on specific issues. These included organizations such as the 

aforementioned Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the American Public Works 

Association, Apogee Research, the Civil Engineering Research Foundation, the National Academy of Public 

Administration, the National Research Council, and The Urban Institute. 

For further information on the Federal Infrastructure Strategy program, please contact: 

Mr. Robert A. Pietrowsky 

PIS Program Manager 

703/355-3073 

Dr. Eugene Z. Stakhiv 

Chief, Policy and Special 

Studies Division 

703/355-2370 

U.S. Department of the Army 

Corps of Engineers 

Institute for Water Resources 

Casey Building, 7701 Telegraph Road 

Alexandria, VA 22315-3868 

The Institute's infrastructure study team included Dr. Cameron E. Gordon, Economic Studies 

Manager and Mr. James F. Thompson, Jr., Engineering Studies Manager. The program was overseen by 

Mr. Kyle Schilling, Director of the Institute. 

Reports may be ordered by writing (above address) or calling Mrs. Arlene Nurthen, IWR 

Publications, at 703/355-3042. 
"A well-functioning infrastructure is vital to sustained economic growth, to the 

quality of life in our communities, and to the protection of our environment and natural resources. 

To develop and maintain its infrastructure facilities, our Nation relies heavily on investments by 

the Federal Government. Our Nation will achieve the greatest benefits from its infrastructure 

facilities if it invests wisely and continually improves the quality and performance of its 

infrastructure programs. Therefore, ... infrastructure investments shall be based on systematic 

analysis of expected benefits and costs, including both quantitative and qualitative measures ... " 

Executive Order No. 12893, "Principles 

for Federal Infrastructure Investment", January 26, 1993 
PREFACE 

The Federal Infrastructure Strategy (FIS) program, a three year effort exploring issues essential to 

evolving infrastructure policies, was undertaken in response to an Administration budget initiative and a 

subsequent House Report (No. 101-536) accompanying the 1991 Energy and Water Development 

Appropriations Act. The PIS study agenda followed up on the work of the National Council on Public 

Works Improvement, the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Office of Technology 

Assessment, and other related efforts. 

The program was aimed at developing principles for improving the performance and efficiency of 

Federal infrastructure investments, including those ultimately made at state and local levels. It was·designed 

to facilitate the sharing of policy research through a three-tier process of intergovernmental consultation, 

in-depth inquires, and technical studies as a catalyst for stimulating improvements in individual 

infrastructure programs. A primary goal was the active participation of the various Federal, state and local 

public works agencies, infrastructure providers, academic and related research organizations, and advocacy, 

professional and user groups in the coordination of information, strategies, and resources. 

The Federal agency representatives brought together for this effort recognized that the existing body 

of work, represented by past studies, provided a comprehensive assessment of national needs and issues 

upon which to build. Some progress had been made and opportunities for further improvement had been 

identified. Yet many fundamental problems persisted and few opportunities for specific Federal agency 

response were created. Program participants recommended working toward specific actions to refine or 

implement the key findings of previous reports rather than undertaking a new study because of this large 

unrealized potential for improvement. Within this context, the program addressed three questions deemed 

essential to the development of a Federal strategy: 

(1) What new government-wide or multi-agency Federal infrastructure policies and principles should 

be developed? 

(2) What issues should these policies and principles address? 

(3) Can Federal agencies use these principles to work more closely together and with other levels of 

government and the private sector to improve the performance of infrastructure? 

The results of specific FIS activities have been documented in a series of interim reports published by 

the V. S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources (IWR) and/or the Advisory Commission 

on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) and the Building Research Board/Board on Infrastructure and the 

Constructed Environment of the National Research Council. This series serves as a practical and current 

body of knowledge on a subject that has been discussed in the past largely as an abstract macroeconomic 

issue linked to national productivity, international competitiveness and jobs. 

Research findings were reviewed by a diverse peer group of public works experts and FIS participants, 

with recommendations stemming from two phases of interagency consultation approved by ACIR. 

Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that these documents attempt to report the views of FIS 

participants and do not necessarily represent the views of the V.S. Army Corps of Engineers nor any of 

the Federal agencies participating in the program. 

DTIC QtTALI7'¥ 

~~. 

@ PREFACEiii 
The FIS Report Series 

Infrastructure Report Summaries (First Edition) 

Toward a Federal Infrastructure Strategy: Issues and Options, ACIR Report A-120 

Framing a Dialogue: Strategies, Issues and Opportunities, IWR Report FIS-93-1 

Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation in Public Worb, Volumes 1& 2, Reports FIS-93-2 & 3 

Infrastructure in the 21st Century Economy: A Review of the Issues and an Outline of a Study of Impacts of Federal 

Infrastructure Investments, Report FIS-93-4 

Federal Public Worb Infrastructure R&D: A New Perspective, Report FIS-93-5 

Funding State and Local Infrastructure: Two Reports on Public Worb Financing, Report FIS-93-6 

High Performance Public Worb: A New Infrastructure Investment Strategy for America, ACIR/IWR Report No. 

SR-16 

• Infrastructure in the 21st Century Economy: An Interim Report, Volumes 1-3, Reports FIS-94-7, 8 & 9 

• A Prototype Modelfor ESTimating Local Public Finance Impacts, Report FIS-94-10 

• Corps of Engineers Technology Transfer: Nondestructive Testing, Evaluation, and Rehabilitation Strategies for 

Roadway Pavements, Report FIS-94-11 

• High Performance Public Worb: Sourcebook of Working Documents, ACIRlIWR Report SR-16S 

• Infrastructure Report Summaries (Second Edition), Report FIS-12 

• Consolidated Performance Report on the Nation's Public Worb: An Update, Report FIS-94~13 

• Impediments & Opportunities to Improve Public Worb Management Practices, Report FIS-94-14 

• Local Government Public Worb Agencies: The Effect of Federal Mandates on Their Activities and Improving Their 

Performance, Report FIS-94-15 

• Issues in Deferred Maintenance, Report FIS-94-16 

• Meeting State and Local Public Worb Needs: Federal Infrastructure R&D Technology Transfer, Report FIS-94-17 

• Employment Impacts of Environmental Restoration Projects, Report FIS-94-18 (forthcoming) 

• Congressional Response to Fragile Foundations: An Analysis of Infrastructure Legislation of the IOIst and I02nd 

Congresses, Report FIS-19 (forthcoming) 

• Measuring and Improving Infrastructure Performance, National Research Council Report (forthcoming) 

• Infrastructure in the 21st Century Economy: A Final Report, Apogee Research (forthcoming) 

• Infrastructure R&D: Technology Transfer Series, Civil Engineering Research Foundation (forthcoming) 

iv FIS REPORT SERIES @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

This report documents the results of a series of intergovernmental analyses facilitated by the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers under a broad initiative aimed at the examination of Federal infrastructure policies. 

Guidance accompanying the Federal Infrastructure Strategy (FIS) initiative stressed the need to forge a 

collaborative partnership among Federal agencies to further the work of the National Council on Public 

Works Improvement and other recent national level assessments. Therefore, the FIS program was 

administered as an open interagency consultation. As such, it represents the first such exploration of 

national infrastructure issues from the shared perspective of the various Federal infrastructure agencies. 

FIS outputs and products, including the documentation herein, are the direct result of the substantial 

efforts and contributions of hundreds of representatives from participating Federal agencies, departments 

and Congressional offices, state and local governments, infrastructure users, academic analysts, advocacy 

groups, and public and private infrastructure providers. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expresses its 

sincere thanks to all who participated and helped the program become a truly cooperative effort. The Corps 

was pleased to facilitate this program among many agency partners, and welcomes the opportunity for 

continuing collaboration and research. 

Far too many individuals contributed to the program to name each and every person. However, 

because of their contributions, the Corps would especially like to thank the agency staff who gave of their 

time and provided considerable expertise during the program. At the risk of missing a few key individuals, 

these include: Thomas Hady, Economic Research Service, Charles Terell, Soil Conservation Service, and 

Carl Bausch, Department of Agriculture; John Kort, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and James Gross and 

Noel Raufaste, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce; Kevin Doxey, 

Department of Defense; Larry Bressler, Western Area Power Administration, and Carolyn Cannon and Dick 

Earl, Department of Energy; Jack Brynda, Theresa Casias, Brad Crowder, Alan Dickerson, Bob Ledzian, 

Lew Moore, Jim Pierce, Benedict Radecki, Edward Riekert, William Steele, and Ray Williams, Bureau 

of Reclamation, and Nancy Lopez, U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Interior; Harry Caldwell, Joe 

Canny, and Anne Mladinov, Department of Transportation; Frank Emerson, Penny Medford, and Lynne 

Pikard, Federal Aviation Administration; Sue Binder, Bruce Cannon, Gene Cleckley, Janet Colemen, 

Sheldon Edner, Ray Griffth, Kevin Heanue, Arthur (Jake) Jacoby, Tom Kozlowski, Jim Link, Jack 

Neissner, Tom Pasko, and Germaine Williams, Federal Highway Administration; Bill Gelston, Federal Rail 

Administration; Don Emerson, Edward Thomas, and Fred Williams, Federal Transit Administration; John 

Greenlees, Department of Treasury; Dinah Bear and Ray Clark,former Council on Environmental Quality; 

George Ames, David Berg, Anne Cole, Michael Dean, Anne Grambsch, Paul Gutherie, Patricia Haman, 

Art Koines, Barry Korb, Jim Kreissl, Paul Lapsley, Al McGartland, Anne Norton Miller, Timothy Oppelt 

and Brett Snyder, Environmental Protection Agency; Dan Gottschalk, General Services Administration; 

Jonathan Bruel, Randy Lyon, Norm Starler and Harold Steinberg, Office of Management and Budget; Bruce 

Baker, Christine Bonham, Gary Jones, and Paul Posner, U.S. General Accounting Office; Michael Deich, 

Congressional Budget Office (currently with the National Economic Council); and Dennis Zimmerman, 

Congressional Research Service. 

@ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v 
The Corps would also like to express its appreciation to the many individuals who made presentations 

and provided critical comment at the many workshops and conferences held during the program. These 

speakers included: Senator Bob Graham; Representatives Bob Carr, William F. Clinger, Ray Thornton, 

and Bob Wise; Edward G. Rendell, Mayor of Philadelphia; Bill Westbrook, Mayor of Jackson, Wyoming; 

Mortimer L. Downey, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation; Thomas M. Downs, 

Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Transportation (currently President and Chairman, Amtrak 

Corporation); David Gardiner, Assistant Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; John 

Horsley, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs, U. S. Department of Transportation; Tad 

McCall, Deputy Associate Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Alicia Munnell, Federal 

Reserve Bank of Boston (currently Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury); Robert Rafuse, Department 

of Treasury; Alice M. Rivlin, Deputy Director (currently Director), Office of Management and Budget; 

Governor William F. Winter, Chairman, ACIR; and, Arthur B. Baskin, University of Illinois at Urbana 

Champaign; James Blum, Deputy Director, Congressional Budget Office; Martin Borsykowsky, City of New 

York; James A. Broaddus, University of Texas at Austin; Pete Butkus, State of Washington; Letitia 

Chambers, Chambers Associates; David Chu, Rand; Robert Dawson, Cassidy and Associates; Philip 

Dearborn, ACIR; Jesus M. De La Garza, Virginia Tech; Barbara Dyer, Alliance for Redesigning 

Government; Marlene Eide, National Association of Counties (now on the staff of U.S. Senator Byron L. 

Dorgan); Carol Everett, Rebuild America Coalition; Jay Fountain, Government Accounting Standards 

Board; Francis Francois, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; Richard 

Geltman, Linton, Mields, Reisler & Cottone, Ltd.; Michael B. Goldstein, Dow, Lohnes and Albertson; 

Albert Grant, American Society of Civil Engineers; Robert Goodin, City of Rockville, Maryland; Thomas 

J. Harrelson, NAPA; Philip Harter, private mediator; Neil M. Hawkins, University of Illinois at Urbana 

Champaign; Lowell Jackson, Greenhorne & 0 'Mara, Inc.; Ron Kirby, Metropolitan Washington Council 

of Governments; J. Douglas Koelemay, Commission to Promote Investment in America's Infrastructure; 

Lester Lamm, Highway Users Federation for Safety and Mobility; Thomas D. Larson (former Federal 

Highway Administrator), NAPA; Stephen C-Y. Lu, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; Paul 

Marchetti, PennVEST; David Mathiasen, U.S. General Accounting Office; Benjamin Mays, Government 

Finance Officers Association; William D. Michalerya, Lehigh University; Norm Miller, State of New Jersey; 

Robert Mulready, Lewiston Maine; Pete Nowak, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Edith Page, Bechtel 

(formerly of the Office of Technology Assessment); Neil Peterson, Transportation Research Board Executive 

Committee; Michael J. Pompili, City of Columbus, Ohio; Scott Reznick, Commonwealth Development 

Associates; George Rowe, past President, APWA; Mike Rugless, Parsons Brinkerhoff; Charles F. Seeman, 

Jr., Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles; Michael Shibley, Infrastructure Partnership; Richard H. Sullivan, APWA; 

John Thomas, American Society for Public Administration; C. Michael Walton, University of Texas at 

Austin; Barbara Weiss, Government Finance Officers Association; T.D. White, Purdue University; Max 

Whitman, past President, APWA; Joseph Wholey, University of Southern California; Chris Wye, NAPA; 

Ron Young, Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board; and Ronald Zabilski, Stone and Webster 

Engineering. 

The institutions and respective staffs who ably guided many of the consultations and policy research 

deserve special recognition for their contributions to the program. These include the Advisory Commission 

on Intergovernmental Relations and Chairman William F. Winter, former Chairman Robert B. Hawkins, 

Executive Director William Davis, and former Executive Director John Kincaid, and particularly, Bruce 

McDowell, Charles Griffiths, Jeffrey Fitzpatrick (now with NAPA), and consultants: Michael Bell and John 

Boland, John Hopkins University; Frank Blechman and Timothy J. Conlan, George Mason University; Tom 

Magness, Midwest Research Institute; and John Peterson, Government Finance Group, Inc.; the American 

Public Works Association and William J. Bertera, Rita Knorr (now with ASCE), Howard Rosen, Jim 

vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS @ 
Thorne, Eric Melvin and Hilary Green; Apogee Research, Inc. and Richard Mudge, Kenneth Rubin, 

David Albright, and consultants: David Alan Aschauer, Bates College; Charles R. Hulten, University of 

Maryland; and M. Ishaq N adiri, New York University and the National Bureau for Economic Research; the 

Civil Engineering Research Foundation and Harvey Bernstein, Carl Magnell and Lisa Diehl; the National 

Academy of Public Administration and Roger Sperry, Emerson Markham, Wayne Anderson, Mark Keane, 

and Carole Neves; National Research Council and Nancy Rutledge Connery, Andrew Lemer, Dennis 

Chamot, Dev Mani, and its Committee on Measuring and Improving Infrastructure Performance, chaired by 

Jared Cohon, Yale University; and The Urban Institute and Blaine Liner, Harry Hatry, and the Advisory Panel 

on Deferred Maintenance Issues. 

Policy guidance for the program was provided by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil 

Works), under Mr. Robert W. Page (who proposed the FIS initiative); Dr. G. Edward Dickey (1991/1993); 

Ms. Nancy P. Dorn (1991-1992); and, the current Acting Assistant Secretary, Dr. John H. Zirschky. 

Program execution was overseen by the Corps of Engineers Directorate of Civil Works, initially under the 

direction ofMG (currently LTG) Arthur E. Williams, and more recently MG Stanley G. Genega; and through 

Donald Kisicki, Chief, Office of Interagency and International Activities and Kenneth H. Murdock, Director, 

Water Resources Support Center. The Corps Institute for Water Resources (/wR) had detailed management 

responsibility under Kyle E. Schilling, Director of the Institute, and Eugene Z. Stakhiv, Chief, Policy and 

Special Studies Division. The FIS program was managed by Bob Pietrowsky. He was assisted by Cameron 

Gordon and James F. Thompson. 

Participation by the Army (Civil Works) included G. Edward Dickey (now Chief of Planning at 

HQUSACE), Robert Stearns, Michael Davis and Kevin Cook. Other Corps of Engineers participants included 

the Deputy Chief of Engineers: MG John F. Sobke; the Civil Works Directorate: Jimmy Bates, Joseph Bittner, 

James Crews, Robert Daniel, Rixie Hardy, and William Lockwood; the R&D Directorate under the direction 

of Dr. Robert B. Oswald: Dr. William E. Roper (Assistant Director for Civil Works), Charles (Chuck) Smith 

and David B. Mathis; the Civil Engineering Research Laboratories under the direction of the late Dr. Louis 

R. (Dick) Shaffer: Diego Echeverry, Francois Grobler, Moonja Kim, Alan Moore, Thomas Napier, 

Guruprasad N. Rao, and Jeffrey Walaszek; the Institutefor Water Resources: L. George Antle, Thomas M. 

Ballentine, Morris W. Clark, David Grier, Harry H. Kelejian (University of Maryland), David Moser, Mark 

Pointen, Dennis Robinson, and Lim ViIIianos (who managed the FIS program at the outset); and the 

Waterways Experiment Station under the direction of Dr. Robert W. Whalin: Don Alexander, Don Banks, 

Albert J. Bush, Richard Grau and Bill McCleese. 

The authors also wish to personally thank the following individuals: Bruce McDowell, Norm Starler and 

Robert Stearns, who provided invaluable advice and critical comments during review of the final draft of this 

report; Kyle Schilling, whose continuing interest in national infrastructure issues and the FIS helped provide 

the opportunity and context for the Corps role in the program; and Eugene Stakhiv, for his efforts as the 

architect of the study agenda and his ongoing role as the intellectual conscience of the program. 

Many other people at IWR provided important word processing, logistical, and editorial support to the 

PIS program. In particular, special thanks are due Janice Peterson, Arlene Nurthen and Artech Services for 

the many hours they spent formatting, editing, and preparing the various PIS reports for publication. 

While this report attempts to accurately capture the input and advice from the many groups and 

individuals who participated in the program, the Institute for Water Resources bears the sole responsibility 

for the views expressed herein. It does not necessarily represent the official views or policies of the 

Department of the Army or the Corps of Engineers, and does not purport to represent the views of the 

Administration. 

@ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PREFACE ........................................................... iii 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. v 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................ xi 

PART 1 - SUMMARY OF RESULTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1 

I. POLICY CONTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3 

BACKGROUND .................................................... 3 

SPENDING ON PUBLIC WORKS ........................................ 5 

THE NEED TO LIVE WITHIN CONSTRAINTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9 

A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONCEPT OF PERFORMANCE ..................... 10 

II. WHY A FEDERAL STRATEGY? ........................................ 15 

III. PARTICIPATION AND PROCESS ...................................... 19 

IV. STUDY AGENDA .................................................. 25 

V. THE FEDERAL STRATEGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 29 

PRINCIPLES AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................ 29 

RELATED POLICY INITIATIVES ....................................... 35 

Legislative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 35 

Executive Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 35 

Other Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 36 

PART 2 - SUMMARY OF THE ISSUES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41 

VI. BETTER MANAGING WHAT WE HAVE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 43 

VII. CHOOSING MORE EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47 

VIII. BUDGET SENSITIVE FINANCING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 53 

@ TABLE OF CONTENTS ix 
IX. THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 57 

X. CLARIFYING ROLES THROUGH A NEW 

REGULATORY FEDERALISM ......................................... 65 

XI. AN INTEGRATED PROCESS FOR 

ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 71 

XII. CONCLUDING REMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 77 

REFERENCES ....................................................... 79 

Figure 1 

Figure 2 

Figure 3 

Figure 4 

Figure 5 

Figure 6 

Figure 7 

Figure 8 

Figure 9 

LIST OF FIGURES 

Nominal and Real Total Spending for Public Infrastructure, 1960-1990 ............ 5 

Public Spending for Infrastructure as a Percent of GDP, 1960-1990 .............. 6 

Capital and Non-Capital Spending for Public Infrastructure, 1960-1990 ............ 7 

Components of Federal Spending as a Percentage of GDP, 1962-2004 ............ 8 

The Decisionmaker's Conceptual Envelope of Tradeoff Curves ................. 9 

Strategy Development Process ..................................... 20 

Case Studies Conducted During the Federal Infrastructure Strategy Program ....... 28 

Infrastructure Performance Interrelationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 31 

Public Spending for Infrastructure as a Percent of GDP (Capital and Non-Capital) 

1960-1990 .................................................. 44 

Figure 10 "Mandatory" Programs Are Taking Over the Budget ...................... 50 

Figure 11 Federal R&D Funding for FY92, Public Works Infrastructure Systems . . . . . . . . . .. 58 

Table A 

Table B 

Table C 

Table 1 

Table 2 

Table 3 

Table 4 

Table 5 

Table 6 

Table 7 

Table 8 

Table 9 

LIST OF TABLES 

Infrastructure Strategy Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. xv 

Federal Infrastructure Strategy: Principles .............................. xvi 

Federal Infrastructure Strategy: Action Agenda Recommendations .............. xix 

Events and Voices in the Federal Policy Debate: Chronology of Key National 

Infrastructure Milestones and Studies ................................. 2 

Strategy for Improving America's Public Works, National Council on Public 

Works Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4 

Infrastructure Strategy Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18 

Organizations Represented at One or More FIS Study Element Activities . . . . . . . . .. 22 

FIS Program Study Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 26 

Summary of Federal Agency Activity for Public Works Infrastructure Research 

and Development (FY 1992) ...................................... 59 

Barriers to Innovation and Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 60 

Matrix of the Highest Priority Public Works Problems and Needs. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 63 

Partial Listing of Federal Environmental Review and Permit Legislation 

Applicable to Water Resources Development Programs ............. . . . . . . .. 72 

x TABLE OF CONTENTS @ 
POLICY CONTEXT 

Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

EXECUTIVE SUMM:ARY 

These are difficult times for public works policymakers. The perception that America is not paying 

enough attention to its public works has persisted in the minds of the public since America in Ruins was 

published in 1981. This perception has been reinforced by periodic public works disasters, such as the 

collapse of the Mianus Bridge, the maintenance accident leading to the Chicago flood, and the inability of 

infrastructure facilities to withstand recent extraordinary events such as the mid-west flood and the 

California earthquake. 

The need for action seems to be more urgent in light of these occurrences, often seeming to require 

immediate and substantial attention. Yet barriers to such action abound: 

• Public works maintenance is often one of the first spending cuts made in times of tight budgets 

• Capital investment in public works continues to be skeptically viewed by many as mostly "pork 

barrel" spending 

• Constrained budgets at all levels of government seem to render even modest programs and projects 

unaffordable 

• Significant advances in technology are prevalent, yet liability, regulatory and contracting concerns 

have resulted in relatively few innovative public works applications 

• The accumulation of Federal and state regulations and mandates threaten to distort local budgets 

and priorities 

• The implementation of necessary environmental statutes has created a complex series of public 

works decisionmaking processes that many times appears gridlocked 

The compelling need to address these concerns can be traced to the overarching national issues which 

frame the current infrastructure debate: the government deficit continues to loom large; economic growth 

remains lethargic; America I s ability to compete internationally appears to be slipping; our political 

institutions seem incapable of quick or rational response; and, voter consensus on key issues seems fleeting 

or unattainable. 

@ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xi 
Meanwhile, total investment in public works relative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has steadily 

decreased since 1960. This relative decline is a result of diminishing capital investment due to the near 

completion of virtually all of the Nation's large capital programs over the last thirty years. Over this same 

period, spending has begun to shift to the operation and maintenance of this massive infrastructure. 

It is within this policy climate that the Federal Infrastructure Strategy (PIS) was developed. Key issues 

facing the intergovernmental participants of the program from its inception were how large the Federal role 

in providing public works should be and how that role, properly defined, should be carried out. 

PROGRAM DESIGN 

Despite the preeminent role of state and local governments, FIS participants considered a coherent, 

overarching Federal Strategy essential to improving America's public works because of the pervasive 

Federal influence (in the form of legislation, regulations and/or financing aid) over virtually every aspect 

of infrastructure provision. The concept of a Federal strategy is best understood as a component of a broad 

national strategy (such as articulated by the National Council on Public Works Improvement) aimed at 

bringing Federal programs into better alignment with state, local and private sector needs, and promoting 

consistency and mutual reinforcement among separate but related programs. 

The strategy development process was designed as a bottom-up, open consultation which included the 

participation of a broad cross-section of constituencies. These included: representatives of Federal agencies, 

Congressional committees, and policy evaluation offices having infrastructure responsibilities; state and 

local government policymakers; nongovernment analysts, academia, infrastructure users, and advocacy 

groups; and, public and private public works providers. 

The effort was managed by the Corps as a cooperative intergovernmental effort. Independent third 

party experts such as the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the American Public 

Works Association, the Civil Engineering Research Foundation, the National Academy of Public 

Administration, the National Research Council, and The Urban Institute were asked to organize and 

facilitate the various dialogues, workshops and inquiries on identified issues. The research menu consisted 

of approximately 30 study elements aimed at promoting the active participation of public works stakeholders 

within a three-tier framework of: 

• Background studies 

• In-depth inquiries 

• Intergovernmental consultations 

Program participants recommended working towards the development of specific actions to refine or 

implement the key findings of previous reports rather than focusing on the development of a new study. 

They also recommended that the FIS focus on Federally provided, leveraged, or regulated public works 

within the broad categories identified by the National Council on Public Works Improvement (NCPWI) in 

Fragile Foundations: 

• Transportation (highways, aviation, mass transit and intermodal) 

xii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY @ 
• Water (navigation, flood control, and water supply) 

• Waste management (water, solid, hazardous) 

Rather than struggle with trying to determine what an "optimal level" of overall infrastructure provision 

might be, FIS participants recognized that current spending priorities will not appreciably tilt towards public 

works, at least in the near term. In this regard, the infrastructure policy debate has clearly moved beyond 

arguments over whether America is truly underinvesting in public works, or whether public investment 

really matters to the economy. This is due partly to the realization that, yes, public infrastructure 

investment does matter to economic growth and productivity, but also reflects the reality that there is little, 

if any, new funding available for increased public works spending anyway. 

Participants concluded that the future Federal role in providing public works would continue to decline, 

and that the attention of the FIS needed to be devoted to determining appropriate principles, policies and 

implementation strategies within the context of a more limited Federal role. The future is more likely to 

increasingly focus on maintaining, operating and refining the Nation's existing infrastructure systems, rather 

than on large new capital programs. This will involve squeezing more services out of existing facilities 

through technological innovation, while keeping life-cycle costs under control, and protecting, cleaning up 

and restoring the environment. Performance, not construction, will be the overriding goal of America's 

21 st century infrastructure. 

THE COUNCIL'S LEGACY: A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONCEPT OF PERFORMANCE 

It is this atmosphere that has generated much of the current interest in measuring and evaluating the 

performance of public works infrastructure. In fact, it was the National Council on Public Works 

Improvement's emphasis on "performance" in Fragile Foundations that represents perhaps its greatest 

contribution to public works policymaking in the 1990's. The Council's report card on the Nation's Public 

Works provided a performance-based assessment which emphasized not only physical (engineering) 

performance and service outputs, but also considered the manner by which services are delivered in terms 

of economic efficiency. 

The Council's approach has clearly influenced current thinking on how infrastructure performance can 

be defmed, measured, and improved, which has now evolved beyond measuring and assessing simple inputs 

(resources consumed) and outputs (direct products produced), and is focusing on outcome measures to 

determine the effectiveness of delivering services. As part of the FIS program, a National Research Council 

Committee on Measuring and Improving Infrastructure Performance formulated a service-based (rather than 

a standards or condition-based) concept of performance measurement framed by a broad systems approach 

befitting the multiplicity of objectives and stakeholders served by modern infrastructure networks. The 

committee noted that no comprehensive single measure of infrastructure performance has emerged, nor is 

one expected to be identified. Rather, measures of performance (effectiveness) are multi-dimensional, with 

specific elements chosen based on the local and national goals that infrastructure is meant to achieve. 

Infrastructure performance is defmed by the degree to which the project/network achieves a hierarchy 

of goals and objectives. It involves the movement of people and goods and the provision of services that 

support the nation's economic and cultural activities, provide a clean and healthy environment, and sustain 

a high quality of life. With improved infrastructure effectiveness, the desired outcome, performance 

@ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xiii 
measures of efficiency, reliability, equity, sustainability, and innovation were identified by FIS participants 

as critical to formulating a Federal strategy within a multiobjective decisionmaking framework. Within a 

broader context, these measures are complemented by two overarching national performance indicators for 

productivity growth and international competitiveness. 

THE PROPOSED STRATEGY: LIVING WITHIN CONSTRAINTS 

The combined outputs of FIS research and consultations comprise elements of a Federal strategy that 

can be best understood as a subset of a broader national strategy set forth as a prerequisite. The FIS 

responds to such a national strategy through the NCPWI framework calling for a Federal-state-Iocal-private 

sector partnership. 

Unlike Fragile Foundations, however, the PIS strategy is one of constrained optimization - how to 

maximize performance and efficiency given external factors which limit the resources potentially available 

to public works. FIS principles are aimed at articulating the means to improve the effectiveness of public 

works programs within such constraints. A comparative summary of NCPWI findings and FIS principles 

is provided in Table A. 

PRINCIPLES 

The Federal Infrastructure Strategy presents possibilities for improving how Federal (and state and 

local) agencies formulate, evaluate, choose, finance, implement, operate and maintain infrastructure 

investments. The strategy is based on six principles suggested by participants in the FIS program. These 

principles are summarized in Table B. 

The first principle, Cost Effective Management and Maintenance, focuses on infrastructure 

maintenance and the tendency to underinvest in it. The second, High Quality Investments, addresses the 

need for broadening and improving the application of investment analyses such as benefit-cost evaluations. 

Both principles embrace straightforward concepts - choose those investments which promise to deliver the 

highest total rate-of-return, and once they are built, maintain them. But unfortunately, this has not always 

been the case. All levels of government need to do a better job of choosing capital investments and need 

to explicitly incorporate maintenance considerations into infrastructure decisions and budgets from the 

beginning. 

The third principle, Budget Sensitive Financing, focuses on the need to find new ways to finance 

infrastructure. The emphasis here is not on short-term public works funding as a one-shot (primarily 

employment) economic stimulus, but rather on the need to establish a stable and predictable long-term level 

of infrastructure funding, with public works services efficiently priced. In light of the current deficit, 

serious proposals for investment must consider low-capital techniques and be based on compulsory 

financing plans. 

Fourth, the consensus view is that there are also substantial opportunities provided by Innovative 

Technologies that can help the Nation improve infrastructure performance. Significant advances in 

technology have occurred over the last 15 years, yet diffusion into public works has been limited. 

xiv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY @ 
ISSUES 

Management 

Investment 

Financing 

Innovation 

Regulation 

Environmental 

Decisionmaking 

TABLE A -INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY SUMMARY: 

National Council on Public Works Improvement (NCPWI), and 

the Federal Infrastructure Strategy (FIS) Initiative 

National Strategy Federal Stratein' 

FRAGILE FOUNDATIONS HIGH PERFORMANCE PUBLIC 

(NCPWI, 1988) WORKS (FIS, 1994) 

- Improve the efficiency and performance of existing - Adopt performance measurement processes 

facilities and maintenance planning, reporting, and 

accounting as ongoing practices 

- Greater incentives for maintenance, and more 

rigorous use of low-capital and demand - Refocus management practices on service 

management techniques delivery and performance outcomes, and 

manage demand to expand capacity 

- A National commitment, shared by all levels of Resource constraints facing the Nation require 

govermnent and the private sector, to increase a Federal commitment to: 

investment levels 

- Expand the use of decision support tools, 

- Accelerated spending of Federal highway, transit, including benefit-cost and risk analyses, and 

aviation, and waterways trust funds choose only the most efficient investments 

- Beneficiaries of public works services should - Adopt "budget sensitive" financing, including 

finance a greater share of infrastructure costs an increased use of financial and affordability 

analyses, with a focus on small scale (low cost) 

- Removal of unwarranted limits on the ability of improvements and demand management 

state and local govermnents to help themselves 

through tax exempt financing - Efficiently price infrastructure services to 

broaden the audience for spending decisions, 

- A rational capital budgeting process at all levels of and adjust grant formulas to better account for 

govermnent benefit spillovers 

Accelerate technological innovation thru: - Eliminate barriers to the diffusion of new 

technologies and the adoption of more flexible 

- Additional support to R&D activities, and design standards 

- Increased education and training for public works - Establish new cost-shared technology transfer 

professionals mechanisms and dissemination centers in 

partnership with the private sector 

- Clarification of the respective roles of Federal, state, - Require regular inventories and affordable 

and local govermnents to focus responsibility and sharing of mandated costs 

increase accountability 

- Establish baseline estimates of the costs 

- More flexible administration of Federal and state associated with existing mandates 

mandates to allow cost-effective methods of 

compliance - Allow local prioritization and scheduling of 

compliance choices 

- Base public works approvals on performance based - Integrate & streamline permitting and 

measures and peer-reviewed science environmental decisionmaking processes 

- Increased coordination and cooperation between - Establish a consistent environmental ethic 

the various levels of govermnent within Federal agencies 

@ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xv 
TABLE B - FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY: PRINCIPLES 

1 - Cost Effective Management and Maintenance. Adopt and encourage performance measurement and assessment 

processes, and maintenance planning and reporting practices to reduce long-term costs through early identification of 

maintenance needs. Improved maintenance of the Nation's massive existing capital stock remains the key to providing a 

21st century infrastructure for America. Management practices should be reformed to focus on the performance of services (as 

indicated by outcomes) in addition to condition improvement measures and operating inputs and outputs. System reliability 

measures should move beyond deterministic engineering (safety) factors and include statistical or probabilistic based risk 

functions. Infrastructure performance measurement and assessment processes are essential to effective decisionmaking, while 

planning (inventorying and tracking) and accounting for deferred maintenance are central to avoiding premature and costly 

rehabilitation and replacement expenditures. Budget decisions should be based on explicit reporting of the implications of 

unfunded maintenance. Incentives are needed to encourage the management of demand and the improvement of management 

practices in order to expand capacity, and as an alternative to Federal regulation. 

2 - High Quality Investments. Obtain maximum benefits compared to costs from all Federal infrastructure programs 

(directly provided, financially assisted, or regulated) through the use of investment analysis. The need for new investment 

is necessarily constrained by deficit reduction requirements. It is imperative that the Nation fund only the most efficient 

investments to maximize the rate-of-return from the relatively limited resources available. Performance, not construction, should 

be the Federal goal, with cost-effective maintenance of existing stock, rather than large new programs, serving as the focus for 

investment opportunities. A full menu of decision support tools, including benefit-cost and cost effectiveness analyses, and risk 

assessments should be utilized to establish budget priorities for Federal infrastructure programs. These tools should be expanded, 

to the maximum extent possible, to incorporate environmental values into the formal analysis. 

3 - Budget Sensitive Financing. Federal infrastructure investments should be identified through the preparation of 

financial plans and affordability analyses early in the planning process, with full consideration of both traditional and 

nontraditional funding sources, including demand management options to ensure efficient use. There are no large new 

untapped sources of infrastructure funding on the horizon. America should aim scarce Federal investments at smaller, more 

affordable facilities. Demand should be managed to stretch the life and increase the capacity of the existing capital stock. Cost 

sharing and grant formulas should be efficiently priced, not only as a means of fmancing, but also to minimize the need for new 

facilities, and to broaden the audience for making spending decisions beyond Federal policymakers. In addition, the availability 

of tax-exempt funding and opportunities for privatization or other means of revenue diversification should be fully explored. 

4 - Innovative Technologies. Clear the path to the marketplace for new technologies through an explicit, singular Federal 

infrastructure R&D strategy that provides a stronger link between the development and adoption processes, enhances the 

partnership between the Federal research community and the private sector, and addresses the liability, regulatory and 

contracting barriers to innovation diffusion. Tort reform is needed to limit liability, while performance specifications should 

used to ease code restrictions. Intergovernmental cooperation and more cost-shared initiatives are needed between the various 

levels of government, academia, and industry. New technology transfer mechanisms and partnerships should be more directly 

tied to local public works needs and based on earlier involvement of the private sector. 

5 - Regulatory Reform. The fundamental rights of all citizens should be protected through a new regulatory Federalism 

which more equitably and flexibly distributes the costs of meeting environmental and other performance requirements. The 

dramatic increase in Federal regulations over the last twenty years has constrained local public works priorities and budgets. 

Regulatory programs should be examined to identify the cumulative effects of Federal requirements and to relieve the unintended 

preemptive fiscal impacts on local governments. Baseline estimates of the costs to local governments associated with existing 

mandates should be developed. All proposed regulations affecting infrastructure should be reviewed to ensure that they are 

necessary and the least burdensome means for accomplishing National goals. New environmental regulations should be based 

on more certain and reliable information on the health and cost effects of each increment of health protection. 

6 - Integrated Environmental Decisionmaking. Rethink the current sequential environmental decisionmaking processes 

toward an integrated, multi-media, ecosystem-based, one-stop review of public works projects. A consistent environmental 

ethic is lacking from most Federal infrastructure programs, while the existing environmental decisionmaking process remains 

gridlocked. The Federal government should seek a single, integrated environmental approvals and compliance process based 

on the framework of the National Environmental Policy Act. Such a process should incorporate a fundamental consideration 

of the environment into the planning and design of all infrastructure programs and projects with impact avoidance or 

minimization explicitly stated oals from the outset. 

xvi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY @ 
Breakthroughs in high performance materials, computers, communications, artificial intelligence, and other 

technologies can help increase infrastructure capacity, performance and efficiency while minimizing major 

new construction and further disruption to the environment. 

Finally, there is a need to simplify regulations (Regulatory Refonn) while integrating environmental 

considerations into infrastructure planning and design from the ground-up (Integrated Environmental 

Decisionmaking). Participants recognized that regulation is about balancing tradeoffs between sometimes 

apparently disparate goals, in this case: protecting the health and safety of the American people, protecting 

the natural environment, and providing public works to maintain economic growth, national security and 

international competitiveness. Most participants agreed that the Federal government needs to rethink these 

processes and all levels of government need to better integrate environmental and cultural concerns into the 

planning of public works. 

ACTION AGENDA 

Participants in the program also recognized that while some changes can be made quickly under existing 

authorities, the full implementation of the proposed principles will necessarily involve legislative actions. 

Therefore, the strategy includes an action agenda (implementation plan) which views the pervasive Federal 

influence as a catalyst for change. The agenda includes three primary implementation elements: (1) 

leadership by the President and the Congress; (2) the issuance of guidance; and (3) government-wide 

support actions. Table C summarizes the recommended components of this plan. 

The top priority among participants was the expressed need for Presidential and Congressional leadership 

in establishing clear principles to guide investment strategies. In particular, it was suggested that: 

• The President consider issuing issue executive orders to establish a Federal infrastructure 

investment policy to be applied to Administration appropriations and authorization processes 

• The Congress examine the legislative options for mandate reform, environmental integration, and 

the means for improving budget and authorization decisions based on investment criteria 

• Federal agencies take advantage of the opportunities presented by the Government Peiformance and 

Results Act of 1993 to reorient infrastructure programs around performance goals and the 

measuring and reporting of results. 

EMERGING POLICIES 

Products of the interagency consultation and other FIS activities were coordinated through the Office of 

the Assistant Secretary of the Army (for Civil Works) with the President's National Economic Council 

(NEC) working groups on Infrastructure Management and Finance, other Federal agencies, and 

Congressional interests. The FIS dialogue took place at an opportune time, concurrent with a broad range 

of Federal policy making activities, and coincident with the numerous reforms of Federal business and 

decision making processes through various Administration and Congressional initiatives. 

@ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xvii 
The actions summarized in Table C are discussed throughout this report within the context of policy and 

legislative initiatives which have already begun to establish policies consistent with the strategy's 

investment, management, regulatory, and research and development principles. Some of these initiatives 

stem from the White House infrastructure working groups. Several can be attributed to the governmentwid~ reforms in response to Vice-President Gore's National Peiformance Review (NPR). Others originated 

as Congressional responses to a variety of national issues. The initiatives include: 

• The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 represents a fundamental change 

in the manner in which Federal agencies monitor and report program performance. The Act requires each 

agency to develop and submit strategic and annual program performance reports, and to improve 

managerial accountability and flexibility. OMB has approved more than 100 agency pilots to demonstrate 

and evaluate the implementation of GPRA requirements. 

• The Government Management Reform Act (GMRA) of 1994, which follows-up on the Chief 

Financial Officers Act and the GPRA by requiring that agencies produce financial statements that account 

for all activities, spending and revenue, and that OMB publish an annual financial statement covering all 

Executive Branch activities. 

• Executive Order No. 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review supersedes E.O. 12291. The 

new Order establishes a program to reform Federal regulatory processes. It requires that all proposed 

regulatory actions which have an economic impact of $100 million or more be subjected to benefit-cost 

analysis, compared with alternatives to regulation, and chosen only if net benefits are maximized. It also 

requires agency regulatory plans, a centralized review process and consultation with State, local and tribal 

governments where regulations with significant financial cost to these entities are being considered. Several 

White House Memorandums on Agency Rulemaking, Regulatory Reform, and Negotiated Rulemaking serve 

to reinforce these requirements. 

• Executive Order No. 12875 on Enhancing the Intergovernmental Partnership is aimed at 

reducing the imposition of unfunded Federal mandates on State, local, and tribal governments by requiring 

that agencies document the extent and nature of consultations with affected governments when the funds 

necessary to pay the cost of compliance are not Federally provided. 

• Executive Order No. 12881 on Establishment of the National Science and Technology Council 

(NSTC) improves the coordination of Federal science, space, and technology policies. The NSTC, through 

its coordinating committees on Civilian Industrial Technology, Environmental and Natural Resources, and 

Transportation, provides the means for ensuring the establishment of clear National goals for Federal 

technology investments; more effective coordination of technology policy-making and R&D; and, the 

prioritization of technology development and transfer programs. 

• Executive Order No. 12893 on Principles for Federal Infrastructure Investments, which 

constitutes an important milestone in Federal infrastructure policymaking. It represents the first set of 

investment principles formally articulated by the Executive Branch for consistent application across a range 

of Federal agencies and programs. The Order requires agencies to develop: systematic analyses of benefits 

and costs for direct spending and grants for capital programs; an annual programmatic investment analysis 

of capital accounts in conjunction with future budget submissions; and an investment analysis justification 

xviii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY @ 
TABLE C - FEDERAL INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY: 

ACTION AGENDA RECOMMENDATIONS 

Management and Maintenance 

• Make performance measurement processes integral to agency decisionmaking 

• Re-focus management practices on service delivery with performance measured by outcome'"based indicators 

• Develop multi-year maintenance plans based on periodic inventories and condition assessments 

• Explicitly consider future maintenance costs when selecting new or replacement capital assets 

• Report unfunded maintenance by identifying both the "dollar gap" and the performance implications 

Investment Analysis 

• Broaden the use of benefit-cost and risk analyses for budget submissions and legislative clearance 

• Expand investment analysis to more explicitly incorporate environmental values into the decision-making process 

• Convene a White House Conference on Infrastructure Investment 

• Seek statutory authority for the use of investment principles to further improve budget and authorization decisions 

Public Works Financing 

• Prepare and use financial plans for all agency infrastructure programs 

• Establish financial advisory boards to strengthen and diversify agency financing approaches 

• Review Federal tax and security laws limiting state and local access to revenue sources 

• Review grant formulas and user fees to ensure consistency between beneficiaries and financing sources 

• Consider establishing a public works investment section in the President's budget 

New Technologies 

• Establish new technology transfer mechanisms and public-private demonstration partnerships 

• Establish independent test-bed and technology dissemination centers for demonstration projects 

• Develop performance-based standards to foster design innovation 

• Reform liability, regulatory, and procurement procedures 

Regulatory Federalism 

• Conduct regular inventories and prepare cost estimates of existing and proposed Federal mandates 

• Analyze the incidence of costs and the ability of affected parties to pay for mandated public works 

• Develop an affordable prioritization and scheduling of non-Federal compliance 

• Provide, where possible, equitable Federal sharing of mandated costs 

• Ensure that the formulation of any mandate relief legislation considers these provisions 

Environmental Decisionmaking 

• Integrate the current sequential approval processes into a consolidated umbrella process 

• Imbed a stronger, more consistent environmental ethic across Federal agencies 

• Revise legislative, regulatory, and budget procedures to incorporate integration 

• Conduct pilot projects under the GPRA on outcome-based performance measures 

• Consider legislation to establish an integrated environmental approval process under NEP A 

@ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xix 
for all major legislative proposals that authorize or reauthorize infrastructure programs. Operations and 

maintenance activities are considered a form of infrastructure management and are subject to requirements 

for periodic reviews of the performance of existing facilities. Federal infrastructure categories covered by 

the order include transportation, water resources, energy, and environmental protection programs. 

Examples of other agency, government-wide, or professional organization actions that are consistent 

with FIS principles are listeq below (also see Section V). 

• The Federal Highway Administration's Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS) 

• Office of Management and Budget Circular A-131 on Value Engineering 

• The Department of Energy's Capital Asset Management Process 

• The Department of Transportation's interagency effort on the articulation of an intermodal National 

Transportation System 

• The Corps of Engineers National Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Plan of Improvement 

Environmental Service Partnerships, and Evaluation of Environmental Investments Research 

programs 

• The Federal Highway and Transit Administration's initiative on Integrating Environmental 

Considerations into Transportation Planning 

• The Environmental Protection Agency's Common Sense Initiative, and Environmental Technology 

Initiative 

• Last year's Capitol Hill Summit on Federal Capital Budgeting sponsored by the Advisory 

Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the National Academy of Public Administration, and 

the Rebuild America Coalition, (in cooperation with the Corps of Engineers) 

• The Federal Highway Administration's partnership with the Civil Engineering Research 

Foundation (CERF) on the Highway Innovative Technology Evaluation Center (HITEC), and 

FHwA's Applied Research and Technology (ART) program 

• The Corps of Engineers Construction Productivity Advancement Research (CP AR) and Repair, 

Evaluation, Maintenance Research (REMR II) programs 

• National Science Foundation's research initiative on Civil Infrastructure Systems 

• The interagency collaborative Technology Reinvestment Project program (Departments of Defense 

and Energy, NIST, NSF and NASA) 

• National Research Council's National Cooperative Highway Research IDEA program, and the 

recent establishment of a Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (BICE) 

xx EXECUTIVE SUMMARY @ 
• The National Academy of Public Administration and the American Public Works Association are 

working in cooperation to establish a Center for Infrastructure Management and Analysis 

• The American Society of Civil Engineers is planning to publish a Journal of Infrastructure 

Systems 

REPORT ORGANIZATION 

This report is presented in two parts. Part 1 summarizes the program results, including the brief 

descriptions of: Policy Context (Section I); Why A Federal Strategy? (II); Process and Participation (III); 

and Study Agenda (IV). The Federal Strategy is described in Section V. 

Part 2 consists of six sections organized around the key issues addressed by the strategy: Better 

Managing What We Already Have (Section VI); Choosing More Efficient Investments (VII); Budget 

Sensitive Financing (VIII); The Critical Role of New Technologies (IX); Clarifying Roles Through A New 

Regulatory Federalism (X); and, Improving Environmental Decisionmaking (XI). Concluding remarks are 

contained in Section XII. 

Supporting information can be found in the interim reports previously published as part of the FIS 

program. A complete listing of the FIS report series is presented on page iv. 

@ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xxi 
Quotes from a variety of sources, including presentations at FIS-sponsored meetings, a 

literature review, and recent related agency initiatives, have been selected to introduce the issues 

presented in the various chapters of this report. Such quotes are intended only to frame the discussion 

presented therein, and should not be interpreted as representing the support, concurrence or approval 

of FIS findings and recommendations by the individual or organization quoted. 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

PART 1 - SUMMARY OF RESULTS 

"This effort to develop an infrastructure strategy is important and timely for three reasons. First, it can 

help us achieve economic growth and productivity by improving infrastructure investment, decisionmaking, 

and management. Second, it will help us make the tough budget decisions that are important no matter 

what budget you're dealing with .... Budgets are always a question of limited resources, but now the 

problems of using our resources effectively are more serious than ever. Third, an infrastructure strategy 

will help us deal with the wider implications of infrastructure such as environmental quality and safety. " 

Dr. Alice M. Rivlin, Deputy Director (currently Director), Office 

of Management and Budget, remarks at the National Conference 

on High Peiformance Public Works, July 1993 

@ PART 1 - SUMMARY OF RESULTS 1 
Table 1 - Events and Voices in the Federal Policy Debate: 

Chronology of Key National Infrastructure Milestones and Studies 

1981 America in Ruins: Beyond the Public Works Pork Barrel, by Choate and Walters, charged that lack of 

maintenance was seriously endangering the ability of the Nation's infrastructure to continue meeting essential 

needs 

1983 The failure of the Mianus, Connecticut highway bridge focuses renewed attention on the physical condition of 

the Nation's infrastructure 

1983 Public Works Infrastructure: Policy Considerations for 1980's published by Congressional Budget Office 

1984 Hard Choices: A Report on the Increasing Gap Between America's Infrastructure Needs and Our Ability to 

Pay for Them by University Colorado at Boulder presented to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress 

1984 Public Works Improvement Act of 1984 (p.L. 98-501) creates the National Council on Public Works 

Improvement (NCPWI) to assess the state of America's infrastructure 

1986 Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (p.L. 99-662) represents fundamental reform of cost- sharing 

principles for Federal water projects 

1987 The Nation's Public Works series of reports published by National Council on Public Works Improvement 

1988 Fragile Foundations: A Report on America's Public Works by NCPWI concludes that the Nation's 

infrastructure is barely adequate to fulfill current requirements and insufficient for future economic growth 

1989 A series of articles by Dr. David Aschauer published in the J oumal of Monetary Economics triggers a debate 

among economists and policymakers regarding the relationship between economic productivity and public 

investment in infrastructure 

1990 New Directions for the Nation's Public Works published by Congressional Budget Office (CBO) 

1990 Rebuilding the Foundations: A Special Report on State and Local Public Works Financing and Management 

published by Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) 

1991 Delivering the Goods - Public Works Technologies, Management, and Financing published by OTA 

1991 How Spending for Infrastructure and Other Public Investment Affects the Economy published by CBO 

1991 Intermodal Swface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 enacted as landmark first highway and 

transit bill since near completion of the Interstate Highway System 

1992 Paying for Highways, Airways, and Waterways: How Can Users Be Charged? published by CBO 

1993 High Peiformance Public Works: A New Infrastructure Investment Strategy for America published by the 

U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

1994 Principles for Federal Infrastructure Investments issued as Executive Order No. 12893 

2 POLICY CONTEXT @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

I. POLICY CONTEXT 

"Not only have previous studies not provided very convincing answers to whether there is or has been 

an infrastructure shortage, but they may not have even focused on the right question in the first place. Even 

if there were no doubt of an infrastructure shortage, it is not clear what infrastructure policy or policies 

should be changed. By the same token, finding no evidence of shortage would not mean that no policy 

should be changed. Hence, rather than asking whether there is a shortage, it seems more helpful to ask 

what, if any, policies should be changed. " 

BACKGROUND 

Dr. Edward M. Gramlich, University of Michigan, from 

"Infrastructure Investment: A Review Essay ", Journal of Economic 

Literature, Vol. XXXII, September 1994. 

The condition of the Nation's infrastructure has been a subject of widespread interest since the early 

1980's. In 1981, Pat Choate and Susan Walter's report, America in Ruins, triggered a watershed of reports 

which debated the fundamental issues surrounding infrastructure needs, investment strategies, and the 

clarification of the roles of all levels of government in providing and maintaining public works (see 

chronology in Table 1). 

The most comprehensive national study was the 1988 final report of the National Council on Public 

Works Improvement (the "Council", 1984-1987). Although the Council's final report concluded that the 

state of the Nation's infrastructure stock was not as poor as previous reports had purported, it also stated 

that there was a danger that, if action is not taken, further deterioration of public facilities will threaten the 

Nation's economic productivity. 

The Council found "convincing evidence that the quality of America's infrastructure is barely adequate 

to fulfill current requirements, and insufficient to meet the demands of future economic growth and 

development." The report called for a doubling of the Nation's capital investment and for renewed attention 

to the maintenance of highways, roads, bridges, airports, transit systems, ports, waterways, water supply, 

wastewater treatment, solid waste, and hazardous waste facilities. (See Table 2 for a summary of Fragile 

Foundations'recommendations). 

The perception that America is not paying enough attention to its public works has persisted in the 

minds of the public, despite subsequent reports by the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional 

Office of Technology Assessment which challenged some of these arguments, especially the premise that 

the nation is underinvesting in public works and should increase spending levels by as much as 100 percent. 

@ POLICY CONTEXT 3 
Table 2 - Strategy for Improving America's Public Works 

National Council on Public Works Improvement 

No single approach is adequate to ensure the future viability of America's infrastructure. A 

broad range of measures is necessary to make a meaningful difference by the tum of the 

century. Specifically these should include: 

• A national commitment, shared by all levels of government and the private sector, to 

increase capital spending by as much as 100 percent above current levels 

• Clarification of the respective roles of the Federal, state, and local governments in 

infrastructure construction and management to focus responsibility and increase accountability 

• More flexible administration of Federal and state mandates to allow cost-effective methods of 

compliance 

• Accelerated spending of Federal highway, transit, aviation, and waterways trust funds 

• Increased cost-sharing of public works by those who benefit from its services 

• Removal of unwarranted limits on the ability of state and local governments to help themselves 

through tax-exempt financing 

• Stronger incentives for maintenance of capital assets 

• Greater use of low-capital techniques, such as demand management, coordinated land use 

planning, and waste reduction and recycling 

• Additional support for research and development to accelerate innovation 

• Increased training of public works professionals 

• A rational capital budgeting process at all levels of government 

None of these steps will be easy or unopposed. But the increasing cost of delay is certain. The 

Council urges the President, the Congress, and the Nation's state and local leaders to act on the 

agenda immediately. 

Source: Fragile Foundations, National Council on Public Works Improvement, 1988 

4 POLICY CONTEXT @ 
SPENDING ON PUBLIC WORKS 

Past literature on public capital's impact on economic productivity reflects much controversy over 

whether the Nation's level of public infrastructure investment has been sufficient. A review of the literature 

actually allows one to conclude that the level of public investment in America's infrastructure has been: 

[choose one] (a) grossly inadequate; (b) more than adequate; or, (c) about right. 

The answer arrived at is largely dependent on the time period chosen for analysis, the level[s] of 

government examined, the public works categories included, the analytical stance taken, the level of data 

disaggregation, the context of the statistics used, and the perspective of the analyst. It is not surprising that 

it is possible to point to data supporting all three conclusions simultaneously without engaging in a 

contradiction merely by varying the assumptions used to adjust expenditure figures for inflation, wealth, 

population, and productivity (Le. nominal or constant dollars, inflation-adjusted dollars using a range of 

possible price deflators, spending as a percent of GNP or GDP, per-capita spending, or investment as a 

percent of total government spending). 

For example, measured in nominal dollars, that is dollars which are not adjusted for inflation, total 

infrastructure investment (including capital and non-capital spending for highways, mass transit, rail, 

aviation, water transport, water resources, water supply, and wastewater treatment) by all levels of 

government rose by over 900 percent between 1960 and 1990 (see Figure 1). Of course, examining only 

nominal dollars can be misleading since they ignore inflation effects, the increase in u.s. population, and 

the growth of the Nation's wealth. 

$160, ODD! 

$140, 000: 

--.. i 5 i ~/+-".-...,.-.-+ : 

~ $120, 000 .. L. . .................... <' ... 

~ . ~ 

~ : ... ........................................./.~<.-.~>~::::::.:~<~ .................. . 2. $100,000 .. !.... ......_ ...... _ .... _ ........ 

! ::·::::¥~/-~~~-~·-/T 

~ $40, 000:.···· .................................................... L .............. ~ .... ---- ~ $20,000"1 ;;;:::::.a::::::;;o::,,,, .. _ .. =d""::~.""'---~ 

$0 : iii iii iii Iii iii iii j , iii iii iii F i 

1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 19'78 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 

Year 

--- Nominal Spending + ... Spending in 1987 $ 

Source: Congressional Budget Office (1991) 

Figure 1 - Nominal and Real Total Spending for Public Infrastructure, 1960-1990 

@ POLICY CONTEXT 5 
Measured in 1987 dollars, the growth between 1960 and 1990 remains significant, representing about 

a one hundred percent increase (also Figure 1). Of course, inflation adjustments alone do not account for 

changes in the population or economy. Based on a per-capita basis (and using 1987 dollars), the increase 

in funding during this period falls to approximately fifty percent. 

To approximate changes relative to the economy as a whole, infrastructure spending is often expressed 

as a percent of GNP or GDP. Such adjustments highlight a relative decline in public works spending since 

1960. As a percent of GDP, for example, infrastructure spending has fallen from approximately 3.2 

percent in 1960, to about 2.6 percent in 1990 (Figure 2). 

3.3% ... 

3.2% 

3.1% 

Do 3.0% 

C) 

'+-

0 

2.9% -+-

c 

(J) 

U 

L 2.8% (J) 

D2.7% 

2.6% 

,'\ .......................................... . 

I'\. ..... ~ 1\ Ii 

\ ~-..( ) \\ I /\ I. / \ \ I \ I J \ J ~ V \ / ~~ .. /,. 

\' 

2.5% 

1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 

Year 

Source: Con~ressional Bud~et Office (1991) 

Figure 2 - Public Spending for Infrastructure as a Percent of GDP, 1960-1990 

Figure 2, however, masks an even greater relative decline in capital spending, while annual outlays 

for operations and maintenance (O&M) have actually increased from 1.3 to 1.5 percent of GDP between 

1960 and 1990. Further disaggregation would show different growth rates for the various categories of 

public works, and across geographic areas. From an intergovernmental perspective, annual Federal outlays 

peaked in the late 1970s at approximately $30 billion (1987 dollars). Since that time expenditures by state 

and local governments have steadily grown. 

Spending for O&M remains the key to the continued effectiveness of public works assets. In 1960, 

approximately three-fifths of the monies spent on public works was devoted to new investment, with the 

remaining two-fifths going to O&M. America was still beginning to build its new interstate highway system, 

and a growing and mobile population in flush economic times required the construction of new public works 

6 POLICY CONTEXT @ 
systems all over the nation. By 1990, the nation was spending $130 billion; however, the relative 

importance of maintenance spending vis-a-vis new capital spending had been reversed with the proportion 

of non-capital spending accounting for more than 55 percent of total infrastructure spending (Figure 3). 

$140, 000 ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... . 

"2 $120, 000 .. L ..... . 

o 

-0 

;;: 

Ql 

II $100, 000···' (L 

o 

2. 

t" $80, 000 

.!2 

0 

0 

"- $60, 000 

CXJ 

m 

a $40, 000 

VJ 

C 

,g 

~ $20. 000 ... 

$0 

1960 1962 19641966 1968 1970 1'972 1974 1976 1'978 1980 1982 1984 1'986 1988 1990 

Year 

~ Capital Spending III Noncapital Spending 

Source: Congressional Budget Office (1991) 

Figure 3 - Capital and Non-Capital Spending for Public Infrastructure, 1960-1990 

Although all of these adjustments help provide insights into public investment data, taken as a whole 

they also highlight the difficulties in reaching a clear consensus on what the implications of these trends 

really are. And when using these trends to determine whether America is truly underinvesting in 

infrastructure (as a whole or within certain public works sectors), the starting place is just as unclear. Our 

Nation IS" infrastructure" consists of many diverse components and complex networks. The economic 

effects of highways, harbors, airports and water treatment facilities, for example, are each quite different 

and each poses a unique measurement challenge. 

While critics of macroeconomic analyses point to a number of technical problems - such as causality, 

aggregation bias, and collinearity issues - many policy makers also believe that micro-level analyses have 

not adequately measured total infrastructure needs. The most often cited weaknesses of microanalysis 

includes the failure to incorporate important externalities and network effects. When it comes to trying to 

assess future needs, the picture becomes even more cloudy - complicated by the fact that the services 

delivered by important categories of public works are not generally sold on the market and because the 

depreciation rates for infrastructure stocks must be estimated. 

@ POLICY CONTEXT 7 
Within this context, the emphasis of policy research has clearly been extended beyond the arguments 

of the 1980's regarding whether or not the Nation is truly underinvesting in public works (is there an 

infrastructure financing "gap"?), or the related debate over how much public investment really matters to 

the economy (what is the nature of the link between public investment and economic productivity?). 

This evolution in focus is partly due to the realization that the era of ambitious new capital programs 

is certainly over. However, this policy shift is also a manifestation of today' s budget reality. The question 

of whether or not there is an "investment gap" is simply not as relevant as it was ten years ago. There 

simply isn't much new money available for public works - not at the Federal level, or any other level of 

government for that matter! ' 

Federal infrastructure programs are largely funded from domestic discretionary appropriations. 

Discretionary spending continues to be under tremendous budget pressure due to the growth of mandatory 

spending and interest on the debt (see Figure 4). The reality of this budget constraint (and the funding 

constraints facing other levels of government) underscores the critical need for any overarching Federal 

infrastructure policy to focus on doing a better job of managing what we already have and choosing only 

the most efficient and affordable new investments. 

Components of Federal Spending as a Percentage 

of Gross Domestic Product, 1962-2004 

Percentage of GOP 

~,-----------------------,-------. 

Actual Projected 

I 

1964 1974 1984 1994 2004 

Source: Congressional Budget Office (1994) 

Figure 4 - Components of Federal Spending as a Percentage of GDP, 1962-2004 

8 POLICY CONTEXT @ 
THE NEED TO LIVE WITHIN CONSTRAINTS 

More than ever before, Federal infrastructure policies necessarily reflect decisionmaking within a 

framework of constrained optimization - how to make the best of a situation given external factors which 

limit the scope of action. Scarcity abounds - there are increasingly limited resources potentially available 

for public works, and only so much of that potential that citizens are willing to devote to it, and only so 

much that existing institutions are capable of achieving. 

Thus, given that only limited Federal resources and opportunities for action are available, a Federal 

infrastructure strategy should provide the means for examining these constraints within a framework 

measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of resource tradeoffs. Figure 5 provides a graphic depiction of 

one such conceptual framework. 

Resources 

Devoted to 

Infrastructure 

THE DECISION MAKER'S CONCEPTUAL ENVELOPE OF 

TRADEOFF CURVES UNDER VARIOUS LEVELS OF CONSTRAINT 

F::::===~----__ lD~e~~Si~ed Outcome 

::::::",-~<:::,-::::~~-.-.- .. , .. "'. 

ALL CONSTRAINTS .. 

TRADEOFF 

CURVE ... 

~~~~:~~ IVEN "-, "', .,_, .,.,."""'" 

... if all resources "----------------"':---'-+------>":------'~-~lcoUld be used 

optimally Resources Devoted to All other Uses 

i ... given political constraints 

... given budgetary constraints ... given market imperfections 

... given environmental constraints 

... given technological constraints 

Figure 5 - The Decisionmaker's Conceptual Envelope of Tradeoff Curves 

First there is the overall resource constraint which the economy and the Nation faces. The growing 

Federal debt, annual budget deficits, and the reality of tight budgets facing all levels of government 

underscores this constraint and refocuses the infrastructure debate on doing a better job of better managing 

what we already have, squeezing increased levels of performance out of existing facilities, and choosing 

only the best new investments. Central to these issues are the concepts of performance and efficiency. 

@ POLICY CONTEXT 9 
Other constraints are presented by the preferences of society at large which must be considered. The 

public is only willing to spend so much money on infrastructure at the expense of other things. Political 

institutions have their own rigidities which further limit choice, such as the difficulties of coordinating 

policies among many different agencies. The need to accommodate the traditional objectives of 

infrastructure, e.g., reduction in travel time, increased safety, the generation of energy, or the disposal of 

waste, while at the same time protecting the environment is an example of this type of constraint. This 

requires sorting out those circumstances where economic development and environmental protection are 

truly compatible from those where trade-offs must be made among conflicting objectives. Although 

society's aim is to develop infrastructure consistent with environmental protection goals, the reality is often 

one of competing or conflicting policies and outcomes. 

Finally, there are market or technology limitations, which further limit choice. The need to focus on 

low-capital solutions, innovative sources of financing, budget sensitive alternatives, and new R&D products, 

especially in the area of environmental technologies, are mechanisms to address these constraints. Limits 

in the technology transfer and implementation process may also constrain choices within this boundary. 

Given such constraints, working towards even a rudimentary identification of the optimal levels of 

infrastructure investment across Federal programs remains a formidable task, with many difficult data 

collection, analytical, and institutional obstacles to be overcome. More manageable, but still problematic, 

is establishing priorities within single agencies and programs, and making trade-offs at the margin within 

and between programs and agencies. 

A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONCEPT OF PERFORMANCE 

It is this climate that has generated much of the current interest in measuring and evaluating the 

performance of public works infrastructure. In fact, it was NCPWI's emphasis on "performance" which 

represents perhaps its greatest legacy today. Its report card on the Nation's Public Works was a 

performance-based assessment which emphasized not only physical performance and delivery of services, 

but also considered the manner by which services are delivered in terms of economic efficiency. 

Indeed, the concept of "performance" is central to the policy reforms sweeping all levels of government 

today. At the Federal level these range from the recommendations of Vice-President Gore's National 

Peifonnance Review, to the requirements of the Government Peiformance and Results Act of 1993, and a 

number of Administration initiatives, many based on a series of Executive Orders which are discussed 

throughout this document. 

Still, Fragile Foundations only hinted at a clear definition of the term "performance", saying simply 

that: "The demand for and supply of public works services jointly determine peiformance levels and the 

quality of services provided", while suggesting an extensive list of measures that might be used in 

assessment. A committee organized by the National Research Council's Boardfor Infrastructure and the 

Constructed Environment (BICE) recently completed a FIS study on the measurement and improvement of 

infrastructure performance. The purpose of the study was to develop an operational understanding of how 

public works performance can be defined, measured, and improved. 

A key finding of the BlCE committee was that no comprehensive single measure of performance has 

emerged, nor is one expected to be identified. Therefore, the committee focused on refining the definition 

10 POLICY CONTEXT @ 
of performance as a multi-dimensional function of infrastructure's effectiveness in delivering services. This 

concept of performance goes beyond measuring and assessing simple inputs (resources consumed) and 

outputs (direct products produced), and instead focuses on outcome measures to determine the effectiveness 

of meeting service goals. Effectiveness, in turn, is multi-dimensional, with specific elements such as 

reliability of service delivery, and cost of services on a total life-cycle basis, depending on local and national 

goals that infrastructure is meant to achieve. 

Although infrastructure program goals are likely to involve such aspects as direct and indirect economic 

and social benefits, quality of life improvements, environmental protection, and reduced safety or public 

health risks, there is no accepted framework for broadly measuring infrastructure performance. Expanding 

on the BICE's work, the development of a framework for evaluating performance requires: 

• Defining program goals and objectives 

• Selecting performance measures 

• Establishing or utilizing a data management system 

• Development performance benchmarks 

• Measuring performance in relation to these goals and benchmarks 

• Applying the resulting assessment to the decision-making process 

With improved infrastructure performance (effectiveness) the desired outcome, FIS participants 

identified the concepts of efficiency, reliability, equity, sustainability, innovation, and revenue 

diversification as essential to formulating a Federal strategy within a constrained decisionmaking 

framework. Based on a review of past work and input from the FIS consultation, the following public 

works goals were suggested as the primary objectives to guide the development of the strategy: 

1) Efficiency. Apply economic analyses consistently across Federal infrastructure networks to ensure 

that only the most efficient programs and projects are chosen. Infrastructure affects the quality of life and 

the environment as well as the economy, but these effects have been difficulty to quantify. Therefore, 

improved methods are needed for evaluating the magnitude of environmental outputs for various kinds of 

public works investments. 

2) Reliability. Improve the performance of America's existing capital stock by strengthening the links 

between safety, service availability and customer demand. Aim management and maintenance techniques 

at extending the lives of existing systems in concert with demand projections to minimize the need for new 

facilities. A specific need is to improve the performance measurement process for assessing the availability, 

condition and safety of existing public works systems. 

3) Equity. Given that the Nation's fundamental standards of human health and safety do not vary 

geographically, intergenerationally, or culturally, regulatory and grant programs should be examined to 

identify any unintended consequences of Federal mandates and diminishing Federal financial aid. Improved 

mechanisms are needed to more accurately measure and assess customer satisfaction and to ensure that those 

@ POLICY CONTEXT 11 
National Resettrch Council Study on Measuring and Improving Infrastructure Performance 

As part oftheFIS program, the Corps asked the National Research Council (NRC) to undertake a study on 

measuring and improving infrastructure performance. The NRC appointed a Committee on Measuring and Improving 

Performance to accomplish this task. The committee focused on issues arising from transportation, water, and waste 

within urban regions .. To provide a practical background for its study the committee visited three metropolitan areas 

selected to represent situations in which performance measures might be used: Baltimore, Maryland; Portland, ()regon; 

and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. 

The committee utilized a systemwide perspective across infrastructure categories to facilitate thinking about the 

interactions and tradeoffs among the various modes. The committee formulated a service-oriented, bottom-up framework 

for quantitatively measuring and assessing performance that stands in contrast to a traditional physical engineering, 

standards-based performance measurement focus. This process can be adopted to all levels of government . The field 

visits illustrated that institutional setting is crucial to performance measurement and that a variety of institutional 

structures are possible. Other key fmdings included: 

• infrastructureperforma.nce is defined by the degree to which the system serves multilevel community 

objectives. Identifying these objectives and assessing and improving performance occur through an essentially political 

process that should involve multiple stakeholders. 

• Performance measurement, a technical component of the broader task of performance assessment, is an 

essential step in effective decision~making. Despite the importance of measurement, current practices of measuring 

comprehensive system performance are generally inadequate. 

• No adequate, single measure of performance has been identified, nor should therebe an expectation that one 

will emerge. Performance should be assessed on the basis of multiple measures chosen to reflect communitYt:1bje¢tives. 

The specific measures used may be grouped into three broad multidimensional categories: effectiveness, reliability, and 

cost. 

• Infrastructure performance cannot be managed if it cannot be measured. While not every aspect of 

performance is quantifiable; attempts should be made to devise quantitative indicators of performance. Such measures 

should be used to develop benchmarks that policymakers can use for setting goals and comparing performanceamotig 

systems. 

• Performance assessment, the process by which objectives are defined, measures specified, and confli9ts 

reconciled, requiress(lUnd data, which is often lacking. Continuing, coordinated data collection and monitoring are 

needed to establish benchmarking and performance assessment. Federal agencies should assure that national data sets are 

compatible, computerized and accessible . 

• A broad menu ohriulti-objective techniques should be considered to facilitate the' evaluation trade-Mfs during 

the assessment process ... Lack of sufficient information is also a source of uncertainty in the assessment of system 

reliabilitYalld thus in decision-making. As such, the principles and methods of risk analysis cari be applied to aspects of 

performance assessment. 

• Agencies should adopt infrastructure performance measurement and assessment as an ongoing process t? 

effective decisionmaking. In this regard, agencies should undertake a critical self-assessment to determine the nature and 

extent or any impediments to adoption of a performance assessment process. All measures should be periodically 

reviewed/revised to respond to changing needs. 

• There is a validitational interest in local infrastructure performance because the long-run and sometimes 

unintended consequences of infrastructure systems frequently go far beyond the physical installations themselves. 

Federal infrastructure policy should be revised to accommodate local performance measurement processes within the 

context of this national interest. 

Source: Measuring and Improving Infrastructure Performance, National Research Council, Conunittee on Measuring and Improving Infrastructure 

PerformanCe, forthcoming. 

12 POLICY CONTEXT @ 
who most directly benefit from public works are financially reSponsible for an equitable and affordable 

share of costs. . 

4) Environmental Sustainability. Formulate infrastructure program objectives so that more potential 

adverse impacts are avoided or eliminated from the outset. Reorient the regulatory process by shifting from 

a single-media/point source control and cleanup approach to a philosophy of _avoidance and pollution 

prevention based on a more flexible ecosystem strategy, and fully integrate environmental decisionmaking 

into public works programs and processes. 

5) Innovation. Technological, managerial, legal, institutional, and other innovations are needed to 

maintain and improve the nation's infrastructure. New R&D products have gr~at potential for public works 

providing increased levels of infrastructure service and outputs at lower costs, especially in the areas of 

service and outputs at lower costs, especially in the areas of environmental technologies, 

telecommunications; deterioration science, non-destructive assessment technologies, and renewal 

engineering. 

6) Revenue Diversification. Focus on low-capital solutions, budget sensitive alternatives, 

"beneficiaries pay" mechanisms, and intergovernmental funding sources to help overcome the financing 

challenge of maintaining even modest future spending levels, since there clearly isn't enough money 

available for business as usual. 

Within a broader context, the above stated objectives are complemented by two key overarching goals 

which serve as national outcome-based performance indicators: 

7) Productivity Growth. Most estimates confirm infrastructure's positive effect on national 

productivity. It is possible, however, to invest too much, as well as too little in public works. Investment 

policy research needs to continue focusing on describing the relationship between public works and 

economic growth and productivity to better define and target optimal levels of infrastructure investment. 

8) Competitiveness and Jobs. The continued effectiveness of the Nation's infrastructure networks is 

vital to maintaining America's preeminent position in the global economy. Improved cross-program 

prioritization and additional policy research are needed, however, to ensure that public works investments 

are not just aimed at creating short-term jobs, but on also providing a foundation for continuing job creation 

and sustained economic growth. 

@ POLICY CONTEXT 13 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

II. WHY A FEDERAL STRATEGY? 

"This strategy is called a Federal Strategy, yet most of our public works are state and local. You might 

think that we haven't looked very much at the whole problem, but let me assure you that we have. The 

Federal influence is quite pervasive, it affects not just those types of infrastructure built, operated, and 

maintained by Federal agencies, but all of those that are constructed with Federal aid, and those that are 

Federally regulated on environmental aspects, access for the handicapped, relocation and land acquisition, 

labor standards, even wage control. Many of the Federal practices and regulations in the past have not 

been consistent from one program to another, and that has posed a major problem for state and local 

governments... So one of the objectives of getting a consistent cross- program Federal strategy is to make 

it easier for the state and local people. " 

Dr. Bruce D. McDowell, Director, Government Policy Research, 

Advisory Commission for Intergovernmental Relations, remarks at 

"Framing a Federal Infrastructure Strategy ", Transportation 

Research Board 73rd Annual Meeting, January 10, 1994. 

Existing responsibilities for public works involve a complex array of institutions and interrelationships 

for which accountability is sometimes difficult to identify. The roles of the various Federal, state, local, 

and private sector interests vary not only by the type of infrastructure program, but also by the nature of 

the programmatic responsibilities involved. The complexities inherent in these relationships remain today, 

even as Federal aid for infrastructure has declined through the 1980's and state and local governments have 

assumed more responsibilities. 

As pointed out in Fragile Foundations, most public works are provided by state and local governments, 

either directly or through the private sector. Most major highways are owned by local governments. Many 

water supply systems are privately owned and operated. Most hazardous waste disposal is privately owned 

and operated, and much of the ordinary trash collection is private. Why then, is a Federal strategy 

important? 

Despite the preeminent role of state and local governments, Federal influence in the form of legislation, 

regulations and/or financing aid, pervades virtually every aspect of infrastructure provision. These 

influences include: 

• Providing Federal financial assistance and grant aid to state and local governments to build, operate 

and maintain many facilities, such as highway, transit, water treatment and sewer systems 

@ WHY A FEDERAL STRATEGY? 15 
• Directly building, owning operating and maintaining certain key facilities, such as flood control and 

inland navigation facilities, deep-draft port channels, and other water resources projects 

• Enacting Federal tax codes affecting the ability of state and local governments to finance public 

works infrastructure 

• Setting engineering and environmental standards, and regulating most public works on 

environmental impacts, access for the handicapped, relocation and land acquisition, labor standards 

and even wage control 

FIS participants considered a coherent, overarching Federal strategy [policy] essential to the 

clarification of the myriad of intergovernmental infrastructure roles and responsibilities. Such a strategy 

can help bring Federal programs into better alignment with state, local, and private sector needs, and 

promote consistency and mutual reinforcement among separate but related Federal programs. 

Based largely on the work of the National Council on Public Works Improvement, McDowell and Bell 

proposed a series of criteria for evaluating public works roles. These criteria, also reflect the Kestenbaum 

Commission's principles for defining the Federal governments roles, and the subsequent work of the 

Congressional Budget Office, the Evans-Robb Report, and several reports by the Advisory Commission 

on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) on criteria for shifting Federal responsibilities. These criteria 

include whether: 

• The activity is national in scope 

• Enumerated constitutional powers must be exercised 

• Fiscal magnitude requires a Federal role 

• Jurisdictional limits of states render multi-state approach impractical 

• Uniform national application of policy cannot be otherwise achieved 

• Negative spillovers among states must be minimized or mitigated 

• Program efficiency can be significantly improved by a Federal role 

• Redistribution of national resources is needed for geographic or demographic equity and program 

effectiveness 

Any Federal strategy should necessarily acknowledge these many responsibilities and needs to fit within 

the context of a broader national strategy which should be set forth as a prerequisite. In fact, the framework 

for a national strategy already exists - it was articulated by NCPWI. The Council set forth a national 

infrastructure strategy in Fragile Foundations based on a Federal-state-Iocal-private sector partnership. 

Of course, all government agencies responsible for national public works programs are continuing to 

face significant changes in their roles. Such role changes can be characterized as evolutionary rather than 

revolutionary, with the movement towards programs becoming more, rather than less, intergovernmental. 

16 WHY A FEDERAL STRATEGY? @ 
Current responsibilities provide the context for future roles, with the Federal roles constantly evolving in 

response to national needs. Changes that have occurred during the 1980's and early 1990's can be expected 

to set the stage for additional public works reforms over the next decade. Changes occurring in the 1980's 

included: 

• Cost sharing was expanded for Federal water resource projects 

• Trust funds were used to support Federal programs for mass transit, inland waterways, and harbor 

maintenance programs 

• Federal drinking water standards were established and strengthened 

• Federal grants for wastewater treatment facilities were phased out, and the states established 

revolving loan funds (with Federal assistance) to help finance local wastewater treatment facilities 

• Most Federal aid for local, state and regional planning/coordination was discontinued 

In addition, other legislative and administrative changes in the 1990's have also affected the ways 

Federal infrastructure agencies perform their responsibilities. These include: 

• The passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (IS TEA) of 1991 has placed 

greater emphasis on intergovernmental planning and performance-based management, and has also 

increased the flexibility offered to state and local governments in spending between traditional 

transportation modes 

• The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and IS TEA shifted the transportation focus in metropolitan 

areas where air quality does not meet Federal standards by linking transportation plans to the 

approval (by U.S. EPA) of State Implementation Plans (SIPs) for cleaning the air. 

• The number of Federal block grants, which had grown from one in 1965 to 14 in 1991, now also 

include two new programs created since then: (1) DOT's Surface Transportation Program (from 

ISTEA), and (2) FAA's state block grants for airports 

• U.S. EPA has established the Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB) to address the 

demands on local governments resulting from environmental mandates 

• Executive Order No. 12291, subsequent OMB Regulatory Impact Analysis Guidance, and, more 

recently, Executive Order No. 12866 have required cost-benefit analysis of Federal regulations 

having a significant effect on the economy 

The products of research and outputs of the FIS program comprise a Federal strategy that is best 

understood as an important subset of a broader National strategy. Within this context, FIS recommendations 

respond to the NCPWI framework, but do not necessarily comply with the Council's specific 

recommendations. Table 3 provides a summary display and comparison of FIS principles with the previous 

NCPWI recommendations. 

@ WHY A FEDERAL STRATEGY? 17 
ISSUES 

Management 

Investment 

Financing 

Innovation 

Regulation 

Environmental 

Decisionmaking 

Table 3 - INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY SUMMARY: 

National Council on Public Works Improvement (NCPWI), and 

the Federal Infrastructure Strategy (FIS) Initiative 

National Stratein' Federal Stratein' 

FRAGILE FOUNDATIONS HIGH PERFORMANCE PUBLIC 

(NCPWI, 1988) WORKS (FIS, 1994) 

- Improve the efficiency and performance of existing - Adopt performance measurement processes 

facilities and maintenance planning, reporting, and 

accounting as ongoing practices 

- Greater incentives for maintenance, and more 

rigorous use of low-capital and demand - Refocus management practices on service 

management techniques delivery and performance outcomes and 

manage demand to expand capacity 

- A National commitment, shared by all levels of Resource constraints facing the Nation 

government and the private sector, to increase require a Federal commitment to: 

investment levels 

- Expand the use of decision support tools, 

- Accelerated spending of Federal highway, transit, including benefit-cost and risk analyses, and 

aviation, and waterways trust funds choose only the most efficient investments 

- Beneficiaries of public works services should - Adopt "budget sensitive" fmancing, including 

finance a greater share of infrastructure costs an increased use of financial and affordability 

analyses, with a focus on small scale (low cost) 

- Removal of unwarranted limits on the ability of improvements and demand management 

state and local governments to help themselves 

through tax exempt financing - Efficiently price infrastructure services to 

broaden the audience for spending decisions, 

- A rational capital budgeting process at all levels of and adjust grant formulas to better account for 

government benefit spillovers 

Accelerate technological innovation thru: - Eliminate barriers to the diffusion of new 

technologies and the adoption of more flexible 

- Additional support to R&D activities, and design standards 

- Increased education and training for public works - Establish new cost-shared technology transfer 

professionals mechanisms and dissemination centers in 

partnership with the private sector 

- Clarification of the respective roles of Federal, state, - Require regular inventories and affordable 

and local governments to focus responsibility and sharing of mandated costs 

increase accountability 

- Establish baseline estimates of the costs 

- More flexible administration of Federal and state associated with existing mandates 

mandates to allow cost-effective methods of 

compliance - Allow local prioritization and scheduling of 

compliance choices 

- Base public works approvals on performance based - Integrate & streamline permitting and 

measures and peer-reviewed science environmental decisionmaking processes 

- Increased coordination and cooperation between - Establish a consistent environmental ethic 

the various levels of government within Federal agencies 

18 WHY A FEDERAL STRATEGY? @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

III. PARTICIPATION AND PROCESS 

"A recent article in U.S. News and World Report suggested the public works investment is strictly pork, 

all politically driven. There will always be a political component to infrastructure investing, but that is not 

the point. The objective is to have a system that at least provides for more rational investment, so that 

whether decisions are being made by the Federal government, the states, or local governments, there are 

criteria that can eliminate the wasteful, gold-plated projects that often are accused of being pork barrel 

investments. II 

Representative William F. Clinger, remarks at the Capitol Hill 

Summit on Federal Capital Budgeting, March 11, 1994 

It was recognized early in the FIS program that the development of any Federal strategy must 

necessarily involve all stakeholders in the provision of public works. Therefore, the strategy development 

process was designed as a bottom-up, open consultation which included the participation of a broad crosssection of constituencies. These included: 

• Representatives of Federal agencies as well as Congressional committees and policy evaluation units 

having infrastructure responsibilities 

• State and local government policymakers 

• Nongovernmental analysts, academia, infrastructure users, and advocacy groups 

• Public and private public works providers and other practitioners 

Program participants also realized that the existing body of work represented by past studies provided 

a comprehensive assessment of national needs and issues upon which to build. Therefore, they 

recommended working towards the development of specific actions to refine or implement the key findings 

of previous reports rather than focusing on the development of a new study. 

@ PARTICIPATION AND PROCESS 19 
Background Studies Intergovernmental 

Consultation 

Coordination 

Feedback 

Feedback 

Feedback 

In-Depth Inquires 

Coordination 

Feedback 

Figure 6 - Strategy Development Process 

20 PARTICIPATION AND PROCESS @ 
In addition, participants recommended that the PIS should focus primarily on Federally provided, 

leveraged, or regulated public works within the broad categories identified by the National Council on 

Public Works Improvement: 

• transportation (highways, aviation, mass transit and intermodal) 

• water (navigation, flood control and water supply) 

• waste management (water, solid, hazardous) 

The effort was managed by the Corps as a cooperative intergovernmental effort. The thrust of the 

approach was one of interagency partnership, with independent third party experts asked to facilitate and 

organize the various dialogues, workshops and inquiries on the identified issues. As displayed in Figure 

6, the strategy development process utilized a three-tier structure to pursue the PIS policy research agenda. 

A primary focus of the process was to promote the active participation of a broad range of public works 

stakeholders. The three tracks consisted of: 

• Background Studies. The commission of theme papers and technical studies on specific public 

works issues to serve as the basis for subsequent interagency discussions or follow up, in-depth policy 

inquiries 

• Intergovernmental Consultation. Two phases of coordination were used to (1) facilitate the 

identification of issues essential to strategy development, and (2) develop statements of principles and 

guidelines for the most important topics, along with recommendations and proposed action agenda for 

application of the principles. 

• In-Depth Inquiries. A series of policy studies were undertaken on topics requiring a mixture of 

substantive research and interagency input to establish the technical and management foundations of the 

strategy formulation process 

The intergovernmental consultation involved approximately 30 Federal agencies and departments and 

units of Congress, including the Departments of Transportation, Interior, Commerce, Energy, Treasury, 

and Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, Federal 

Accounting Standards Board, the Council of Economic Advisors, General Accounting Office, Congressional 

Budget Office, Congressional Infrastructure Caucus, Office of Technology Assessment, and the House and 

Senate Public Works Committees. In addition, more than 100 other organizations representing state and 

local governments and public works practitioners were included in the consultation. Both phases of the 

coordination were facilitated by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and guided by 

interagency work groups. A complete listing of organizations who were represented in the process is 

presented as Table 4. 

The first phase of the dialogue consisted of a series of workshops with the various infrastructure 

constituencies and concluded with a synthesis meeting of all four groups of participants and the subsequent 

publication an interim report, Toward a Federal Infrastructure Strategy: Issues and Options. The report 

documented the policy areas and opportunities for interagency cooperation in support of a Federal strategy. 

Recommendations from the consultation were endorsed by the Commission in June 1992. 

@ PARTICIPATION AND PROCESS 21 
Congress 

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee 

House Committee on Public Works and Transportation 

House Committee on the Budget 

House Subcommittee on Economic Development 

Joint Committee on Taxation 

Office of Senator Byron L Dorgan 

Office of Senator Bob Graham 

Office of Representative Bob Carr 

Office of Representative William F. Clinger 

Office of Representative Ray Thornton 

Office of Representative Bob Wise 

Congressional Budget Office 

Congressional Infrastructure Caucus 

Congressional Office of Technology Assessment 

Congressional Research Service 

General Accounting Office 

Executive Branch 

Council of Economic Advisors 

Council on Environmental Quality 

National Economic Council 

Office of Management and Budget 

Environmental Protection Agency 

Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board 

General Services Administration 

Department of Agriculture 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

Economic Research Service 

Soil Conservation Service 

Department of Commerce 

Department of Defense (Office of the Secretary) 

Department of Army 

Office of the Assistant Secretary (Civil Works) 

Corps of Engineers 

Department of Energy 

Department of Health and Human Services 

Department of Interior (Office of the Secretary) 

Bureau of Reclamation 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

U.S. Geological Survey 

Department of Transportation 

Office of the Secretary 

United States Coast Guard 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Federal Highway Administration 

Federal Railroad Administration 

Federal Transit Administration 

Maritime Administration 

Department of Treasury 

Other Government AgenCies 

Administrative Conference of the United States 

Competitiveness Policy Council 

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston 

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland 

Tennessee Valley Authority 

The World Bank 

22 PARTICIPATION AND PROCESS @ 

Table 4 -Organizations Represented at 

State Government 

Arizona Department of Transportation 

New Jersey 

Dept of Environmental Protection & Energy 

Department of Transportation 

Washington Office 

Ohio House of Representatives 

Ways & Means Committee 

Washington Department of Community Development 

Public Works Trust fund 

Academy for State and Local Government 

Council of State Governments 

Local Government 

Boston Water and Sewer Commission 

City of Atlanta. Georgia 

Department of Planning and Development 

City of Baltimore. Maryland 

City of Berkeley, California 

City of Billings Montana 

City of Cincinnati, Ohio 

City of Columbus, Ohio 

City of Jackson, Wyoming 

City of Lewiston. Maine 

City of New York, New York 

Metropolitan Transit Authority 

Office of Management and Budget 

City of Miami, Florida 

City of Minneapolis. Minnesota 

City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 

City of Portland, Oregon 

City of Richmond. Virginia 

City of Rockville, Maryland 

City of Round Rock, Texas 

City of Sacramento, California 

City of San Jose, California 

City of St Paul, Minnesota 

City of Wakefield, Massachusetts 

City of Waukegan, Illinois 

Denver Regional Transportation District 

Foster City, California 

International City/County Management Assoc. 

Lehigh County (Pennsylvania) Authority 

Los Angeles County, California 

Maryland Department of Fiscal Services 

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments 

Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago 

Metropolitan Minneapolis - Sl Paul Council of Governments 

Metropolitan Minneapolis - St. Paul Airports Commission 

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority 

National Association of Counties 

National Association of Regional Councils 

National Association of Towns and Townships 

National Conference of State Legislatures 

National League of Cities 

Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission 

Snohomish County, Washington 

Warren County Mississippi 
One Or More FIS Study Element Activity 

Research Groups 

Building Futures Council 

Civil Engineering Research Foundation 

Committee for Economic Development 

Economic Policy Institute 

ENO Transportation Foundation 

Governmental Accounting Standards Board 

Infrastructure Institute 

Manufacturers' Alliance 

Midwest Research Institute 

National Academy of Public Administration 

National Research Council 

Building Research Board 

Transportation Research Board 

National Trust for Historic Preservation 

RAND 

Triangle Research Institute 

Upjohn Institute of Employment Studies 

Thel.Urban Institute 

Academic Institutions 

American University 

Arizona State University 

Bates College 

Carnegie Mellon University 

Columbia University 

George MlISon University 

. Harvard University 

Johns Hopkins University 

Lehigh University 

New' York University 

Ohio State ,University 

Pennsylvania State University 

Purdue University 

:·University of Illinois 

University of Maryland 

University of Minnesota 

University of Wisconsin 

University of New Mexico 

University~of Pennsylvania 

University of Southern California 

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 

University of Washington 

Yale University 

Policy Advocates 

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety 

Carnpaign'for New Transportation Priorities 

ConstructiOn Industry Institute 

International Public Works Foundation 

, National Industrial Transportation League 

National Wildlife Federation 

Public Securities Association 

Rebuild America Coalition 

Surface T'l'aIIsportation Policy Project 

Water Environment Federation 

Private Companies and Users 

AMTRAK 

Apogee Research 

Agenda Communications. Inc. 

Bechtel Corporation 

Bell Atlantic Network Services, Inc. 

Bovis, Inc. 

Cambridge Systematics. Inc. 

Chambers Associates. Inc. 

Commonwealth Development Associates 

Deutch, Kerrigan & Stiles 

Dow, Lohnes & Albertson 

Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco 

Greenhorne & O'Mara 

Government Finance Group. Inc. 

Hickling Corporation 

Jack Faucett Associates 

KPMG Peat Marwick 

Lemna Corporation 

Linton, Mields. Reisler and Cottone. Ltd. 

Louis Dreyfus, Inc. 

National Grange 

ParsonslBrinkerhoff 

Rapoza Associates 

R. W. Beck and Associates 

Scott Paper Company 

Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation 

Sverdrup Corporation 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

Wade Miller Associates 

WEF A Associates 

Professional Associations, Provider and User Groups 

American Association of Po'rt Authorities 

American Assoc. of State Highway & Trans. Officials 

American ConSUlting Engineers Council 

American Planning Association 

American Public Transit Association 

American Public Works Association 

American Road and Transportation Builders Association 

American Society of Civil Engineers 

American Society of Public Administration 

American Trucking Association 

American Waterways Operators, Inc. 

American Water Works Association 

Associated General Contractors of America 

Association of American Railroads 

Community Transportation Association 

Council of Infrastructure Financing Authorities 

Government Finance Officers Association 

Building and Construction Trade Council 

Highway Users Federation 

International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union 

National Association of State Treasurers 

National Society of Professional Engineers 

National Solid Waste Management Association 

National Stone Association 

Portland Cement Association 

@ PARTICIPATION AND PROCESS 23 
The second round of the consultation moved beyond the broad overview of Federal infrastructure policy 

to the examination of key issues identified in the first phase of the dialogue. ACIR relied on interagency 

task forces composed of representatives of Federal, state, local and private sector interests to develop 

statements of principles and guidelines for six topics: 

• Enhancing the overall quality of infrastructure investments 

• Applying benefit-cost analysis to public works investments 

• Improving the planning and reporting of maintenance 

• Reforming Federal regulation of infrastructure 

• Improving environmental decisionmaking for public works 

• Diversifying the financing of infrastructure 

This phase of strategy development took place concurrently with a cabinet-level initiative by the 

National Economic Council to articulate and implement the Administration's infrastructure policy. 

Therefore, PIS products were shared with the White House Infrastructure Management and Finance 

working groups through the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) and ACIR. 

The FIS consultation culminated in a National Conference on High Performance Public Works 

sponsored by the Corps and ACIR in July 1993. Conference participants reviewed the six task force 

statements along with a recommended strategy and proposed action agenda. Input received at the 

conference generally confirmed the suggested principles and action agenda and helped to refine and 

complete the recommendations. 

Results were documented in the report High Peiformance Public Works: A New Infrastructure 

Investment Strategy for America, published by the Corps and ACIR in November of 1993. ACIR 

subsequently endorsed the recommendations and action agenda at the Commission's 14 February 1994 

meeting. 

A follow-up document, Sourcebook of Working Documents, was subsequently published (September 

1994) to accompany the High Peiformance Public Works report. The Sourcebook contains selected 

government documents and other reference materials of interest to planning, designing, and executing 

infrastructure policies. 

24 PARTICIPATION AND PROCESS @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

IV. STUDY AGENDA 

"The Department of Transportation IS goal is to ensure that scarce Federal, state and local financial 

resources are used wisely, and that the Nation and the economy get the highest rate-of-return they can from 

our investments. [This] strategic infrastructure study is an important step in moving us toward that goal, 

helping us identify and encourage good practice in infrastructure management, and developing a consensus 

among the broad spectrum of interested parties about the issues and best practices. " 

Mortimer L. Downey, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, remarks at the National Infrastructure Conference 

on High Performance Public Works, July 1993 

During the formative stages of strategy development, key recommendations of the National Council on 

Public Works Improvement, the Congressional Budget Office and Office of Technology Assessment, and 

other related work were examined to guide the formulation of the PIS research agenda. Eventually, a broad 

consensus emerged from the interagency consultation on the public works issue areas that were deemed 

essential to the development of a Federal infrastructure policy: 

• Improved infrastructure management 

• Strategies for more efficient investments 

• Financing reform 

• Development and application of innovative technologies 

• Clarification of roles and responsibilities 

• Improved environmental decisionmaking 

These results were used to refine and pursue a research menu consisting of approximately 30 study 

elements within the three-tier framework, including a second consultation phase focusing on specific policy 

topics. Table 5 summarizes key PIS studies within this agenda. Interim reports documenting the findings 

of the various technical studies and inquiries were distributed as they became available in order to facilitate 

the dialogue among PIS participants. 

@ STUDY AGENDA 25 
Table 5 - FIS Program Study Agenda 

(With Principal Facilitating Organizations) 

Infrastructure Management 

• Improving the Maintenance of Infrastructure (ACIRi) 

• Impediments and Opportunities to Improve Local Public Work\' Management Practices (APWA/NAPA2

) 

• Issues in Deferred Maintenance (The Urban Institute3

) 

• Measuring and Improving Infrastructure Performance (NRC, BRB/BICE4

) 

Investment Strategies and Analyses 

• Improving the Quality of Infrastructure Investments (ACIRi) 

• Applying Benefit-Cost Analysis to Investment Options (ACIRi) 

• The Economic Impacts of Federal Infrastructure Investments (Apogee Research 5) 

Infrastructure Finance 

• Improving the Financing of Infrastructure (ACIRi

) 

• State Programs for Community Infrastructure: Innovations in Financing (The Urban Institute) 

• The Effect of Federal Tax Policy on Public Work\' Investment (Apogee Research) 

• Local Public Finance Impacts (IWR6

) 

Infrastructure Technology 

• Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation in Public Work\' Infrastructure (CERL7) 

• Federal Public Work\' Infrastructure R&D: A New Perspective (CERF8) 

• Technology Transfer: Nondestructive Testing and Rehabilitation Strategies for Roadway Pavements (WES~ 

• National Infrastructure R&D Needs: Municipal Public Work\' Users (CERF3

) 

Roles and ResponSibilities/Environmental Decisionmaking 

• Making Federal Regulations of Infrastructure More Effective, Efficient, and Equitable (ACIRi) 

• The Effect of Federal Mandates on Improving the Performance of Local Public Work\' Activities (NAPA/APWA2

) 

• Improving Environmental Decisionmaking for Public Work\' (ACIRi) 

• Employment Impacts of Environmental Restoration (Apogee Researchi~ 

1 Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations with 

interagency task force 

2 American Public Works Association; National Academy of Public 

Administration 

3 With study advisory group 

4 National Research Council, Building Research Board/Board on 

Infrastructure and the Constructed Enviromnent 

26 STUDY AGENDA @ 

5 With interagency review group 

6 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources 

7 U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory 

8 ASCE's Civil Engineering Research Foundation 

9 U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station 

10 For U.S. Enviromnental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers, IWR 
Issues addressing rationales for Federal investment, measuring and improving performance, revenue 

diversification, regulatory and administrative reform, .and management improvement were addressed 

primarily through the work of ACIR, the American Public Works Association, Apogee Research, National 

Academy of Public Administration, the Corps Institute for Water Resources, National Research Council, 

and The Urban Institute. 

Topics on the innovative use of new technologies were guided largely by the Civil Engineering 

Research Foundation - the research affiliate of the American Society of Civil Engineers - in coordination 

with the Federal Laboratory Consortium, Corps of Engineers laboratories, and a Federal advisory group. 

A number of the FIS studies explicitly engaged in case studies with state and local governments. Figure 

7 displays the geographic distribution of these case studies. 

As an outgrowth of FIS activities, several Federal agencies pooled their resources on cooperative, costshared studies. These include: 

• Work by the Civil Engineering Research Foundation on infrastructure technology transfer cosponsored by the Federal Highway Administration, Bureau of Reclamation, and the Environmental 

Protection Agency, in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

• A study on improving the measurement of economic productivity impacts from infrastructure 

investments with the Department of Transportation (Federal Aviation, Highway, Railroad, and 

Transit Administrations), Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of 

Reclamation, Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency 

• In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency also sponsored research on the economic effects 

of environmental restoration projects 

@ STUDr AGENDA 27 
LEGEND: 

• 

* 

Improving Local Public Works Management Practices -- 12 Municipalities/Counties 

Atlanta, GA Foster City, CA Pittsburgh, PA St. Paul, MN 

Arizona DOT Lawrence, KS Round Rock, TX Wakefield, MA 

Billings, MT Los Angeles, CA Snohomish Co., WA Waukegan, IL 

State Programs for Community Infrastructure Innovation -- 13 States 

Georgia Kansas North Carolina Tennessee Utah Wisconsin 

Illinois Maryland New York Ohio Texas Washington 

Issues in Deferred Maintenance -- 2 Cities 

New York, NY and San Jose, CA 

Technology Transfer Demonstration - 2 Cities and 1 County 

Berkeley, CA; Cincinnati, OR; and Warren County, MS 

Measuring and Improving Infrastructure Performance -- 3 Cities 

Baltimore MD; Minneapolis, MN; and Portland, OR 

Employment Impacts of Environmental Restoration -- 3 Sites 

Anacostia River, Washington, D.C. and Maryland; 

Boulder Creek, Colorado; and Denali National Park, Alaska 

Figure 7 - Case Studies Conducted During the FederallnJrastructure Strategy Program 

28 STUDY AGENDA @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

V.THEFEDERALSTRATEGY 

"For more than a decade one major report after another has identified issues, obstacles and potential 

solutions for improving the peiformance of our Nation's public works. Despite these many policy studies, 

the Nation has not yet made the commitment necessary to implement an overarching [Federal} infrastructure 

strategy that addresses the many problems that have been identified. Now is the time to act. I am optimistic 

that we can get the ball rolling because several supportive initiatives are coming together. " 

Edward G. Rendell, Mayor of Philadelphia, remarks at the 

National Infrastructure Conference on High Peiformance Public 

Works, July 1993 

The combined outputs of PIS studies and evaluations comprise principles which reinforce larger national 

public works goals. These goals include: increasing performance, improving economic efficiency and 

productivity, environmental sustainability, enhancing quality -of-life, improving international 

competitiveness, stimulating innovation, better aligning Federal programs with state, local and private sector 

needs, and developing more consistency and greater effectiveness among Federal programs. 

Although the issues discussed in Fragile Foundations remain relevant, potential solutions need to reflect 

the policy context of today. Federal infrastructure programs, which are largely funded from domestic 

discretionary appropriations, continue to be under considerable budget pressure due to the growth of 

mandatory spending and interest on the debt. The reality of this budget constraint underscores the need for 

Federal policy to focus on ways to improve performance by better managing what we already have, and 

choosing only the most justified new investments. 

The resulting strategy recognizes that a sound public infrastructure forms a key part of the Nation's 

capital stock and thus plays a vital role in encouraging a more productive and competitive national 

economy. In, addition public works are essential to meeting immediate as well as long-term public demands 

for safety, health, and a clean and healthy environment. This applies to public works infrastructure broadly 

defined, including transportation, water, waste management, and environmental protection facilities, as well 

as other categories such as public buildings. 

PRINCIPLES AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

The Federal Infrastructure Strategy offers opportunities for improving how Federal (and state and local) 

agencies formulate, evaluate, choose, implement, operate and maintain infrastructure investments. The 

strategy is based on six principles: 

@ THE FEDERAL STRATEGY 29 
The first principle, Cost Effective Management and Maintenance, focuses on infrastructure 

maintenance and the tendency to underinvest in it. The second, High Quality Investments, addresses the 

need for broadening and improving the application of investment analyses such as benefit-cost evaluations. 

Both principles embrace straightforward concepts - choose those investments which promise to deliver the 

highest total rate-of-return, and once they are built, maintain them. But unfortunately, this has not always 

been the case. All levels of government need to do a better job of choosing capital investments and need 

to explicitly incorporate maintenance considerations into infrastructure decisions and budgets from the 

beginning. 

The third principle, Budget Sensitive Financing, focuses on the need to find new ways to finance 

infrastructure. The emphasis here is not on short-term public works funding as a one-shot (primarily 

employment) economic stimulus, but rather on the need to establish a stable and predictable long-term level 

of infrastructure funding, with public works services efficiently priced. In light of the current deficit, 

serious proposals for investment must consider low-capital techniques and be based on compulsory 

financing plans. 

Fourth, the consensus view is that there are also substantial opportunities provided by Innovative 

Technologies that can help the Nation improve infrastructure performance. Significant advances in 

technology have occurred over the last 15 years, yet diffusion into public works has been limited. 

Breakthroughs in high performance materials, computers, communications, artificial intelligence, and other 

technologies can help increase infrastructure capacity, performance and efficiency while minimizing major 

new construction and further disruption to the environment. 

Finally, there is a need to simplify regulations (Regulatory Reform) while integrating environmental 

considerations into infrastructure planning and design from the ground-up (Integrated Environmental 

Decisionmaking). Participants recognized that regulation is about balancing tradeoffs between sometimes 

apparently disparate goals, in this case: protecting the health and safety of the American people, protecting 

the natural environment, and providing public works to maintain economic growth, national security and 

international competitiveness. Most participants agreed that the Federal government needs to rethink these 

processes and all levels of government need to better integrate environmental and cultural concerns into the 

planning of public works. 

Figure 8 displays key interrelationships of these principles within the context of the guiding FIS 

objectives (efficiency, reliability, equity, sustainability, innovation and financing) as applied to capital 

infrastructure investments, the operation and maintenance of existing facilities, and the regulation of public 

works. 

Participants in the FIS program recognized that while some changes can be made quickly under existing 

authorities, thefull application of the strategy's principles will necessarily involve legislative actions. The 

strategy includes three primary implementation elements: 

(1) Leadership by the President and the Congress through the issuance of Executive Orders and 

legislative proposals 

(2) The issuance of Executive Branch guidance largely through Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) circulars affecting the budget, legislative clearance, and regulatory review processes 

30 THE FEDERAL STRATEGY@ 
INFRASTRUCTURE PERFORMANCE: 

INTERRELATIONSHIPS 

RELIABILITY 

Management of 

Existing Stock 

EQUITY ........ e------------~ 

Regulation 

of Outcomes 

Environmental 

Decisionmaking 

EFFICIENCY 

Capital 

Investment 

Figure 8 - Infrastructure Perfonnance Interrelationships 

(3) Government-wide support actions for these actions through individual and cooperative efforts of 

various Federal agencies, departments and offices that affect public works policy 

The principles and recommendations suggested by FIS participants are outlined in the paragraphs 

below, followed by a summary of recent initiatives which have established policies consistent with the intent 

of the proposed strategy. Additional discussion of each element of the strategy is presented in Sections VI -

XI. 

Principle 1 - Cost Effective Management and Maintenance. Reduce long-tenn non-capital spending 

by adopting and encouraging maintenance planning and reporting practices to ensure early identification 

of maintenance needs, and to help public officials make more infonned budget decisions by reporting on 

the implications of unfunded maintenance. Maintaining the Nation's massive existing capital stock remains 

the key to America's 21st century infrastructure. Management practices should be reformed to focus on 

the performance of services (as indicated by outcomes) rather than merely operating inputs and outputs. 

System reliability should move beyond deterministic engineering safety factors, and should include 

statistical or probabilistic based risk functions or composite (Le., demand peak or return frequency) 

indicators. Planning (inventorying, tracking and accounting) for and reporting on deferred maintenance 

are central to avoiding premature and costly rehabilitation and replacement expenditures. Incentives are 

@ THE FEDERAL STRATEGY 31 
needed to improve management practices and to encourage demand management techniques (in order to 

expand capacity and as an alternative to Federal regulation). Specifically: 

• Public works management practices should be focused on the delivery of services and program 

outcomes within a multi-dimensional framework of performance including economic efficiency, reliability 

of service delivery, environmental sustainability and life-cycle costing 

• Multi-year maintenance plans should be developed and updated based on a periodic inventory and 

condition assessment of public works assets 

• Future maintenance costs should be explicitly considered when selecting new or replacement 

capital assets, including low-maintenance alternatives which will reduce life-cycle costs 

• Unfunded (or deferred) maintenance should be reported, not only by identifying the "dollar gap", 

but also the performance implications of the unfunded work, including risks to health and safety and likely 

economic losses 

• Manage the demand for services through a variety of pricing mechanisms in order to increase 

capacity, stretch project lives, and minimize the need for new facilities 

Principle 2 - High Quality Investments. Obtain maximum benefits compared to costs from all Federal 

infrastructure programs (directly provided, financially assisted, or regulated) by requiring that they be 

subjected to investment analysis. It is imperative that the Nation fund only the most efficient investments 

to maximize the rate-of-return from the relatively limited resources available. A complete menu of decision 

support tools should be utilized by Federal agencies to evaluate investment priorities for public works 

programs and projects. The current state-of-the-art of benefit-cost analysis, including a range of traditional 

evaluation techniques, provides the best choice for government-wide application. Macro-economic analyses 

are useful as complementary means for estimating total rates-of return for systems and programs at the 

National level and for identifying externalities and non-linear effects. Performance, not construction, 

should be the primary Federal goal, with the cost-effective maintenance of existing stock, rather than large 

new programs, serving as the focus for investment opportunities. In particular: 

• The use of benefit-cost, cost-effectiveness, and risk analyses should be expanded in conjunction 

with budget submissions (Circular A -11) and legislative clearance (Circular A -19), thus enhancing the 

comparison of investments among diverse programs, projects and regulations 

• The application of benefit-cost analysis should be broadened to include greater emphasis on the 

valuation of environmental and other non-monetized effects 

• A White House Conference on Infrastructure Investment would highlight the importance of the 

issue and motivate Federal agencies and their partners to work more closely together on expanding and 

improving the quality of analyses 

• Legislative barriers to benefit-cost analysis should be reduced while statutory authority for the 

principles of investment analysis should be sought to institutionalize their use 

32 THE FEDERAL STRATEGY@ 
Principle 3 - Budget Sensitive Financing. Financial planning and affordability analyses should be 

used to select Federal infrastructure investment with full consideration of both traditional and 

nontraditional funding sources, including demand management options. There are no large new 

untapped sources of infrastructure funding on the horizon. America must aim scarce Federal investments 

at smaller, more affordable facilities. Investments should also be efficiently priced, not only as a means 

of financing, but also to minimize the need for new facilities, and to broaden the audience for spending 

decisions beyond Federal policymakers. In addition, the formulas for Federal grant aid should be adjusted 

to better account for benefit spillovers, and the availability of tax-exempt funding and revenue 

diversification should be expanded. Specifically: 

• Financial plans should be prepared and used to prioritize Federal infrastructure investments 

• Financial advisory boards should be established after the models of EPA's Environmental 

Financial Advisory Board (EFAB), or the Army's Inland Waterway Users Board to help strengthen, 

diversify, and innovate agency financing approaches 

• Federal/state tax and security laws limiting access to revenue sources should be reviewed to 

identify unintended barriers to innovative funding mechanisms 

• Pricing formulas for infrastructure services should be reviewed with an eye toward better 

managing demand (increase capacity) and ensuring that beneficiaries pay an equitable share for services 

received 

• A public works investment section in the President's budget, funded by a series of broad, 

flexible categorical infrastructure trust funds and supported by dedicated revenue sources, should be 

designed for multi-year investment stability 

Principle 4 - Innovative Technologies. Clear the path to the marketplace for new technologies 

through an explicit, singular Federal infrastructure R&D strategy that provides a stronger link between 

the development and adoption processes, enhances the partnership between the Federal research 

community and the private sector, and addresses the liability, regulatory and contracting barriers to 

innovation diffusion. Significant administrative and legal roadblocks have impeded the transfer of 

Federally developed technologies to local public works users. These barriers include the fear of liability 

litigation, the multiplicity of government regulations, the high cost of insurance, code restrictions, and 

complicated public procurement policies. Federal agencies and research organizations should work to 

mobilize increased private sector interest in accelerating the diffusion of new public works technologies. 

Tort reform is needed to limit liability, while performance specifications used to ease code restrictions. 

The establishment of new technology dissemination mechanisms based on the research priorities of public 

works practitioners are essential to his effort. In summary: 

• Technology transfer mechanisms based on user needs should be aimed at fostering new costshared intergovernmental and public-private demonstration partnerships, with greater incentives for private 

sector investment in R&D 

• Test-bed and technology dissemination centers should be established in partnership with industry 

and academia for the peer evaluation of demonstration projects within a risk-shared environment 

@ THE FEDERAL STRATEGY 33 
• Technology diffusion barriers should be eliminated through the use of more flexible design 

standards, alternate ways to bid contracts, and reform of the procurement process 

• Intergovernmental cooperation should be increased to ensure the efficient allocation of R&D 

funds, and to facilitate the sharing of new technologies 

Principle 5 - The fundamental rights of all citizens should be protected through a new regulatory 

Federalism which equitably and flexibly distributes the costs of meeting environmental and other 

performance requirements. The dramatic increase in Federal regulations over the last twenty years has 

constrained local public works priorities and budgets. Regulatory programs should be reviewed to identify 

the cumulative effects of Federal requirements and to relieve any unintended preemptive fiscal impacts on 

local governments. Within existing legislation, existing and proposed regulations affecting infrastructure 

should be analyzed to ensure that they are necessary, the least burdensome, most flexible forms of 

regulation that accomplish National regulatory goals. In addition, FIS participants encouraged the 

Administration and Congress to consider mandate relief legislation which would require: 

• Regular inventory and cost estimates of all existing and proposed Federal mandates 

• Analyses of the incidence of costs and the ability of affected parties to pay 

• An affordable prioritization and scheduling of non-Federal compliance 

• Federal sharing of mandated costs 

Principle 6 - Integrated Environmental Decisionmaking. Rethink the current sequential 

environmental decisionmaking processes toward adoption of an integrated, multi-media, ecosystem-based 

review of public works projects. A consistent environmental ethic is missing from many Federal 

infrastructure programs, while public works decisions often appear gridlocked. The various incremental, 

media-based environmental review processes should be integrated, to the maximum extent possible, into 

one process. A fundamental consideration of the environment should be incorporated into the planning and 

design of all public works programs and projects with impact avoidance or minimization explicitly stated 

goals from the outset. In summary: 

• The current sequential approval processes should be integrated into an umbrella process using 

outcome-based performance standards, improved science, and risk-based priorities for compliance 

• A stronger, more consistent environmental planning ethic should be embedded across Federal 

agencies 

• Legislative review, regulatory review, and budget submission procedures should be revised to 

incorporate the principles of integration 

• Pilot projects under the Government Peiformance and Results Act of 1993 should be conducted 

to advance the development of outcome-based performance measures of environmental programs 

• Environmental legislation should be sought to fully establish an integrated environmental review 

and approval process based on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

34 THE FEDERAL STRATEGY@ 
RELATED POLICY INITIATIVES 

Products of the interagency consultation and other PIS activities were coordinated through the Office 

of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (for Civil Works) and ACIR with the President's National Economic 

Council (NEC) working groups on Infrastructure Management and Finance, other Federal agencies, and 

Congressional interests. The FIS dialogue took place at an opportune time, concurrent with a broad range 

of Federal policy making activities, and coincident with the numerous reforms of Federal business and 

decision making processes through various Administration and Congressional initiatives. 

The actions summarized below include those policy and legislative initiatives which have begun to 

establish policies consistent with the strategy's investment, management, regulatory, and technology 

development principles. Some of these initiatives stem from the White House infrastructure working 

groups. Several can be attributed to the government-wide reforms in response to Vice-President Gore's 

National Peiformance Review (NPR). Others originated as Congressional responses to a variety of national 

issues. 

Legislative 

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 includes requirements for each agency 

to develop and submit strategic and annual program performance reports, and to improve managerial 

accountability and flexibility. OMB has approved more than 100 agency pilots to demonstrate and evaluate 

the implementation of GPRA requirements. 

The Government Management Reform Act (GMRA) of 1994 follows-up on the Chief Financial 

Officers Act and the GPRA by requiring that agencies produce financial statements that account for all 

activities, spending and revenue, and that OMB publish an annual fmancial statement covering all Executive 

Branch activities. 

The Federal Mandate Accountability and Reform Act of 1994 (S.993), proposed in the 103rd 

Congress, called for greatly strengthening the Congressional fiscal notes process and included a Senate 

"Point-of-Order" provision for future mandate legislation. 

Several bills aimed at establishing a Federal Capital Budget were also introduced in the 103rd 

Congress: 

• H.R. 1182 and H.R. 1050 proposed to generally split the Federal budget into two or more 

categories designed to distinguish capital from operating spending. Reclassification of spending would be 

joined with other budgetary requirements such as a prohibition of borrowing to support the operating 

budget, or separate performance or other reports by Federal agencies 

• H.R. 484 went a step further with its definition of capital by also including "developmental" 

investments, such as education and R&D spending 

Executive Orders 

No. 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review requires that all proposed regulatory actions which 

have an economic impact of $100 million or more be subjected to benefit-cost analysis, compared with 

@ THE FEDERAL STRATEGY 35 
alternatives to regulation, and chosen only if net benefits are maximized. It also requires agency regulatory 

plans, a centralized review process and consultation with State, local and tribal governments where 

regulations with significant financial cost to these entities are being considered. Several White House 

Memorandums on Agency Rulemaking, Regulatory Rejonn, and Negotiated Rulemaking serve to reinforce 

these requirements. 

No. 12875 on Enhancing the Intergovernmental Partnership is aimed at reducing the imposition of 

unfunded Federal mandates on State, local, and tribal governments by requiring that agencies document the 

extent and nature of consultations with affected governments when the funds necessary to pay the cost of 

compliance are not Federally provided. 

No. 12881 on Establishment oj the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) improves the 

coordination of Federal science, space, and technology policies. The NSTC, through its coordinating 

committees on Civilian Industrial Technology, Environmental and Natural Resources, and Transportation, 

provides the means for insuring the establishment of clear National goals for Federal technology 

investments; more effective coordination of technology policy-making and R&D; and, the prioritization of 

technology development and transfer programs. 

No. 12893 on Principles for Federal Infrastructure Investments requires agencies to develop: 

systematic analyses of benefits and costs for direct spending and grants for capital programs; an annual 

programmatic investment analysis of capital accounts in conjunction with future budget submissions; and 

an investment analysis justification for all major legislative proposals that authorize or reauthorize 

infrastructure programs. Operation and maintenance activities are considered a form of infrastructure 

management and are subject to requirements for periodic reviews of the performance of existing facilities. 

Federal infrastructure categories covered by the order include transportation, water resources, energy, and 

environmental protection programs. 

No. 12898 on Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority and Low-Income 

Populations requires each Federal agency to make achieving environmental justice an explicit part of its 

mission. It creates an interagency working group on environmental justice, and requires each agency to 

develop an strategy that identifies and addresses disproportionately high and adverse human health or 

environmental effects of programs, poliCies and activities on minority and low-income populations. 

No. 12906 on Coordinating Geographic Data Acquisition and Access: The National Spatial Data 

Infrastructure recognizes the link between geographic information and national goals for economic 

development, natural resources stewardship, and environmental protection. The E.O. strengthens OMB 

Circular A-16 by designating the Federal Geographic Data Committee to coordinate the Federal 

governments development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). It also establishes a National 

Geospatial Data Clearinghouse and a standardized documentation of data electronically accessible to the 

clearinghouse network. 

Other Initiatives 

The Federal Highway Administration has developed the Highway Economic Requirements System 

(HERS) as an incremental benefit-cost investment simulation model to provide an economic dimension to 

traditional engineering-based investment analyses. FHwA plans to introduce HERS in the 1995 biennial 

report on the Nation's highway and bridge system which is used to develop national highway infrastructure 

36 THE FEDERAL STRATEGY@ 
investment assessments. The model has been shared with the other departments within DOT and other 

Federal infrastructure agencies. It is also expected to be made available to the State Departments of 

Transportation as a tool available in support of DOT's implementation of Executive Order No. 12893, 

Principles for Federal Infrastructure Investment. 

The Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-131 on Value Engineering (VE) requires 

Federal agencies to use value engineering as a management tool to reduce program and acquisition costs, 

including for infrastructure facilities design and construction. Agency responsibilities are overseen by a 

senior management official designated to coordinate VE activities, including: the development of annual 

plans for using VE, the measurement of the net life-cycle cost savings from value engineering, and the 

preparation of annual reports to OMB. 

The Department of Energy's Capital Asset Management Process (CAMP) provides a credible, 

standardized, auditable procedure for reviewing mission and facility obsolescence, assessing infrastructure 

condition, and prioritizing the maintenance projects. CAMP is an integrated process which identifies asset 

maintenance and technical support requirements on a life-cycle planning basis, thus providing managers 

with a comprehensive look at DOE's capital inventory and serving as a vehicle to effectively plan and 

prioritize public works infrastructure maintenance. 

The Department of Transportation's interagency effort on the National Transportation System is 

fostering a vision for the nation's transportation future based on an intermodal, seamless, more efficient 

network that will enhance interstate commerce and national defense, support national safety and 

environmental protection goals, encourage application of modern technology, allow funding and program 

flexibility, and be better coordinated with the private sector. 

The Corps of Engineers National Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Program Plan of Improvement 

is working to increase the performance and efficiency of the Corps existing water resources infrastructure. 

This review of current O&M practices is identifying improvements to current management practices and 

investigating new methods for monitoring and measuring performance, and prioritizing and budgeting 

work. A key component addresses the development of operational performance indicators for the hierarchy 

of program reporting requirements. The O&M Plan of Improvement is serving as the basis for an OMB 

approved GPRA performance pilot. 

The Federal Highway and Transit Administrations are cooperating on strengthening the linkages 

between the public works planning process, project development, and environmental decisionmaking 

through an initiative on Integrating Environmental Considerations into Transportation Planning. The 

effort is focusing on the use of interagency coordination mechanisms and analytical tools to develop 

strategies for fully integrating environmental decisionmaking into transportation programs. 

The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to alleviate the burdens on local governments by 

increasing flexibility in the regulatory process and streamlining its permit program. After working with 

state and local governments and interest groups, EPA developed and published a strategic plan with national 

environmental goals which shift the emphasis of EPA from pollution control to one encompassing pollution 

prevention. EPA's Common Sense Initiative with six major U.S. industries is aimed at creating more costeffective pollution control and prevention strategies, such as allowing companies to trade pollution credits. 

@ THE FEDERAL STRATEGY 37 
The Corps of Engineers Evaluation of Environmental Investments Research Program (EEIRP) is 

addressing the lack of accepted methods for assessing the effectiveness (does the project achieve its 

objective?) and efficiency (is it achieved in the least cost manner?) of investments in the protection or 

restoration of environmental resources. EEIRP is focusing on the development of methodologies to 

improve the evaluation of environmental restoration and mitigation projects, and the development of an 

overall framework that provides decision-makers with more quantitative information to facilitate the 

allocation of funds among alternative projects and programs. 

The Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR), the National Academy of 

Public Administration and the Rebuild America Coalition sponsored a Capitol Hill Mini-Summit on 

Federal Capital Budgeting (in cooperation with the Corps of Engineers). Based on subsequent interest, 

ACIR is considering a second summit on Financing Public Works. ACIR also continues to promote 

improved Federal mandate cost estimating and intergovernmental regulatory impact analysis, and is 

coordinating the development of a program to establish national outcome goals, performance indicators and 

benchmarks for Federal infrastructure programs. 

The Federal Highway Administration's partnership with the Civil Engineering Research Foundation 

(CERF) on the Highway Innovative Technology Evaluation Center (HITEC) program is aimed at 

developing improved opportunities to move the innovative products of R&D more rapidly into practice. 

This national evaluation center was established by CERF under a 4-year, $3 million cooperative agreement 

with FHwA. New highway products, processes, and services are being evaluated in partnership with 

private industry. The center also serves as a technology clearing house. The Federal Highway 

Administration is also seeking to accelerate the testing, evaluation and implementation of innovative 

highway technologies through its Applied Research and Technology (ART) Program. 

The Corps of Engineers Construction Productivity Advancement Research (CPAR) program is a costshared partnership between the Corps of Engineers and the U. S. construction industry, academic 

institutions, state and local governments, and other groups to facilitate the application of advanced 

technologies through cooperative R&D, field demonstrations, licensing agreements, and other means of 

technology transfer. Research ideas and proposals are generated by industry and CPAR projects are costshared between the Corps and a non-Federal partner. In addition, the Corps Repair, Evaluation and 

Maintenance Research Program (REMR II) is developing technology to maintain and extend the service 

life of existing water resources projects. REMR II focuses technology requirements which cannot, in many 

cases, be met with technologies applicable to new construction. 

The collaborative Technology Reinvestment Project program (Departments of Defense and Energy, 

National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, and National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration) concentrates on developing dual-use technologies for the 

commercial and defense industries, while the Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental 

Technology Initiative (ETI) seeks to speed the development of innovative technologies through a funding 

program on environmental protection and pollution prevention research. 

The National Science Foundation's research initiative on Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) is based 

on an "intelligent renewal" approach which focuses strategically and holistically on the optimal performance 

of systems, rather than on individual components. The objective of the program is to enhance system 

performance and the longevity of existing and future facilities through the creation and diffusion of new 

38 THE FEDERAL STRATEGY@ 
scientific and engineering knowledge. The proposal includes basic research in deterioration science, 

assessment technologies, renewal engineering, and institutional effectiveness and productivity. 

The National Research Council's National Cooperative Highway Research Program--Innovations 

Deserving Exploratory Analysis (NCHRP-IDEA) focuses on new technologies, methods, or processes for 

application to highways and intermodal surface transportation. In addition, the NRC recently created a new 

research body with a broad public works perspective, the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed 

Environment (BICE). The BICE was formed upon the disestablishment of two predecessor boards within 

the NRC's Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems (CETS): the Building Research Board 

and the Geotechnical Board. The BICE brings together a wide range of scientific, engineering, social 

science and public policy expertise focusing on the broad areas of infrastructure systems and services, 

national policies related to sustainable cities, development of new technologies for construction and 

infrastructure renewal, and other issues of interest to the Federal government. 

The National Academy of Public Administration and the American Public Works Association are 

working in cooperation to establish a Center for Infrastructure Management and Analysis (CIMA). The 

center would provide a continuing capability for infrastructure policy research with a truly cross-cutting, 

national perspective. CIMA would sponsor interagency and intergovernmental committee work, training 

and education conferences, national cooperative research, policy development, and publications and 

clearinghouse functions focused on: 

• investment analysis 

• managing construction and maintenance 

• working with other organizations to ensure that public works programs are consistent with broad 

local, state or national goals 

• creating the institutional capacity for effective public works management 

CIMA is envisioned as providing a "neutral ground" forum for policy dialogue, and will have a 

representative governing board involving and supporting the many organizations involved in infrastructure 

investment and management. 

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is planning to publish a Journal of Infrastructure 

Systems on a quarterly basis beginning in 1995. This journal, which will not be associated with ASCE's 

various divisions, will be aimed at cross-disciplinary topics about the broad topic of civil infrastructure 

systems. It is especially notable as a barometer of the growing interest in the use of a system-wide 

perspective across infrastructure categories to facilitate research on the interactions and tradeoffs between 

modes. It is also an indicator that the level of cross-cutting infrastructure research and professional activity 

will likely increase in the future. 

@ THE FEDERAL STRATEGY 39 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

PART 2 - SUMMARY OF THE ISSUES 

"Probably more than any other nation, the United States has had a dream about capital. Early in its 

history, the nation put much of its wealth into harbors, lighthouses, canals, railroads, airports, urban and 

agricultural systems, sanitary systems. From the beginning, the nation has been clear on the need to spend 

money today to get a good return tomorrow. [However], public trust in the Federal government's ability 

to make sound capital investments has been eroding rapidly. We need to reemphasize this long tradition 

of investing because we are in danger of losing it .... We have to have deficit reduction and new investment. 

As long as these two things are seen as mutually exclusive, we will be at a dead end. " 

Thomas M. Downs, Commissioner, New Jersey Department of 

Transportation (currently President and Chairman of AMTRAK), 

representing the Infrastructure Subcouncil of the Competitiveness 

Policy Council at the FIS Conference on High Peiformance Public 

Works, July 1993 

@ PART 2 - SUMMARY OF THE ISSUES 41 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

VI. BETTER MANAGING WHAT WE HAVE 

"The American Public Works' Association and the [Federal Infrastructure Strategy] task forces are on 

parallel tracks'. The objective of improving maintenance is the heart of public works'. We are always 

confronted with the problem of maintaining what we build. The political problem is that we do not have 

a ribbon cutting for a rehabilitated sewer. We have "Friends of the Library ", but we don't have "Friends 

of the Sewer. " 

Robert H. Goodin, Director of Public Works', Rockville, 

Maryland, representing the American Public Works' Association at 

the National Infrastructure Conference on High Performance 

Public Works', July 1993 

Total public investment in public works relative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has steadily 

decreased since 1960. This relative decline is directly attributed to the fall in new capital investment, which 

has dropped from 1.9% of the GDP in 1960 to 1.2% in 1990 (based on spending for highways, mass 

transit, rail, aviation, water transport, water resources, water supply, and wastewater treatment). This 

relative decrease is primarily due to the near completion of virtually all of the Nation's large public works 

programs over the last thirty years, including the Interstate Highway System, the Wastewater Treatment 

Program, and the National Airport Network. However, over this same period, spending has begun to shift 

to the operation and maintenance (O&M) of this massive infrastructure, with O&M spending between 1960 

and 1990 creeping up from ;1.3 to 1.5 percent of the GDP (Figure 9). 

The U.S. has now clearly emerged from the transition between the "nation building" era of the past to 

the "stewardship" period of today and tomorrow. In fact, O&M spending has exceeded new capital 

spending since 1976. Although America will not stop building new facilities, it is unlikely that there will 

be any public works programs in the foreseeable future of the national scale comparable to the creation of 

the inland waterways system, or the opening of the western United States by supplying Federal water and 

energy. 

The future is more likely to focus increasingly on maintaining or improving service levels through the 

operation of this massive infrastructure. This will involve squeezing more services out of existing facilities 

through technological innovation, while keeping costs under control, and protecting, cleaning up and 

restoring the environment. Performance, not construction, will be the overriding goal of America's 21st 

century infrastructure. Relatively speaking, even Federal aid for maintenance can be expected to decline 

in the future as increasingly tight budgets will pressure the divestment of underutilized system elements or 

the transfer of facilities traditionally owned and operated by the Federal government to other levels of 

government or the private sector. 

@ BETTER MANAGING WHAT WE HA VE 43 
'fo 

4.0%········· 

0.5% ! 

0.0% . , .., • c· '" •..•. 

1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 197611978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 

Year 

--- Total spending --+- Capital Spending -7IE- Noncapital Spending 

Source: Congressional Budget Office (1991) 

Figure 9 - Public Spending for Infrastructure as a Percent of GDP 

(Capital and Non-Capital) 1960-1990 

Principles. The maintenance of existing infrastructure - roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, dams 

and reservoirs, buildings, and other public facilities, has often not received adequate attention -whether the 

infrastructure is owned by Federal, state or local governments. Seldom, for example, are the likely cost 

and service consequences of deferring maintenance reported. This is especially so in times of constrained 

budgets. 

Maintenance is too important to be scheduled only when the need for repair arises. Maintenance should 

be planned and reported, with the objective of enabling public assets to continue delivering quality service 

in the most cost effective manner. The term "maintenance" applied here is used broadly. It includes 

preventive, corrective, routine, and renewal maintenance, and even rehabilitation and replacement if a 

component has deteriorated to a point where partial of full replacement is cost effective. 

Small-scale improvements, low-capital measures, and demand management techniques should be used 

more extensively to maintain future service levels while minimizing outlays. In particular, user and 

congestion fees should be considered as alternatives for increasing capacity and not viewed solely as a 

means for cost recovery. 

44 BETTER MANAGING WHAT WE HA VB @ 
• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Urban Institute Study of "DejetredMiiintentfllceil 

Federalirifrastructure ageriCies 

LocalpubJic works departments and commissions 

Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board 

Government Accounting$tanrumls Board 

Professi()Ilal assoCiations representing public works and the private sector 

08,Mprograms rah~ingfrom the Federal (Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Energy) to the local level (City 

of New York and City of San Jose; CA). were analyzed. 

The study confi.rmed that maiIltenance has become an increasingly importantpattof infiastructureprog~llTsafhllleye1s 

of government. Given maintenance t s relative invisibility (except when a system failureocc~rs), it is also oft~nthe first expense 

item to be deferred, ashort-term stop-gap which often leads to greater expenditures in the long-run. 

"Deferr~ maintenliI1ce" was d~fined as maintenance and repair needed to bring current assets up .t9atnitlimunlaccePtilble 

physical conditionlevel not including improvements in capaCity orcapability beyond the originaldysign; The study panel 

developed four basic steps toertsUrefullreporting of deferred maintenance: 

• Assessment of the coridition of the assets 

• Determinationofaminimum acceptable condition level fot each asset 

• Estimation of die cost to bring those assets back to acceptable condition 

• Estimation of the consequences . of deferring maintenance 

The study found that the first and third steps were the ones most prevalentingovernlIlent practice while significant progress 

needed to be made in the second and fourth steps. To improve such practices, the study recommended that public agencies 

explicitly. prioritize their outstanding deferred maintenance balances~proyicte information ·ortthe .consequertces ·.0f.continued 

deferral, standardize reporting and analysis where many different agencies and programs exist, and report on theirm.aintenance 

program annually . 

Source:[ssl)es in De erred Maintenance b The Urban Institute, IWR Re ort FIS~16-94 

Recommendations. Public works management practices need to be refocused on performance outcomes. 

Agencies should encourage maintenance planning aimed at reducing long-term costs through early 

identification of maintenance needs. Reporting unaccomplished maintenance would help public officials 

better prioritize maintenance needs and make more informed budget decisions by more explicitly 

considering the implications of unfunded maintenance. In order to accomplish this, Federal agencies 

should: 

(1) Develop and update multi-year maintenance plans based on a periodic inventory and condition 

assessment of public works assets 

(2) Use condition assessments to prioritize maintenance needs, with maintenance budget decisions fully 

documented and reported to upper management, elected officials and the public 

(3) Condition assessments and system reliability measures should move beyond deterministic 

engineering (safety) factors and include statistical or probabilistic based risk functions or composite (Le., 

demand peak, return frequency) indicators. 

@ BETTER MANAGING WHAT WE HA VE 45 
(4) Explicitly consider future maintenance costs when selecting new or replacement capital assets, 

including low-maintenance alternatives which may initially cost more, but will reduce overall life-cycle 

costs 

(5) Include in reports of unfunded maintenance not only the "dollar gap", but also the performance 

implications of the unfunded work, including risks to health and safety and likely economic losses 

(6) Utilize a variety of pricing mechanisms to manage demand at existing facilities in order to increase 

capacity, lengthen useful project lives, and lessen the need for capital improvements 

Recent legislative and executive branch actions have begun to establish the use of performance-based 

maintenance and management practices through the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) 

of 1993. The act has several components, including requirements for strategic plans, annual performance 

reports, and improving managerial accountability and flexibility. The GPRA utilizes a series of agency 

pilots to demonstrate and evaluate the implementation of its various requirements (see below). 

GPRA Performance Pilots 

The GPRArequiresFederalagencies to develop strategic plans, set performance goals, and reportamitiallyto 

Cortgress and the Officeof Management and Budget (OMB) the precise results that the program achieves. Many (lfthe 

practical applications of these requireIllents should result in fundamental changes to the manner in which Federal agenCies 

monitor and report program performance. 

In recognition of the operational uncertainties assoCiated with these reforms, implementation is phased in over a 

number of years until government-wide application is realized in the year 2000. Consistent with this~ha~d 

implementation schedule, the law calls for agencies to conduct pilot projects to demonstrate and~valuate the 

implementation of GPRA requirements. Three sets of pilot projects are called for: (1) PerforlIlanceOoals afid 

Measurement;. (2) Managetial,A.ccountabilityand Flexibility; and, (3) Performance Budgeting. Over 1 OOagenqypropos~s 

have been approved byOMBas performance pilots. 

The Corps of Erigmeers pilot is based onthe workofthe National Operation aiul Maintenance (0&M) ProgramPlan 

of Improvement. Thisprogram is aimed at increasing the performance and efficiency of the Corps existing civil works 

infrastructure. The program is also consistent with the provisions of Executive Order No. 12893 on Priilciple! jor 

Federal Infrastructure Investments regarding periodic review of management practices. 

The goal of the program is to guide the Corps O&M function into a more cost-effective and efficientpoStlire.The 

progratn is organized around four specific areas: 

• Program Development and Budget Execution 

• Standardized Organizational Structure 

• Standardized Operating Procedures 

• Performance Measurement and Data Management 

This comprehensive reviewl:rns already resulted in changes to current management practices. Initialhnplementation 

of new ways forprioritizmg and budgeting O&M work is manifested in the President's FY96 budget request. The 

standardized. organizational structure will decentralize deCisionmaking and focus accountability, resulting in .~initial 

COrps-wide reduction of 175 positions, ,elimination of at least one management layer at each Corps district office, and 

a doubling of the employee to sl.lpervisorratio. Finally, a performance measurement system focusing ort "results" and 

"outcomes" is being installed that will link national program performance indicators with measures at the pr6jeetleve1. 

46 BETTER MANAGING WHAT WE HA VE @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

VII. CHOOSING MORE EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS 

"Things are coming together for a new focus on infrastructure and how to manage it well. The [Federal 

Infrastructure Strategy] task force recommendations on improved analysis, including increased use of 

benefit-cost analysis, is an approach that I have favored for a long time, and now is the time to renew our 

effort to make it happen. " 

Dr. Alice M. Rivlin, Deputy Director (currently Director), U.S. 

Office of Management and Budget, at the Infrastructure 

Conference on High Peiformance Public Works, July 1993 

It is indisputable that Federal, state and local governments have been investing proportionally less in 

public works since 1960 as a percentage of GDP. Overall infrastructure investment by these three levels 

of government has shrunk from 3.2 percent of GDP in 1961 to 2.65 percent in 1990 (see Figure 2). During 

the 1980' s the basic question being asked was: What impact has this relative decline in infrastructure 

investment had on the Nation's economic growth and productivity? A related question was: Is the Nation 

underinvesting in public infrastructure? 

In the 1990's, however, a new paradigm has emerged. While spending on all domestic discretionary 

programs (in real terms), including infrastructure, has remained relatively stable for a number of years, and 

defense spending cycled through some ups and downs, the tremendous growth of mandatory spending has 

created extraordinary budget pressure on all spending (Figure 10). Although many policy analysts concede 

that reducing the Federal deficit at the expense of infrastructure investment may be counterproductive to 

the Nation's productivity growth and competitiveness goals, the current era of shrinking capital signals that 

increases in Federal infrastructure spending is not a viable option. 

Today, the realization that there is little, if any, new funding available for increased spending on public 

works has elevated other important questions to the top of policymakers lists: (1) How can we ensure the 

highest rates of return on Federal infrastructure investments? (2) Are we able to identify optimal levels of 

investment? (3) What are the investment priorities within each infrastructure category? (4) What are the 

relative rates of return across different categories of public works? (5) When investments are indicated, 

what are the implications regarding who should pay? (6) Do we need a common language among Federal 

agencies on these issues? (7) Should we be collecting new data to facilitate decisionmaking? And, (8) Can 

these relationships help us determine the priorities of investment among and between various programs and 

projects, or between capital spending and maintenance activities? 

@ CHOOSING MORE EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS 47 
RESEARCH ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT 

Every year, the Federal government invests, through grants and direct expenditures, over $5Q billion 

in the nation's infrastru.~ture. Despite the size of these sums, there remains considerable uncertainty 

regarding just how infrastructure spending affects the growth and productivity of the national economy. 

Part. of thisUricertainty . has to do with the fact that the infrastructure sector encompasses. many 

different activities,each one taking place over time and across a wide range. of locations throughout the 

nation. Infrastructurespetrdinghasboth broad national "macro" effects and distinct local "micro!' 

effects, and the relationship between thetwo is exceedingly complex since national impacts often derive 

from synergies transcending. the sum of the parts. 

TheFISsoughttobridge this gap between the "macro" and "micro" dimensions by bringing together 

differentFederaUnfrastructure agencies todesign, review and oversee a mUlti-component research effort 

on the growth andprodl.lctivityimpacts of Federal infrastructure investments (see footnote below listing 

agencyparticipants);l The questions which this reS'earch sought to answer are: 

•. What is the caUsal. relationship between infrastructure investment and economic activity? 

... Do different sectors of the economy benefit differentially from investment in public infrastructure? 

• Is. there an appropriate level of public investment in public infrastruCture, and is the· nation 

currently investing toO much; too little, or just enough? 

To answer these questions, the FIS pursued three contrasting methodological approaches focusing 

on different,but related dimensions of infrastructure's economic impact. The research addressed the 

various econometric. problems which have been suggested as biasingor.increasing the varia.nce in past 

macroeconomic estimates, inCluding: simultaneous equations bias, aggregation. bias, and model 

misspecification. Thethree research tracks selected were based on a cost function model; an endogenous 

growth model; and a general eqUilibrium model: 

1. An econometric estimation of how public capital changes production costs at an industry level 

was undertaken by Dr. Ishaq Nadiri at New York University using econometric cost-functions. The 

Federal Highway Administration funded this portion of the effort. 

2. A model was developed to aIlalyze how public capital changes the long .. run growth path of the 

economy. This was a more "macro" level analysis designed to estimate optimal overall levels of public 

capital investment and ex.amine possible differential effects caused when such investment is financed 

with, say, debt rather than taxes. Dr. David Aschauer of Bates College used an endogenous growth 

model to pursue this task. 

3. A model was formulated to simulate the different ways in which public capital flows through 

the economy in order to tell the story of the "micro" and short -run effects of infrastructure investment, 

Dr. Charles Hulten of the University of Maryland at College Park has developed a Computable General 

Equilibrium (CGE) model to complete this task. 

48 CHOOSING MORE EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS @ 
RESEARClI ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF INFRASTRUCTU}lE INVESTMENT 

(Continued) 

The thre~ trac~s were executed on a consistent data base with feedback between theresearch:rs to 

ensure maximum comparability and/or complementarity across the studies. Preliminary results from 

this effort include : 

• Both "macro"(e.g. econometric) and "micro"(benefit!cost) analyses h~ve a role to play in 

formulating national infrastructure policy. In general,the researchersconcludedthatbene~t~co~ 

analysis is· sufficient where there are. no significant benefit spi1l~over extefIlalitiesanticipated fr~m.th~ 

investment, while macro-::analysis should be considered as a supplement to B/C analysis where there is 

a reasonable expectation of such spillovers 

• Macro analysis may fail badly when time series data are usedbecau.se oithe combinede~fects 

of simult~eous. eqtla.tionsand aggregation bias. There are techniques which can be usedt~ minimize 

thisanomaly,·and they should be used when applicable. Likewise, benefit-cost analysis may· sometimes 

be misleading when there ate very significant benefit spillovers and externalitieS 

• Public infrastructureinvestinents can have Significant cumulative impacts over time and Jar into 

the future, even though the year-to-year impact may be very small.fuaddition; ~vensoundinvestmentS 

can have significantly reduced payoffs if financed through distortionary or inefficient tax/debt vehicles 

• The empirical results of the research confirm that public infrastructure. investment is ixnportant 

to national economic development. However, this conclusion· must be qualified by the observll~iontpat, 

because infrastructure investments are "lumpy", a small incremental increase in spending may have little 

or no effect on output, even though, on average; it matters very much 

•. Empirical resllitsalso indicate that currently there is no apparent systematic underinvestment>in 

thenationls public works. 

1 Apogee Research., Inc. was contracted to lead the effort, while Federal agencies represented at study review 

meetings included . the .• Departments of Transportation (Federal AViation,Highwa.y,Railr9ad,~nd Transit 

Administrations), Agriculhlre,Commerce (Bureau of Economic Analysis), and~nt~rior (BllI'eau of Reclarnation) , 

and the Environmental Protection Agency. Representatives of the Office of Management and Budget also 

attended some of the meetings 

@ CHOOSING MORE EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS 49 
S BllllONS 1.000 

800 

600 

400 

200 

1962 

"MANDATORY" PROGRAMS ARE TAKING OVER TIlE BUDGET 

(OUl1AYS IN 1993 DOllARS) 

MANDATORY 

DEFENSE 

• . :.'~ --.... -- - -- - - - I' ----- DOMESllC DISCREI10NARY 

1967 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 

Source: Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1993 

Figure 10 - "Mandatory" Programs Are Taking Over the Budget 

While determining the economic merits of individual projects can be relatively straightforward, 

satisfactory answers to the above questions at the programmatic level remain elusive. Much of the problem 

is due to the difficulties associated with empirically measuring the economic contributions of public goods, 

limitations in data, and the complexities of measuring system-wide impacts of very different types of 

infrastructure. Nevertheless, there is agreement, particularly in a time of large government budget deficits, 

that the Federal government must do a better job of analyzing and choosing investments, since it is likely 

that not all projects and programs have the same impact. 

Principles. It is essential that the Federal government identify, scale, and fund public works that will yield 

the highest possible benefits as compared to costs. Given the current scarcity of Federal, state and local 

funds, the efficiency of each and every infrastructure investment must be maximized. More attention needs 

to be focused on improving the productivity of infrastructure spending, the methods for investment analysis, 

and the quality of the data used to support these analyses. 

Of the various tests currently available to be applied to infrastructure investments, benefit-cost analysis 

and cost effectiveness assessments were identified by participants as the most effective and broadly 

applicable analytical tools. These analyses should be used more broadly to: develop and support initial 

decision strategies for programs and projects; compare and prioritize investment options in support of 

programmatic and budget decisions; identify the optimum level of spending and reduce investment risks; 

and evaluate post-investment decisions to determine whether to continue, adjust or redirect current 

investment levels. 

50 CHOOSING MORE EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS @ 
Executive Order No. 12893 - Principles for Federal Infrastructure Investment 

Historically, benefit-cost (B/C) analysis has not been used consistently across all Federalinfrasttucture 

programs for investment decisionmaking.Formalbenefit-cost analysis within the Federal government can be traced 

to the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936 which required comparing·costs ofa Federal water project with 

its benefits "to Whomsoever they may accrue." Since then, Federal water resources agencies have developed a 

series of detailed analytical frameworks, currently known as the "Principles and Guidelines" (P&G) , whIch 

institutionalized the use of benefit-cost analysis for evaluating water resources investments. 

Benefit-costtechniques have also been employed as a decisionmaking tool on avarietr ofotfierFed.9ral 

programs. For example, Federal regulatory actions have been subject to B/Canalyses according to Executive Ord~r 

No. 12291, and more recently, Executive Order 12866. OMB Circular A-94 establishes guidelines and <iiscount 

rates to be used in Federal B/C analyses,exclusive of the water resources programs subject to the P&G; 

Executive Order No. 12893 constitutes an important milestone in Federal infrastructure policy making. It 

represents the first set of investment principles formally articulated by the Executive Branch for consistent 

application across arahge of Federal infrastructure agencies and programs. 

The Order requires that major agency direct spending and grants for infrastructure be subjected to a benefit-cost 

analysis, with a full analysis of alternatives including pricing, demand management and privatization .. An aIiIiual 

programmatic investment analysis of capital budget accounts is required with all future budget submissions, 

beginning with agency requests for Fiscal Year 1996. In addition, an investment analysis justificationisiequired 

of all major infrastructure legislative proposals. A major investment is defined as one with budgetaryresburces 

in excess of $50 million. 

Operation and maintehance (O&M) activities are considered a form of infrastructure management and ate subject 

to the order's requirements for periodic reviews to improve the performance of existing facilities. Other principles 

require agencies to seek private sector participation in infrastructure investment and management, and to encourage 

state and local recipients of Federal grants to implement management systems in support these principles. 

Infrastructure categories covered by the Order include transportation, water resources, energy, and 

environmental protection programs. Agencies in the process of complying with the E.O. include the Departmehts 

of Agriculture, Army (Corps of Engineers), Energy, Interior, Transportation, and the Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

Source: Executive Order No. 12893, Princi Ie or Federal In astructurelnvestment, 26 Janua 1994 

Recommendations. The key to improving the quality of proposed infrastructure investments is to require 

that they be subjected to investment analyses. Much can be accomplished within existing legislation to 

establish government-wide policies and practices which broaden and improve the use of these techniques. 

(1) Expand the use of benefit-cost, cost-effectiveness, and risk uncertainty analyses by Federal agencies 

involved with directly provided, assisted, or regulated infrastructure programs 

(2) Improve the accuracy and credibility of the analyses prepared by these agencies, including greater 

emphasis on the valuation of environmental and other non-monetized outputs 

(3) Promote greater consistency in the use of these analytical methods, thus enhancing its ability to 

compare and choose investments among diverse programs, projects and regulations 

@ CHOOSING MORE EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS 51 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

VIII. BUDGET SENSITIVE FINANCING 

"Pricing [infrastructure] is a difficult challenge. Historically, the focus has been on cost recovery. 

Experience has shown, however, that cost recovery is the wrong focus of pricing policy. The focus should 

be on the efficient use of existing resources. Efficient pricing leads to minimizing the requirement for new 

capital expenditures. When you make the best use of existing facilities, you don't need to build new ones 

asfast. " 

Dr. G. Edward Dickey, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for 

Civil Works, at the National Infrastructure Conference on High 

Performance Public Works, July 1993 

Although the era of large new national public works programs is largely over, the need to efficiently 

operate, maintain and modernize America's massive existing infrastructure remains a formidable task. The 

potential for evolving communication and information management technologies to improve the efficiency 

of infrastructure service, and the need to restore, protect, and sustain the natural environment provide the 

context for this challenge. This undertaking must involve an intergovernmental partnership since state and 

local governments continue to be the largest providers of public works infrastructure. 

The options available when selecting among potential financing mechanisms for capital or non-capital 

spending include: 

(l) current revenues 

(2) borrowing (pledging future revenues) 

(3) intergovernmental assistance 

(4) private sector options 

When approaching these choices, governments typically have relied on a limited number of traditional 

revenue sources, such as the general fund (revenue from local property taxes, and various forms of sales 

and income taxes), long-term borrowing (general obligation and revenue bonds), dedicated taxes (such as 

the gasoline tax), and Federal grant assistance. In addition, governments often finance publicly provided 

utilities such as water treatment or waste disposal through user charges based on consumption or service 

availability. 

Declining assistance from Federal grants, increasing difficulties in raising sufficient funds through 

traditional mechanisms, greater acceptance of the "beneficiary pays" principle, and technological advances 

have combined to increase the use of "nontraditional" sources of revenues. At the local level, one of the 

strongest forces driving this search for additional funding has been the rapid growth of unfunded Federal 

@ BUDGET SENSITIVE FINANCING 53 
mandates (see Chapter X). Nontraditional mechanisms include: developer extractions; special taxing 

districts; user charges; greater reliance on revolving loan funds, investment pools and bond banks; and 

public/private revenue partnerships. As technology for recording usage and levying requisite charges (such 

as highway user fees) improves, other opportunities will present themselves to better manage demand and 

to more accurately link charges to those who benefit. In addition, pricing policies are increasingly being 

viewed not only as a means to recover costs, but to also broaden the audience for spending decisions, 

manage demand, and to expand the capacity of existing facilities, thus reducing the levels of future outlays . 

. 

Improving Infrastructure Financing 

Infrastructure facilities are usually large, expensive to build and costly to maintain. Their long lives 

usually require that funding be collected up front through debt issuance. This financing role has typically 

fallen most heavily on State and local governments, with the Federal government providing direct and 

indirect subsidies. TheFIS program examined the issue of the proper Federal role in infrastructure 

finance through a number of vehicles: 

The Effects of Federal Tax Policy on Public Works Investment. This study by Apogee Research 

addressed the question of whether or not various changes made to the law governing tax:"exempt bonds 

issued by State and local governments have adversely affected issuance of debt to finance the building of 

infrastructure. The report found that direct linkages were difficult to untangle but that while the cost of 

infrastructure debt issuance has generally increased over time, such issuance has increased steadily 

nonetheless. 

State Programs for Community Infrastructure. This report by The Urban Instituteexathined and 

described four types of programs used in 15 States to leverage limited infrastructure funds. These 

programs include grant and loan assistance programs to needy local communities with pressing public 

works needs; technical assistance regimes; bond banks, in which small bond issues are bundled together 

to reap economies of scale in issuance cost and improve overall risk profile, thus lowering interest costs; 

and privatization. 

Improving the Financing of Infrastructure. The Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental 

Relations (ACIR) assembled an intergovernmental task force on infrastructure financing as part of the 

FIS consultation. Their charge as a group was to develop principles and guidelines for improving the 

efficiency of infrastructure finance. The findings of the task force emphasized the need to establish a 

financial planning process that is applied consistently to all Federal programs, whether provided directly, 

through federal aid, or through regulation. The purpose of such an analysis are to gauge the financial 

feasibility and relative effectiveness of alternative infrastructure proposals from the viewpoint of all the 

parties responsible for funding the improvement (and its subsequent operation and maintenance), andto 

identify the most affordable options. Participants believed that preparing this analysis at an early stage 

in the review would be an effective means of holding costs down. They recommended that the financial 

planning criteria be applied throughout the process, thus helping identify and shape not orily the financing 

mechanism, but the project itself. 

Principles. Financial planning should not be brought in just at the end of the process, as an afterthought 

or simply as an implementation element, accepting all the goals, programs, and projects that may have been 

developed without considerations of their financial consequences. Rather, a financial planning process 

54 BUDGET SENSITIVE FINANCING @ 
should be established and used early in program/project planning to evaluate a full range of public works 

funding mechanisms, including corporatization and privatization options. Full cost recovery should no 

longer be the primary goal of pricing policies. Instead, pricing should be used to minimize the need for 

new facilities, and to broaden the audience for spending decisions. Funding mechanisms should be chosen 

after an evaluation of alternatives using a consistent set of financial planning criteria, giving full 

consideration to both traditional and nontraditional funding sources, and including demand management 

options to ensure efficient use. 

Recommendations. Federal infrastructure investment should be aimed at choosing affordable facilities that 

are: efficiently priced, budget sensitive, and funded to the extent practical by those who benefit, now and 

in the future. The following steps should be taken toward these goals: 

1) Financial Planning. Financial plans should be prepared early in the planning of all Federally 

provided, assisted, and regulated infrastructure in accordance with the above principles. 

2) Financial Advisory Boards. Financial advisory boards should be established after the models of 

EPA's Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB), or the Inland Waterway Users Board to help 

improve, diversify, and innovate agency financing approaches. 

3) Pricing. Cost-sharing and grant formulas should be reviewed for the full range of Federal 

infrastructure programs in order to ensure that those who directly benefit from project services pay their 

share of project costs, with the Federal match approximating benefit spillovers external to the direct 

beneficiaries. A full menu of pricing instruments should be actively pursued in this regard, broadly 

including demand management tools such as user or congestion fees. 

4) Remove Legislative Barriers. Federal/state tax and security laws limiting access to revenue sources 

such as tax-exempt bonds should be reviewed for unintended barriers to innovative funding mechanisms. 

5) Investment Budgeting. The expanded use of a public works investment section, such as the Special 

Analysis D required by Title II of P.L. 98-501, should be considered for the Federal budget. It could be 

funded by a series of broad, flexible categorical infrastructure trust funds supported by dedicated revenue 

sources designed for multi-year investment stability. Only spending justified by investment analysis should 

be eligible to be included in the budget. 

In their report, Investing in Our Future, the Public Infrastructure Subcouncil to the Competitiveness 

Policy Council strongly endorsed establishing a long range national infrastructure investment plan that 

would establish stable and predictable future levels of funding. Although not explicitly part of the FIS 

recommendations, the specific financing mechanisms presented in the Subcouncil's report warrant review: 

• Adoption of a Federal capital budget 

• Creation of a National Infrastructure Bank 

• Establishment of a Capital Investment Block Grant Program 

• Use of the National Infrastructure Corporation proposed by Senator Moynihan in 1991 

• Increased use of new public works and telecommunications technologies 

• Reorganization of Congressional committees/creation of an infrastructure Commission 

• Building public awareness. 

@ BUDGET SENSITIVE FINANCING 55 
Corps oJ Engineers Environmental Service Partnerships Program 

The. CorpS"E~vironmental· Service Partnerships Program provides support to .sIIla,U:;ll1d/or 

disadvantaged communities that do not have the capabilities or resources tofullye\,aluat~wh,ether 

privatization ofa particular environmentalinfrastructure facility or service is economically feasibleaIld 

financially viable .. A.Uthori~y for this demonstration program stems from House ReportlOh536 

accompanyingtheJ991Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act (Public LawNo~10l;;514). 

The House Reportditected the. Corps to· work with the EnvironmentalProtection/gency,. the 

Department of El}ergy, andotherFederal agencies in a partnership with state and local gove,m111,entsto 

initiate jointly jinan:ced market feasibility studies on the opportunities for public-private fin~ncing 

capabilities ()flocal service-related infrastructure. The program. was also intended· to encourage the 

in~olvement of.the private<sector in the planning, design, financing, construction, operation and 

maintenance of non-:federal water-dependent environmental infrastructure. 

Marketfeasibilitystlldies are jointly financed, with the non-Federal sponSor contributingatninimtl11i 

of 50 perceht(including. in.;kind services) of the total study cost. The maximum. Corps of Engineers 

contribution to the feasibility study is $100,000, and the studies are normallycompletedin lessthan?ne 

year. SinceFiscalYearlQ91the Corps has initiated approximately 100 studies. Prior to 1993 these also 

included some larger communities and both water and non-water resources environmental infrastructure. 

More recently, the focus has been limited to small (population less than 500,000) or disadvantaged 

communities, and on water related problems. Several types of options have been considered as part of 

typical feasibility analysis, including, but not limited to: Contract Services, Turnkey Projects, Developer 

Financing, Private Ownership, and Merchant Facilities. 

In addition, workhas been completed on computer models that local communities can use to r~quest 

proposals for environmental· services from the private sector, and to develop estimates of cost and revenue 

data for alternative facilities. 

The Corps has generally found that market feasibility studies serve as a catalyst to communities to 

further pursue opportunities for public-private partnerships. Most local governments have subsequently 

undertaken additional studies, and procured private sector engineering and design services. Several 

sponsors have utilized the Corps market feasibility studies as the primary inputto subsequent public·woiks 

decisions, and have implemented various environmental infrastructure improvements for water supply and 

water distribution systems, water treatment, and solid waste management and recycling programs. 

56 BUDGET SENSITIVE FINANCING @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

IX. THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES 

"Today, the products of technological innovation in many fields are all around us: Organ transplants 

have become almost commonplace in hospitals around the country. A daunting array of new food products 

with long shelf-lives entice us at supermarkets. Computers that now fit comfortably on one's lap pack more 

power than the room sized machines commonly available just two decades ago. In contrast, our 

infrastructure relies for the most part on technologies that emerged initially in the 19th century. " 

Dr. Andrew C. Lemer, National Research Council, remarks at the 

FIS Workshop on Innovation in Public Works, sponsored by the 

U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, 

Champaign Illinois, March 1992 

The public works professional, academic, and research communities have all expressed concern over 

a perceived lag in infrastructure innovation. Although data linking this concern to R&D spending levels 

are difficult to interpret, it is generally accepted that technological innovation needs to play a more essential 

role in improving the performance of the Nation I s public works. Significant advances in technology have 

occurred over the last 15 years, yet innovation in public works are relatively few. It is becoming 

increasingly clear that breakthroughs in high performance materials, computers, communications, and other 

technologies have the potential to significantly increase infrastructure capacity without major new 

construction or further disruption to the environment. 

Federal infrastructure research and development (R&D), while found to be more extensive than 

previously documented, still represents a relatively small share of the overall Federal R&D budget. A study 

of Federal infrastructure R&D by the Civil Engineering Research Foundation (CERF) estimated public 

works R&D to be $1.2 billion in Fiscal Year 1992, or approximately 1.6 percent of the total Federal R&D 

expenditures. Of this total, the overwhelming majority of funding supported applied research (71 %), with 

basic research, primarily funded through the National Science Foundation, representing about 16 percent. 

Also within this total, the allocations vary significantly between functional modes. As shown in Figure 11, 

Federal funding was distributed between five R&D categories: transportation received the most funding 

(36%), followed by energy (20%), water (18%), waste management (16%), and buildings (10%). 

In light of the importance of R&D investment, what is the Federal role in infrastructure research? What 

barriers impede the diffusion of new technologies into practice? How are the Federal laboratories currently 

transferring prototype public works technologies into practice? And in which technologies should the 

Federal government invest? These are some of the issues that FIS participants identified as needing 

attention. 

@ THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES 57 
Federal R&D Funding for FY 1992 

Public Works Infrastructure Systems 

Energy 

Sources 

$247 

Water 

Resources 

$212 ---

(Budget in Millions of Dollars) 

Total Expenditures = $1.2 Billion 

Transportation ..,-- $429 

Buildingsl 

Structures 

$119 

Figure 11 - Federal R&D Funding for FY92, Public Works Infrastructure Systems 

In the absence of a national public works research agenda, the typical agency R&D focus is on agency 

mission-related infrastructure components. Scientists at most Federal laboratories do not have a clear 

understanding of the concept of public works infrastructure, nor do they possess an understanding that their 

mission related research products could be applied to improve the performance of the public works 

community. This lack of understanding became apparent during a national survey of 257 Federal 

laboratories for the FIS program by the CERF. 

Only 32 of the 257 laboratories surveyed acknowledged the conduct of infrastructure research. 

Additionally, in only thirteen of the laboratories was this research identified as representing more than half 

of their effort, and this research was primarily mission-related residing within the Bureau of Reclamation, 

Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute 

of Standards and Technology, Department of Agriculture, Veterans Administration, and the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers (see Table 6). This lack of specific emphasis on public works research has resulted in 

a fragmented approach to infrastructure R&D with no single Federal focus, objective, or goal to develop, 

evaluate, and transfer infrastructure technologies. 

State and local governments benefit from R&D products only after a very long process of development, 

testing, evaluation, commercialization and marketing. This length of time, coupled with the relative lack 

of investment in public works R&D, and other barriers, such as the fear of liability litigation, the 

multiplicity of government regulations, code restrictions, and complicated public procurement policies, 

make this area unattractive for researchers. Major barriers impeding the diffusion of Federally developed 

technology into practice are described in Table 7. 

58 THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES @ 
Table 6: Summary of Federal Agency Activity for Public Works Infrastructure 

Research and Development (FY 1992) 

R&D BUDGET 

AGENCY Total Allocated to 

(million $'s) PWIR&D 

Army Construction Engineering Research Lab 70-100 >90% 

EPA Engineering Laboratories 10-20 >90% 

V A Rehabilitation R&D Center 2 >90% 

USDA/FS Timber Bridge Information Resource Center 2 >90% 

DOT IFHW A Turner-Fairbank Highway Resource Center 228 67-90% 

Army Waterways Experiment Station 100-150 67-90% 

Bureau of Reclamation 5-10 67-90% 

DOE-Idaho National Engineering Laboratory 300 50-67% 

DOE-Argonne National Laboratory 100-150 50-67% 

NIST, Building & Fire Research Laboratory 20-40 50-67% 

DOE-Pacific Northwest Laboratory 400-500 30-50% 

Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory 40-70 33-50% 

DOT/FRA-Transportation Test Center 10-20 33-50% 

DOE-Brookhaven National Laboratory 300 10-33% 

DOT IRSP A Transportation Systems Center 100-150 10-33% 

Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab 20-40 10-33% 

Air Force Civil Engineering Laboratory 20-40 10-33% 

Army Institute for Water Resources 10-20 10-33% 

USDA/FS-Forest Products Laboratory 10-20 10-33% 

Army Hydrologic Engineering Center 4 10-33% 

National Science Foundation 2700 <10% 

DOE-Los Alamos National Laboratory 1000 <10% 

USDA-Agricultural Research Service 660 <10% 

DOE-Sandia National Laboratory 550 <10% 

DOE-Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory 200-250 <10% 

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration 102 <10% 

National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health 70-100 <10% 

USDAIARS-Northern Plains Area 40-70 <10% 

Army Topographic Engineering Center 20-40 <10% 

Bureau of Mines Albany Research Laboratory 5-10 <10% 

DOT/FAA Technical Center 5-10 <10% 

Naval Academy 3 <10% 

@ THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES 59 
Table 7: Barriers to Innovation Transfer 

Barrier Methods to Overcome 

Lack of a Federal initiative (focus) for defining the Create a national infrastructure policy that will: (1) Act 

policy and vision for national infrastructure as a catalyst for innovation; (2) Keep abreast of 

technology (R&D). international R&D for new technologies; (3) Foster 

intergovernmental partnerships between State and local 

Diverse and fragmented governmental structure and governments to develop improved fiscal and political 

private sector organizations dealing with infrastructure; tools for promoting innovation. 

fragmented R&D efforts throughout the nation. 

Inadequate technology transfer mechanisms. Greater emphasis on user technology needs in the 

formulation of research priorities; develop improved 

Lack of public and private sector R&D cooperation; technology transfer partnering mechanisms in 

lack of R&D partnerships between the public and conjunction with greater incentives to reward R&D 

private sectors. investment by the private sector. 

Lack of public awareness. Active partnership with community groups; building 

awareness and support groups; communicate with 

Public opposition; discordance with widespread Congress; create mechanisms to resolve controversy; 

cultural values; "not invented here" syndrome; effective education related to key technologies and 

emphasis on short-term benefits, not long-term benefits relevant research; communicate the importance of 

to the nation. innovation in a national context. 

Complexity of regulations. Developing flexible (performance-based) standards to 

accommodate technological and design innovation; 

Governmental technical standards and regulations are regular review and appropriate revision of regulations 

complex and sometimes contradictory; increasing rate affecting major technologies. 

of legal challenges; obsolescence of regulations. 

Reluctance to innovate for fear of legal liability . Risk-sharing to encourage innovation; peer evaluation of 

innovation; demonstrations of innovation, adequately 

Conservative approaches intended to reduce potential monitored and documented; dissemination of the 

risks; highly visible and publicized failures are findings of the demonstrations to all potential users. 

penalized while successes go unrewarded; reluctance of 

financial institutions to fund infrastructure projects 

with unusual potential risks. 

Inadequate organizational management for Promote top management commitment; nurture active 

innovation adoption. change agents; empower active technology gatekeepers 

and technology transfer task forces; comprehensive user 

Resistance to innovation that did not involve the user in training programs; promote Total Quality Management 

defining the problem and specifying the solution; (TQM) of all the processes in innovation and technology 

resistance to change; lack of flexibility in regulations; transfer; innovative financing of public works projects. 

emphasis on short-term, high-visibility results; 

tendency to cut funding for "unglamorous" public 

works programs in favor of more visible programs . 

. . Source: Challenges and Opportunltles for InnovatIOn In the PubliC Works Ir!frastructure, U.S. Army Corps of Engmeers 

Construction Engineering Research Laboratories for the Institute for Water Resources, IWR Reports FIS-93-2 and 3. 

60 THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES @ 
The cumulative effect of these barriers results in a gap between infrastructure needs and the 

availability of R&D products. The most critical of these barriers is the lack of more effective technology 

transfer mechanisms. Technologies are developed to meet identified needs. Successful transfer requires 

meeting the needs at the lowest possible price. New products that are not applied do not represent true 

innovation. 

Many past technology transfers for infrastructure applications have not been successful due to the 

lack of industrial partnerships. Public works agencies by nature either lease or purchase commercialized 

technologies. They do not have the capability to package and commercialize laboratory prototype 

technologies into user friendly products. Thus, transferring any technology into use requires identifying 

the need and early partnership with the private/industrial sector to commercialize the technologies. 

A key aspect of the PIS technology transfer study undertaken by the Civil Engineering Research 

Foundation (CERF) was the identification of those problems and needs within the public works community 

that are not being adequately addressed by either Federal or private research. While reaching that objective, 

the study also examined how closely Federal and private sector research priorities match public works needs 

(see box). The results of this analysis, which was based on a nationwide survey of municipal public works 

agencies, resulted in a list of 56 high priority problems and needs (see Table 8). 

Principles. An explicit, singular Federal emphasis on public works infrastructure R&D is needed to realize 

the full potential of new technologies to revitalize and re-engineer America's infrastructure. Such a focus 

should develop a stronger link between the development and adoption processes for R&D products and the 

technology need priorities of local public works users. Tight Federal budgets will likely constrain future 

R&D spending. Therefore, improved technology transfer partnerships are needed between the research 

community, public works practitioners, and commercial manufacturers, along with greater incentives for 

private sector investment in infrastructure R&D. 

Recommendations. Key provisions of a comprehensive Federal infrastructure R&D policy should include 

the following elements: 

• Public works technology transfer mechanisms that better reflect local user technology needs and 

earlier involvement of the private industrial sector 

• Breaking down the legal, regulatory, and procurement barriers to the use of innovative 

technologies. Flexible standards are needed to accommodate technological and design innovation, 

in conjunction with alternate ways to bid contracts, and reform of the procurement process 

• Technology dissemination as part of the Federal R&D process for the peer evaluation of 

demonstration projects with risks shared between the public and private sectors 

• Intergovernmental cooperation and increased cost sharing between the various levels of 

government, academia, and industry to fund and transfer the adoption of new technologies. 

The establishment of a cabinet-level National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to coordinate 

Federal science, space, and technology policies provides the means for addressing many of the 

aforementioned principles. It can ensure that clear National goals for Federal technology investments are 

established, that technology policy-making and R&D are more effectively coordinated, and that 

@ THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES 61 
Civil Engineering Research Foundation's FIS Study on 

Infrastructure R&D Technology Transfer 

This study was a cooperative effort facilitated by the Civil Engineering Research Foundation (CERF) between the Bureau of 

Reclamation, FederalHighway Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute of Science and Technology, American . 

Public Works Association, and the Corps of Engineers. The study objectives were to develop and evaluate mechanisms to transfer 

technology into practice within the local public works community, and to identify potential demonstration projects. 

A five steptechnolog;y transfer process was applied: (1) Problem Identification, Classification, and Priority, (2) Problem and 

Technology Matching, (3)Market Survey, (4) Partner Identification, and, (5) Technology Demonstration. Data developed as part of this 

effort was an outgrowth of a national survey, sent to public works directors nationwide. 

Survey results provided a prioritized listing of problems and needs over seven public works areas: buildings, hazardous waste, power 

and energy, solid waSte, transportation, water resources, and wastewater. Problems were defined in terms of frequency of occurrence 

and criticality of need. The study resulted in identifying 56 high priority infrastructure technology need areas (see Table 8), the 

development of an infrastructure R&D needs document, the assembly of a short list of existing Federally developed technologies identified 

as. having market potential, and the identification of partners willing to consider participating in a demonstration or conimericialization 

of a .Federal technology, including the involvement of infrastructure users, providers, and researchers. These research outputs are 

predicated on the conclusion that identifying areas requiring infrastructure research is a natural bi-product of the technology transfer 

process. 

A key component of the technology transfer process is the identification of local public works problems requiring the advancement 

of new infrastructure technologies. The technology requirements are then matched with the available Federal and domestic and foreign 

commercial technologies. The resulting data base contains listings of technology transfer opportunities, underutillzed and non-cost 

effective technologies, and those technology shortfalls which will require development efforts by the research community. A series of 

FIS reports prepared byCERF serve to document the study recommendations regarding the demonstration and transfer of Federal 

technologies to the public works community: 

• Federal laboratories have developed innovative technologies that can make important contributions to improve and restore 

America's public works infrastructure. The technologies assessed in this study that establish a market niche will improve the 

infrastructure at state and local levels 

• All players in the infrastructure arena would benefit from a catalog or database of research and development projects and 

information; ideally, the information would be in the form of a well-recognized catalog or an online, user-friendly database 

where information retrieval would be simple and fast 

• There is a noticeable communications gap in the public works infrastructure field between researchers and users. The Federal 

laboratories are the more centralized element of the two, and therefore would be easier for the dispersed public works 

community to reach. The public works officials, however, are so overburdended by daily concerrts that benefits arising from 

increased communication with researchers cannot compete with other priorities. Increased communication between the two 

communities would positively affect both 

• The study has also produced some valuable databases including one that assesses America's public works infrastructure 

problems and needs, one that points out public works problems and needs that require additional technological research, and 

one that collates some of the Federal and private infrastructure research and development being conducted. Further study built 

on these databases and based on the methodologies utilized in this project will help broaden the technology transfer efforts 

initiated in this study. 

Important ancillary data was also captured as part of the survey. These observations include: 

• the majority rate the condition of their infrastructure in fair to good condition 

• public works receive average or higher priority, but funding is perceived as adequate 

• future public works resourcing is likely to remain at about today's absolute levels 

• only 42 % of public works agencies have a process facilitating technology adaption 

• only 25 % of the agencies are experimenting with new technologies 

• special contracting for innovation is lacking (less than 200 municipalities have such provisions) 

Source: Federallnjrastructure R&D: Technology Transfer Series, (forthcoming) 

62 THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES @ 
Table 8 - Highest Priority Public Works Problems and Needs 

(Listed per infrastructure system in order of priority) 

BUILDINGS 

ADA Compliance 

Maintenance of Building Systems 

ConstructionlDemolition Worksite Safety 

Excavation Safety 

Flood Protection 

Lighting Efficiency 

Construction/Demo Scheduling & Estimating 

HV AC & Plumbing 

TRANSPORTATION 

Maintenance and Repair of Pavements 

Drainage of Highways and Roadways 

Asphalt Performance for Pavements 

Inspection and Management of Pavements 

Maintenance and Repair of Bridges 

Roadway Markings and Signs 

Roadway Snow Removal and De-Icing 

Road Crew Safety 

SOLID WASTE 

Management of Residential Collection 

Source Reduction by Composting 

Separate Tech. In Materials Recovery 

Separation of Waste in Residential Collection 

Source Reduction of Litter 

Equip. Maintenance for Residential Collection 

Materials Recovery by Paper Recycling 

Waste Management for RCRA Compliance 

POWER AND ENERGY 

Leak Detection for Underground Storage Tanks 

Leak Treatment for Underground Storage Tanks 

Leak Detection for Utility Pipelines 

Above-Ground Alternatives for Underground Storage 

Tanks 

Repair of Utility Pipelines 

Clean Air Act Compliance 

Efficiency of Small Generators 

Waste Separation in Waste-to-Energy Plants 

WASTEWATER 

Repair and Rehabilitation of Collection Systems 

Leak Detection in Collection Systems 

Standards & Regulations for Treatment Systems 

Management of Worker Health and Safety 

Maintenance and Repair of Treatment Systems 

Land Applications for Sludge Disposal 

Compo sting/Recycling of Sludge 

Monitoring of Treatment Systems 

WATER RESOURCES 

NPDES Compliance for Stormwater 

Leak Detection & Repair of Transmission Lines 

SDW A Compliance for Potable Water 

Stormwater Flood Management 

Stormwater Runoff Quality 

Flood Damage Reduction 

Groundwater Monitoring and Detection 

Groundwater Well Drilling and Maintenance 

HAZARDOUS WASTE 

Recycling and Reuse of Hazardous Waste 

Worker Safety in Materials Handling 

Alternatives to Landfill Disposal 

Management and Regulations 

Residential Hazardous Waste 

Spills/Site Clean-Up Technologies 

Groundwater Pollution Monitoring/Containment 

Hazard Identification of Materials 

Source: Federal Infrastructure R&D: Technology Transfer Series, Civil Engineering Research Foundation for 

the U.S. Co s of En ineers Institute for Water Resources (forthcomin ) 

@ THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES 63 
cross-agency sharing of R&D budget proposals with OSTP and OMB will facilitate the prioritization of 

technology development and transfer programs. 

In addition, many Federal agencies and organizations are currently working to include the 

private/industrial sector in technology development and technology transfer efforts. IWR's own experiences 

confirm this emphasis: the Corps technology transfer process for IWR-MAIN, a state-of-the-art water 

forecasting system, is being accomplished through a public-private partnership. IWR is guiding the process 

through an JWR-MAIN Users Group which includes the American Water Works Association (A WW A), the 

American Public Works Association (APWA), and the private sector (Planning and Management 

Consultants, Ltd.). 

Although thereis no single Federal focus on the transfer of infrastructure technologies, there are several 

significant agency initiatives: 

• The National Science Foundation (NSF) operates Engineering Research Centers which develop 

technologies cooperatively with academia and industry 

• All Federal agencies have access to the Cooperative Research and Development Agreements 

(CRDA) which permit the Federal laboratories to work with industry to cooperatively develop and 

market new technologies 

• The collaborative Technology Reinvestment Project (Department of Defense, Department of 

Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation, and 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration) concentrates on developing dual-use 

technologies for the commercial and defense industries 

• A program sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Construction Productivity 

Advancement Program (CPAR), supports cooperative development and demonstration of 

construction technologies 

• The Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Technology Initiative (ETI) seeks to 

speed the development of innovative technologies through a funding program focussing on 

environmental and pollution prevention research 

• The Federal Highway Administration facilitates the evaluation of Federal and commercially 

developed highway technologies through the Highway Innovative Technology Evaluation Center 

(HITEC), a cooperative effort with the Civil Engineering Research Foundation and the 

transportation industry 

• The National Research Council's National Cooperative Highway Research Program--Innovations 

Deserving Exploratory Analysis (NCHRP-IDEA) seeks to introduce new technologies, methods, 

or processes for application to highways and intermodal surface transportation 

64 THE CRITICAL ROLE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

X. CLARIFYING ROLES THROUGH A NEW 

REGULATORY FEDERALISM 

"It is not just that the Federal government has no more money; local and state governments don't either. 

So what is occurring is a reallocation of the funds in local budgets. It is not the water, sewer, and rail 

requirements, individually, that we must worry about; it's the cumulative impact of all these, and more, on 

local governments. " 

Michael J. Pompili, Assistant Health Commissioner, City of 

Columbus, Ohio, remarks· at the National Conference on High 

Performance Public Works, July 1993 

Although the goals and accomplishments of many Federal regulations are salutary, local governments 

claim that certain mandates impose heavy fiscal burdens on non-Federal governments and that the combined 

costs of all Federal mandates and regulations are growing much faster than Federal aid. According to a 

survey commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, 314 cities spent nearly $6.5 billion to comply 

with Federal mandates in 1993, while compliance with mandates is projected to cost $54 billion from 1994 

through 1998 

For example, the State of California estimates that Federal mandates impose approximately $8 billion 

annually, mostly from implementing regulations associated with environmental and health protection and 

social programs. The state of Ohio expects to spend almost $3 billion complying with environmental 

mandates over the next decade, and New York City estimates it will spend $4.6 billion to meet rules on 

ocean dumping and safe drinking water. Local governments purport that costs of this magnitude distort 

local budgets and priorities, squeezing resources for other vital public services like education, law 

enforcement, and public health (see box discussion). The Congressional Budget Office has offered more 

modest figures, estimating that the financial impact on local governments from unfunded Federal programs 

has risen from $225 million in 1986 to $2.8 billion in 1991. 

Nevertheless, Federal laws and regulations can have other non-fiscal effects that are as important as 

their financial impacts. These include delays in the construction, maintenance, or expansion of public 

facilities, the prescription of inflexible procedures that are poorly adapted to local circumstance, the blurring 

of accountability, and unnecessary conflict with the institutional responsibilities of state and local 

governments. Such unintended consequences reflect weaknesses in the Federal regulatory and policy 

making processes, which sometimes fail to recognize the cumulative effects of mandates. Although policies 

undertaken to ameliorate such problems have been effective in certain instances, these problems ultimately 

undermine Federal regulatory goals. 

@ CLARIFYING ROLES THROUGH A NEW REGULATORY FEDERALISM 65 
Estimating the Costs of Federal Mandates 

Defining and estimating the costs and true burdens of "unfunded mandates" is no easy task. For 

example, in some cases, both States and the Federal government have similar requirements for local 

governments within their jurisdiction. Are these to be considered State mandates, Federal mandates, 

or both? Likewise,there are many cases where the Federal government requires certain actions by 

other governments only if those governments accept Federal grant money. Should these grant 

requirements be defined as mandates? 

Partly because of these defmitional problems, and partly because estimating the costs of complying 

with mandates is very difficult, no systematic estimates of such costs have been completed. However, 

a number of local governments have compiled their own estimates. While neither comparable toone 

another, comprehensive in coverage, nor above debate, such numbers do provide some order of 

magnitude. ACIR recently assembled a number of these estimates which are summarized below: 

Federal Mandate Costs: 

State of Tennessee (1993) 

State of Ohio (1992) 

City of Columbus,OR (1991) 

City of Chicago, IL (1991) 

Anchorage, AK (1993) 

Annual Costs 

($' s millions) 

153.7 

260.1 

62.1 

191.2 

22.5 

Percent of 

1991 Own-Source 

General Revenues 

3.5% 

1.7% 

10.6% 

8.3% 

0.6% 

As noted above, these figures are not directly comparable to one another and far from definitive. 

By themselves, they also do not give any indication of how mandate costs may change in the future 

(though some of the jurisdictions did estimate projected costs in figures not presented here). 

Finally, no benefit estimates have been done to compare with these costs. With these caveats in 

mind, the numbers above suggest that mandates carry significant absolute costs, but that their burden 

relative to ability to pay varies widely. Older cities, with smaller and slower growing revenue bases, 

may be more· impacted by mandates than States with their broader tax bases and ability to pass 

mandates along. Even here, it maybe difficult to generalize: places like Anchorage, with its 

significant income from oil production and limited industrial development appear to be very lightly 

affected by mandates. 

Source: Assessing Mandate Effects on State and Local Governments, Philip M. Dearborn, Intergovernmental Perspective, ACIR, 

1994 

66 CLARIFYING ROLES THROUGH A NEW REGULATORY FEDERALISM @ 
Principles. In order to minimize regulatory problems while still accomplishing national objectives the 

following principles were suggested by FIS participants for enacting or promulgating new regulations and 

revising existing statues and rules: 

(1) Partnership. Effective regulation in an intergovernmental framework requires mutual cooperation 

and genuine partnership among the Federal, state and local governments 

(2) Good Science. Regulations need to be based on more certain and reliable information on the health 

and cost effects of each increment of environmental protection 

(3) Holistic Environmental Approach. The present separate media-based Federal focus sometimes 

works against understanding the interconnections between impacts, and can result in spending on what are 

perceived by local governments to be less important problems while their more serious needs are neglected 

(4) Perfonnance-Based Regulation. Limited resources at all levels of government require that Federal 

regulatory objectives are clearly defined, appropriate performance standards are established, incentives and 

other market mechanisms are used, and that cost effective methods are applied to achieve outcomes 

(5) One Size Does Not Fit All. Congress should design, and agencies should administer regulatory 

programs in a manner that promotes effective but flexible implementation, recognizing differences in state 

and local institutional structures, resources, conditions, and responsibilities 

(6) Cost-Sharing. Budgetary stresses at all levels of government requires new intergovernmental 

partnerships with affordable and predictable cost shares 

Recommendations. Within existing legislation, participants suggested that eXIstmg and proposed 

regulations affecting infrastructure be reviewed to ensure that they are necessary, the least burdensome, 

and most flexible forms of regulation that accomplish national goals. In addition, the following provisions 

were considered important to potential mandate relief legislation: 

• Baseline estimates of the costs associated with existing mandates 

• Regular inventory and cost estimates of all proposed Federal mandates 

• Analysis of the incidence of costs and the ability of affected parties to pay 

• Reducing the number of mandates through fewer enactments or equitable Federal sharing of 

mandated costs 

• An affordable prioritization and scheduling of non-Federal compliance for those future mandates 

which are constitutionally justified 

Recent policy initiatives addressing FIS principles include Executive Order No. 12866 entitled 

Regulatory Planning and Review. This order, which revised a previous order (No. 12291) on regulatory 

planning, put forth a process which begins to address concerns over the economic impacts of Federal 

regulations. The thrust of the order is that Federal agencies should reduce the number of regulations issued 

@ CLARIFYING ROLES THROUGH A NEW REGULATORY FEDERALISM 67 
Study of the Effect of Federal Mandates on the 

Implementation of Improved Local Public Works Management Practices 

The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) joined with the American Public Wori<s 

Association (APW A) to identify and analyze the effects of Federal, state and local impediments that might prevent 

state and local governments from implementing improved public works management practices. The APWA Manual 

of Public Works Management Practices was used to identify and evaluate potential impediments. Joint 

APWA/NAPA visits were made to twelve state, county, and local governments. 

Although no Federallegislative or administrative requirements were found to be absolute roadblocks to 

implementing any· of APWA's 400 public works management practices, the NAPA project team concluded that 

Federal mandates have eJCpandedthe missions of local public works agencies, complicated their service operations 

and construction projects, shifted heavy costs to their local governments, and substituted Federal priorities in the 

allocation of scarce resources. Notwithstanding these impacts, local governments expressed dearsnpportfo,r 

the goals of mandates, especially for environmental programs. They were, however,ve,rycriticalofaspects 

of Federal implementation strategies such as priorities, timetables, processes, and the· administration and 

enforcement of the programs. Interviews with local officials revealed the following: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Local public. works and government officials overarching and. foremost grievance is that mandates are 

imposing heavy financial burdens at a time when municipal finances are already severely· strained, and 

while Federal grants are paying a decreasing share of the cost 

As Federarmandateshave preempted local resources, infrastructure. construction and niaintenanceare 

theexpendifurescut most often by cities 

The environmental protection mandates on a clean water, safe drinking water, resource conservation and 

recovery, and cteanair, and the Americans With Disabilities Act, are perceived to betl'ie heaviest 

regulatory hits 

Environmental protection mandates on asbestos, lead paint abatement, underground storagetariks,and 

endangetedspeciesalsogenerate heavy costs in many communities 

Local criticisms· of the environmental programs are frequently aimed at Federal standards which are 

considered to be unrealistically high, or for which the scientific underpinning is questionable, and the 

lack of flexibility to adapt their construction and operational plans to local conditions 

In contrastto·theenvironmental programs whose goals are generally supported by local officials, tw~otl'ier 

Federallaws--theFair Labor Standards Act and the Davis-Bacon Act are considered by some local 

officials to be examples of iIltrusion by the Federal government which drive up inffastructureco$ts 

For most l~al communities, the lion's share of the costs they would have to incur to comply With current 

mandates stil11ies in the future 

Source: Public Works Management Practices, Volume 1: A Public Works Perspective of the Roadblocks and Opportunities to lmprov(! 

Performance, ArnericanPubIic Works Association, IWR Report PIS-94-14; and Volume 2: The Effect of Federal Mandates On Their 

Activities and 1m rovin .Their Performance, National Academ on Public Administration, IWR Re ort PIS-94-1S, 

68 CLARIFYING ROLES THROUGH A NEW REGULATORY FEDERALISM @ 

1 
by limiting them to those that are required by law, are necessary to interpret law, or are made necessary 

by compelling public need. 

Specifically, the new order requires agencies to consider alternatives to regulation and to analyze 

benefits and costs of "major" regulations, defined as those with an economic impact greater than $100 

million. It also requires that each agency develop a Regulatory Plan which lays out the goal, legal basis, 

statement of need, and schedule of action for all proposed regulations, and establishes a centralized review 

process with OMB acting as the monitor for proposed regulations, and the Vice President leading an 

interagency working group that reviews regulatory issues. 

The order also enhances public disclosure requirements and public involvement in the regulatory review 

process. Before issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking, each agency must seek to involve "those who are 

intended to benefit from and those expected to be burdened by any regulation (including, specifically, state, 

local and tribal officials)," and that all regulations be "simple and easy to understand." 

In addition, bipartisan support for legislation providing more fundamental mandate relief is growing 

in Congress. The Federal Mandate Accountability and Reform Act of 1994 (S.993) introduced by Senator 

Kempthorne (R-Idaho) passed out of the Government Affairs Committee and was headed to the Senate floor 

at the close of the 103rd Congress. It is likely to be re-introduced during the 104th Congress. The bill 

would have established the presumption that any legislation imposing a Federal mandate of more than $50 

million on a state or local government must include an estimate of the mandate's cost, and must provide 

for the funding mechanism to pay for implementation of its requirements. Such requirements would not 

apply to the laws or Federal rules enforcing civil and constitutional rights, national security or treat 

obligations, emergencies, or voluntary programs. 

POSTSCRIPT 

As this report goes to final publication, the President is preparing to sign the Unfunded Mandates 

Reform Act of 1995 into law. The stated purposes of this Act are to: 

(1) Strengthen the partnership between the Federal Government and the state, local, and tribal 

governments 

(2) End the imposition, in the absence of full consideration by Congress, of Federal mandates on state, 

local, and tribal governments without adequate Federal funding, in a manner that may displace other 

essential State, local, and tribal governmental priorities 

(3) Provide for the development of information about the nature and size of mandates in proposed 

legislation; and, establish a mechanism to bring such information to the attention of the Congress before 

the Senate and House of Representatives vote on proposed legislation 

(4) Promote informed and deliberate decisions by Congress on the appropriateness of Federal mandates 

in any particular instance 

@ CLARIFYING ROLES THROUGH A NEW REGULATORY FEDERALISM 69 
(5) Require that Congress consider whether to provide funding to assist state, local, and tribal 

governments in complying with Federal mandates, and to require the analysis and dissemination of the 

impact of private sector mandates 

(6) Establish a point-of-order vote on the consideration in the Senate and House of Representatives of 

legislation containing significant Federal intergovernmental mandates without providing adequate funding 

to comply with such mandates 

(7) Require that Federal agencies (a) develop a process to enable state, local, and tribal governments 

to provide input when regulations are being developed, and (b) prepare and consider estimates of the 

budgetary impact of regulations containing Federal mandates before adopting such regulations 

(8) Begin consideration of the effect of previously imposed Federal mandates. 

70 CLARIFYING ROLES THROUGH A NEW REGULATORY FEDERALISM @ 

l 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

XI. AN INTEGRATED PROCESS FOR 

ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING 

"The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act and the resulting Federal regulations on 

metropolitan and statewide planning have set the stage for the next evolutionary step in transportation 

planning. An important part of this evolution is the creation of stronger, more effective linkages between 

the planning process, project development, and environmental considerations. " 

Grace Crunican and Jane F. Garvey, Deputy Administrators, of 

the Federal Transit and Federal Highway Administrations, 

respectively, in their August 1, 1994 invitation letter for a 

National Conference on Integrating Environmental Considerations 

into Transportation Planning 

Federal Environmental laws and review processes have clearly reduced the adverse environmental 

effects of public works projects over the past two decades. Virtually all Americans recognize and support 

the need to protect the health and safety of our people and the need to protect the natural environment. 

Nevertheless, there are many reasons why accommodating public works needs and meeting environmental 

goals within the Federal review process has become difficult. 

Although society's aim is to develop infrastructure consistent with environmental protection goals, 

practical application often results in competing or conflicting policies and outcomes. The reality is that our 

current lifestyle choices - how and where we live, travel, manufacture, farm, consume, dispose, and 

transport - continue to threaten the health of the environment. The term "sustainable development" is 

central to many of the arguments on either side of this debate. Unfortunately, few can agree on its 

definition and the term itself has become a lightening rod in the discussion of ways to sort out those 

circumstances where economic development and environmental protection are truly compatible from those 

where trade-offs have to be made. 

Much of the explanation can also be directed at how Federal environmental protection statutes 

incrementally evolved, beginning with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) in 1969, 

followed by a series of individual laws addressing the protection of individual media, such as the Clean 

Water and Clean Air Acts of the 1970 's. The result is not a singular Federal decisionmaking process, but 

rather a series of overlapping and sometimes conflicting processes, each with its own planning, data, and 

documentation requirements. For example, the environmental review, approval, and permit processes for 

Federal water resources projects evolved from more than 60 individual acts (see Table 9) and additional 

subsequent amending legislation. 

@ AN INTEGRATED PROCESS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING 71 
As necessary environmental protection statutes and requirements have been enacted and promulgated 

they have created a series of complex decision-making processes with many separate, often sequential, 

sometimes inconsistent and duplicative steps by many different agencies. This has often drawn out the 

process of making fmal infrastructure and environmental decisions, limited the flexibility to solve problems, 

increased the unpredictability of the process, and sometimes led to inefficient uses of resources (see box 

on ACIR study). Local governments claim that these difficulties also sometimes create unaffordable, 

unachievable or ineffective compliance requirements, thereby increasing tensions within and among the 

various levels of government. The lack of a singular environmental ethic, whereby consideration of the 

environment is imbedded into all agency business from the first step of everything we do, is a key 

contributing factor to these problems. 

Table 9 - Partial Listing of Federal Environmental Review and Permit Legislation 

Applicable to Water Resources Development Programs 

Abandoned Shipwreck Act 

American Indian Religious Freedom Act 

Anadromous Fish Conservation Act 

Antiquities Act 

Archeological and Historic Preservation Act 

Archeological Resources Protection Act 

Bald Eagle Protection Act 

Clean Air Act 

Clean Water Act 

Coastal Barrier Improvement Act 

Coastal Barrier Resources Act 

Coastal Wetlands Planning Protection and Restoration Act 

Coastal Zone Management Act 

Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation 

and Liability Act 

Deepwater Port Act 

Endangered Species Act 

Environmental Programs Assistance Act 

Environmental Quality Improvement Act 

Estuary Protection Act 

Farmland Protection Act 

Federal Facilities Compliance Act 

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act 

Federal Land Policy and Management Act 

Federal Power Act 

Federal Water Project Recreation Act 

Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act 

Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act 

Fish and Wildlife Conservation on Military Reservations 

Various Flood Control Acts 

Food Security Act 

Forest Conservation 

Hazardous Substance Response Revenue Act 

Historic Sites Act 

Land and Water Conservation Fund Act 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act 

Migratory Bird Conservation Act 

National Environmental Policy Act 

National Historic Preservation Act 

National Ocean Pollution Planning Act 

National Trails System Act 

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 

Noise Control Act 

Northwest Power Act 

Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 

Pollution Prevention Act 

Port and Tanker Safety Act 

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 

Various Rivers and Harbors Acts 

Safe Drinking Water Act 

Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act 

Solid Waste Disposal Act 

Submerged Land Act 

Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act 

Toxic Substances Control Act 

Various Water Resources Development Acts 

Water Resources Planning Act 

Water Resources Research Act 

Watershed Protection and Flood Protection Act 

Wild and Scenic Rivers Act 

Source: Draft Environmental Desk Reference, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Institute for Water Resources, May 1994; and 

Intergovernmental Decisionmaking for Environmental Protection and Public Works, U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental 

Relations, Report No. A-122, November 1992 

72 AN INTEGRATED PROCESS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING @ 
Principles. The process of reviewing, coordinating, and making environmental decisions for infrastructure 

should be guided by the following principles: 

• Legitimate and Compatible Goals. The provision of public works and environmental protection 

are both legitimate, high priority national goals. Reducing the conflict between them depends on 

acknowledging the validity of both goals and seeking common ground within the context of 

sustainable development 

• Environmental Ethic. Many problems encountered in obtaining environmental approvals for 

public works can be traced to inadequate consideration of environmental factors in the earliest states 

of planning. A fundamental, government-wide environmental ethic should be institutionalized 

throughout the Federal infrastructure agencies so that environmental quality factors will be 

routinely and actively pursued throughout agency analytical and decisionmaking processes 

• Integrated Environmental Process. A single, integrated, multimedia environmental analysis and 

compliance process based on the framework of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

should be established within and among all Federal agencies 

• Performance-Based Evaluation of Outcomes. Environmental protection is too often aimed at 

achieving only "end of the pipe" regulatory compliance standards rather than as an opportunity for 

sustaining natural systems. Instead, the response to environmental goals should be evaluated using 

performance measures of environmental outcomes and based on a broad ecosystem perspective for 

effectively and efficiently reducing risk 

• Intergovernmental Partnerships. Multiple Federal agencies and a wide variety of state and local 

governments regulate different or overlapping aspects of a single infrastructure project. It is 

essential, therefore, for all government units to be working within consistent principles and 

guidelines. Such consistency must address national goals for both environmental quality and public 

works and should be based on an open process of intergovernmental participation 

Recommendations. In accordance with the principles set forth above the following steps are suggested 

toward development of an integrated environmental decisionmaking process applicable to all Federal 

agencies that administer, provide financial assistance to, or regulate public works: 

(1) Institutionalize, to the extent possible within existing legislation, an integrated, multimedia, 

ecosystem-based environmental decisionmaking process based on a multi-objective evaluation framework 

(Le., such as the water resources Principles and Guidelines or Principles and Standards), and utilizing the 

NEPA review mechanisms as a "one-stop" umbrella coordination vehicle. 

(2) Government-wide guidance to assist in implementing environmental integration policies and to imbed 

a stronger environmental ethic across Federal agencies. Legislative review, regulatory review, and budget 

submission procedures should be revised to support the integration policies. 

(3) Each Federal infrastructure and environmental agency should internally review its environmental 

decisionmaking processes to incorporate the principles of integration. 

@ AN INTEGRATED PROCESS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING 73 
Study of Intergovernmental Decisionmaking for Environmental Protection and Public Works 

by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations 

This 1992 study by the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations identifies conflicts between 

proposed state and local public works projects and the Federal environmental decisionmaking process; The 

Commission found considerable frustration generated by overlapping requirements and delays that make 

planning more difficult and costly for local public officials and agencies without· always enhancing 

environmental protection. 

ACIR enumerated five main reasons for the current difficulties in environmental decisionmaking: 

(1) Some environmental standards, or their application are unnecessarily arbitrary 

(2) Federal decisionmaking frequently has many sequential steps and many veto points, and is too 

detailed, pervasive, and distant from the site to always be efficient, effective, and realistic 

(3) There are many agencies having different environmental responsibilities, multiple veto points,and 

diverse triggers for vetoes, but not always enough data, analyses, expertise, funding, and personnel to 

coordinate their activities 

(4) Mechanisms for balancing diverse needs and values and avoiding impasses and litigation are 

underdeveloped 

(5) Frequently, there is.a failure to internalize full environmental costs within the total projects costs that 

should be shared among all· of the benefited parties. 

In response to these problems, ACIR looked to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as the 

appropriate process for resolving many of the difficulties, but recognized that "new·legislationwouldbe 

required to realize the full potential of this crosscutting environmental law . " 

ACIR also recommended the public works agencies do a better job of considering the envirorimeIlt·atall 

stages of a project, and that Federal, state and local governments improve their coordination ofoverlapping 

requirements, withIIlore realistic and certain schedules for existing processes. 

Source: Intergovernmental Decisionmaking for Environmental Protection and Public Works, U. S. Advisory Commission on 

Intergovernmental RelationsReport A-122, November 1992 

(4) A consortium of Federal agencies should conduct OMB pilot projects under the Government 

Peiformance and Results Act of 1993 to further advance the development of outcome-based performance 

measures of environmental programs. 

(5) As a long term goal, environmental statutes should be revised to more fully support an integrated 

environmental review and approval process. 

A recent study by the National Research Council (NRC), In Our Own Backyard, goes a step further than 

the technology and ecosystem aspects of environmental decisionmaking by focusing on the cultural 

implications of public works as a prescription for improving infrastructure provision. A NRC committee, 

drawing on its members' experience and observations in cities around the country, held workshop colloquia 

74 AN INTEGRATED PROCESS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING @ 

l 
in three communities: Phoenix, Arizona; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Boston, Massachusetts (see box). The NRC 

committee raised the notion that infrastructure development needs to be viewed from a comprehensive, 

holistic viewpoint and not as a collection of independent, incremental, and sometimes inconsistent decisions 

and regulations. 

: 

National Research Council - Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems: 

Report of the Committee on Infrastructure 

The committee's workshops in Phoenix, Cincinnati, and Boston highlighted how a citY's location, 

history, economy, and culture influence its infrastructure and are influenced by it. The 10cal1y focused, 

cross-modal and service-oriented perspective of this study markedarlimportant departure from most 

earlier work. Committee members spoke to private citizens and representatives of the business 

communities and governments, who were grappling with issues of infrastructure development and 

management. 

From this experience, the committee extracted three broad principles for dealing with local 

infrastructure issues, principles thatcan lead toward "win-win" situations,in which parties with potentially 

opposing interests seek a way to resolve conflict such that all parties gain. At their core, these principles 

represent recommendations for what works: good planning, management, and communityreHitions. 

Within the context of the past several decades, applying these principles means a shift toward a broader 

view and broader participation in infrastructure. 

1 - Geography Matters. The specific physical, social, economic, and environmental characteristics 

of a region should be the primary factors shaping that region's infrastructure and management. .National 

policy must deal effectively with local concerns, allowing solutions to be tailored to the natural 

environment, social patterns, and locally assesses needs and aspirations of the region. 

... 

2 - The Paradigm is Broadening. The pattern of infrastructure management must change from 

uncoordinated functional subsystems to incorporate a recognition that infrastructure is a multimodal and 

multipurpose system, a.s well as an stimulus for community development. National policies and programs 

should be structured to foster a new paradigm that applies across infrastructure modes and brings together 

the interests of diverse regions within the context of equity among cities and regions. 

3 - Value the "Public" in Public Works. Infrastructure serves the public, and effective public 

involvement and broad intersectoral and interdisciplinary partnerships in infrastructure development and 

management are needed to apply the broader paradigm. Public education is an essential element of future 

infrastructure management. Public works providers should include community peer review of plans and 

progress as a regular part of major infrastructure decisionmaking. 

The committee recommended that responsible government agencies and the Congress act toena.ble and 

encourage broad adoption of these principles in managing the Nation's infrastructure. 

Source: In Our Own Backyard: Principles for Effective Improvement of the Nation's Infrastructure, Building Research Board, National 

Research Council, 1993 

@ AN INTEGRATED PROCESS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING 75 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vi~ion 

for High Performance Public Works 

XII. CONCLUDING REMARKS 

The Federal Infrastructure Strategy (PIS) created a forum on public works issues through a series of 

intergovernmental consultations and research initiatives which brought together representatives from diverse 

groups of public works and regulatory agencies, congressional offices, infrastructure providers, academic 

and research institutions, and advocacy, professional and user organizations. 

Participants built upon an extensive body of past work by the National Council on Public Works 

Improvement, the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and 

a wide range of other agencies, institutions, and organizations. 

Despite the myriad of financial, regulatory, institutional, environmental and management issues identified 

as constraining decisionmakers at all levels of government, FIS participants were remarkably optimistic 

regarding the nation's ability to improve the effectiveness of its public works systems. 

Finding the money is not necessarily the most critical impediment to improving infrastructure 

performance. In fact, the empirical results of the FIS economic research indicate that there is no systematic 

underinvestment in the nations's infrastructure. 

Rather, the more problematic issues appear as efficiency, reliability or technical constraints. Many of 

the issues are institutional as the roles and responsibilities of all government agencies have continued to 

evolve while infrastructure investment and management policies are being debated and reformulated. 

Meanwhile, deficit reduction, government performance, mandate relief, environmental protection, and 

a declining Federal financing role have worked to shape a new paradigm in which: 

• The future Federal role in providing public works is likely to continue declining, while 

decisionmaking (and cost-sharing) become more intergovernmental 

• Future public works programs will focus increasingly on: 

(1) enhancing the service levels of existing facilities through improved maintenance/management 

practices and technological innovation; 

(2) keeping costs under control; and 

(3) protecting, cleaning up and restoring the environment. 

@ CONCLUDING REMARKS 77 
• Improved performance, not necessarily construction, will be the overriding infrastructure goal of 

the future 

• A hierarchy of multi-dimensional measures of performance will be used operationally, with specific 

indicators based on service outcomes that reflect the perspectives of both local customers and national-level 

goals 

• All infrastructure spending (capital and O&M) will be subjected to more and more stringent 

investment analysis requirements to ensure that only the most justified programs/projects are funded 

• Applications of new technologies will play the critical role in increasing the lives of existing 

facilities and reducing life-cycle costs 

• A new approach to Federal regulatory mandates will emerge to permanently: 

(1) Reduce the number and cost of Federal mandates and preemptions of state and local authority 

(2) Increase the flexibility for spending increasingly scarce Federal grant funding 

PIS research confirmed that opportunities presented by improved management practices, expanded use 

of investment analyses, budget-sensitive financing, innovative technologies, regulatory reforms and the use 

of streamlined environmental decisionmaking processes can improve the performance of America's 

infrastructure within the context of this new paradigm. 

Many administration and legislative initiatives have begun to establish policies consistent with this new 

direction. Thus far, the most significant of these initiatives are: 

• The Government Peiformance Results Act of 1993 

• Executive Order No. 12893 on Principles for Infrastructure Investment, and 

• The pending bipartisan legislation on Mandate Relief 

In addition, the FIS process itself has confirmed that Federal agencies can and do work closely together 

and with other levels of government and the private sector to solve public works problems. Examples of 

such ongoing collaborations abound in the public works community, as documented throughout the FIS 

series of reports (page iv) and summarized herein. 

78 CONCLUDING REMARKS @ 
Living Within Constraints: An Emerging Vision 

for High Performance Public Works 

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@ REFERENCES 79 
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84 REFERENCES @ * u.s. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1995 - 399-393 - 814/40171 
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved 

OMB No. 0704-0188 

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4. TITlE AND SUBTiTlE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 

LIVING WITHIN CONSTRAINTS: AN EMERGING VISION 

FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE PUBLIC WORKS 

6. AUTHOR(S) 

Pietrowsky, Robert A. ; Gordon, Cameron; 

Thompson, James F. 

7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) B. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION 

USACE, Water Resources Support Center REPORT NUMBER 

Institute for Water Resources 

Policy Division IWR Rpt. 95-FIS-20 

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Directorate of Civil Works 

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Available from National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port 

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13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words) 

This is the concluding report of the Federal Infrastructure 

Strategy (FIS) Program, a three-year study exploring the development of integrated or mUlti-agency Federal infrastructure policies. It 

documents the results of FIS activities, including the findings of 

the intergovernmental coordination facilitated by the Advisory 

Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) , and approximately 30 other research elements. The principles essential to the development of a Federal strategy are outlined, an action agenda recommended, and the opportunities for further interagency cooperation are 

presented within the context of FIS policy research. 

14. SUBJECT TERMS 

Infrastructure, Federal Infrastructure Strategy, 

investment, economic efficiency, performance, 

outputs & outcomes, financing, technology transfer 

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