Defense Infrastructure: Army Should Assess Progress in Standardizing Designs for Facility Construction
Released: 2020-04-22T00:00:00

Letter

Background

The overall objective of the Army Facilities Standardization Program is to achieve savings and benefits in the programing, design, and construction of Army facilities of excellence. To meet AFSP’s objectives in a timely, efficient, and cost-effective manner, the Army established the nine Centers in 2006 to support the AFSP, as shown in figure 1.

The AFSP operates under the direction of the Army Facilities Standardization Committee (Committee). As shown in figure 2 below, the Committee is chaired by the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management (ACSIM) and composed of members from USACE and the U.S. Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM). Each of these offices has representatives who are either full-fledged or advisory members of the Centers of Standardization Management Board (the Board). The Board members directly oversee the activities of the Centers and are responsible for developing performance measures and reporting them to the Committee.

The Centers have primary responsibility for developing and managing Army standard design packages for designated facility types. The Centers, among other things, ensure that these standard designs and construction of projects comply with two other sets of facility guidelines: DOD’s Unified Facilities Criteria (Facilities Criteria) and general Army standards.

As we previously reported, the Facilities Criteria are overarching, DOD-wide technical manuals and standards used for planning, design, construction, restoration, and maintenance of DOD facility projects. These criteria must be used to the greatest extent possible by all DOD components. They are developed through the joint efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, and the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, and they are approved by the Engineer Senior Executive Panel of the Unified Facilities Criteria Program.

According to Army Regulation 420-1, Army standards are the immutable, unchanging, required facility elements and criteria that define the fundamental purpose and function of a facility’s design and construction. These Army standards are authorized by the Committee. Army standard designs define the facility key components, features, and characteristics that must be included in the design and construction or major renovation of all facilities of the same type regardless of location, available funding, command preferences, or installation mission. Essentially, Army standard designs may consist of architectural and engineering drawings as well as written design specifications that a construction team can easily adapt or modify for site-specific requirements.

Figure 3 below compares Army standard designs with Facilities Criteria and general Army standards.

In addition to developing and managing Army standard design packages, the Centers’ staff function principally as engineering and architectural consultants within larger project teams as they monitor and oversee the appropriate use of Army standard designs (as well as any incorporated Army standards or Facilities Criteria). According to Centers officials, 12 full-time and 21 part-time staff are currently dedicated to the Centers. Staff are located in USACE headquarters in Washington, D.C., as well as in eight USACE districts and one Engineering and Support Center. Each Center specializes in and is responsible for specific facility types and their designs. While the Centers support the Army’s overall efforts for standardization, not every Army facility is built according to a standard design. Appropriate Centers staff are required to review every proposed Army construction project at its outset and, if an installation has requested a waiver from an existing Army standard or standard design, all voting members of the Committee may authorize waivers in accordance with certain procedures. According to Centers officials, Army standard designs have been developed for about 70 regularly constructed facility types out of the Army’s nearly 900 facility types. For example, the Army has standard designs for fire stations, chapels, dining facilities, and weapons storage. (See appendix II for a listing of the 70 facility types that currently have standard designs or for which standard designs are under development.)

According to Centers officials, the Centers’ 70 facility types account for approximately 60 percent of Army Military Construction (MILCON) projects and represent an estimated 55 percent to 70 percent of the overall Army MILCON budget for any given year. (See appendix III for information on overall DOD standardization program, including the Navy and Air Force standard design programs.) In fiscal year 2019, the Centers reported a combined annual budget of about $6.2 million for their operations and personnel.

The Centers Have Engaged in Activities That Support Key Objectives and Are Consistent with Key Principles and Concepts in OMB Guidance

The Centers identified and engaged in a number of activities designed to support the key objectives found in their charter and these activities are consistent with key principles and concepts in OMB guidance for a disciplined capital programming process. The Centers’ charter includes the following three objectives: (1) developing and refining Centers’ policies and processes; (2) assuring consistent application of standards of the Centers program; and (3) monitoring the Centers’ execution to meet the overarching objectives and priorities of the AFSP and standardization process. To meet the three objectives, the Centers engage in different activities throughout the military construction process. Figure 4 below shows the various points at which the Centers are involved in the life- cycle of a military construction project and examples of the activities in which the Centers engage. For example, Engineer Regulation 1110-3- 113 states that during the design phase of projects, the Centers maintain a lead role and will be the technical lead for coordination, review, and acceptance of design deliverables, including providing field technical assistance, identifying and advising when a waiver is required and coordinating with appropriate authorities in this matter, and reviewing and editing requests for proposal documents—activities that according to our analysis support the Centers’ second objective.

Based on our review of supporting documentation from five projects that used standard designs, we found that the Centers were undertaking the activities mentioned above. In addition, activities in which the Centers engaged during the design, construction, and post-construction phases of these projects were consistent with key principles and concepts in OMB guidance. Specifically, we found evidence that, for these five projects, Centers’ staff participated as integrated members of the project delivery teams in planning meetings, design reviews, assessments of the need for standard design waivers, value engineering studies, and life-cycle cost analyses during the projects’ design and construction phases. These activities were consistent with key principles and concepts in OMB guidance for a disciplined capital planning process, including that agencies should use integrated project teams, as appropriate, to manage the various capital programming phases or major acquisition programs within the agency.

In addition, we found that other Centers’ activities—performing post- occupancy evaluations (POE) and updating standard designs when applicable—were also consistent with key principles and concepts in OMB guidance for a disciplined capital planning process. For instance, we found that a POE was completed for one project, a post-occupancy questionnaire was completed for another project, a POE was planned during fiscal year 2020 for a third project, and a fourth project was still under construction. According to OMB capital programming guidance, POEs are tools to evaluate the overall effectiveness of an agency’s capital acquisition process. The primary objectives of a POE include (1) identifying how accurately a project meets its objectives, expected benefits, and strategic goals of the agency and (2) ensuring the continual improvement of an agency’s capital-programming process based on lessons learned. The guidance identifies factors to be considered for evaluation in conducting a POE, such as standards and compliance, customer/user satisfaction, and cost savings. The guidance also notes that a POE should generally be conducted 12 months after the project has been occupied, to allow time for the tenant to evaluate the building’s performance and relevant aspects of project delivery. However, the guidance allows agencies some flexibility in the timing of a POE to meet their unique needs if 12 months is not the optimal timing to conduct the evaluation.

Our review of Centers guidance and project documents also found that the Centers’ activities supported the Centers’ objectives as well as AFSP objectives and priorities. In addition, Centers officials emphasized that the Centers participate in all Army standard design construction projects to ensure that the facility designs support the objectives of the AFSP, specifically improving the programing, design, and construction processes for Army facilities. As shown in table 1 and further outlined below, we assessed whether the Centers’ activities undertaken on standard design construction projects were applicable to the Centers’ objectives. Then, for those that were applicable, we determined whether those activities supported the Centers’ objectives. (See appendix IV for a detailed analysis of how the Centers activities support the program’s objectives.)

Centers use POEs to evaluate standard designs: We found, for example, that the POEs led by the Centers are designed to evaluate whether the project met fundamental Army functional and mission requirements, whether the project implemented Army standard design, and whether improvements to the design could be made. These reviews support Centers objectives 1, 2, and 3— developing and refining Centers’ policies and processes, consistently applying Army standard designs, and supporting AFSP objectives and priorities—by identifying areas of the design needing improvement, evaluating whether a facility was constructed in accordance with the approved project design, and eliciting customer feedback concerning whether the finished facility meets mission requirements.

Centers review standard design waivers: The Centers review an installation’s waiver request and advise whether a waiver to Army standards or standard designs is required for that specific project. This process supports Centers objectives 1, 2, and 3—developing and refining Centers’ policies and processes, consistently applying Army standard designs, and supporting AFSP objectives and priorities. Specifically, part of the waiver review and approval process is the Centers’ assessing whether a waiver request represents a unique need of a specific end user or a possible permanent change to the Army standard design or Unified Facilities Criteria. In addition, if the Centers waive the use of or approve deviations from standard design prior to the beginning of the construction phase, it may reduce the number of change orders that occur during construction.

Army Has Limited Performance Measures to Track the Centers’ Progress toward Key Objectives

The Army, through its Centers of Standardization Management Board, is responsible for oversight of the Centers and has performance measures to track their progress in achieving one of their three key objectives. However, the Army does not have performance measures for assessing progress for their other two objectives.

Army’s Centers of Standardization Management Board Is Responsible for Oversight of the Centers

The Board provides oversight to the Centers in support of the AFSP. The Board members are responsible for developing, implementing, and reporting on program metrics. The Centers’ Charter of 2006 broadly identifies the mission and objectives of the Board, while more recent program guidance and regulations describe its functions in more detail. The Charter states that the mission of the Board is to provide corporate oversight and consistent Centers execution in support of the AFSP.

In overseeing the Centers, it is key that the Board has performance measures that provide it with evaluative information to help make decisions about the program—information that tells them whether, and why, a program is working well or not. Performance measurement is the ongoing monitoring and reporting of program accomplishments, particularly progress toward pre-established goals. It is typically conducted by program or agency management and is critical for providing information concerning whether a program is working well or not. Performance measures may address the type or level of program activities conducted (processes), the direct products and services delivered by a program (outputs), or the results of those products and services (outcomes).

Army’s Oversight Processes for the Centers Have Limited Performance Measures for Tracking Progress toward Achieving Centers’ Objectives

The Army has a performance measure to support its first key objective. Each fiscal year, the nine Centers develop budget execution plans that outline how they will support the design standards for the specific facility types for which they have responsibility. In these plans, the Centers establish goals for updating specific existing standard designs and developing new standard designs (that is, the output from the Centers’ efforts). The Board’s primary oversight process consists of monitoring program execution of the nine Centers. According to Center officials, the Board reviews these execution plans at the semi-annual board meetings to determine whether the Centers are executing as planned, that is have the Centers met their goals for updating and developing standard designs. We found that this oversight process enables the Board to assess the progress each of the Centers has made toward achieving its goals for updating existing standard designs and developing new ones. For example, in fiscal year 2017 the Fort Worth Center completed all four of its planned standard design updates, and the Honolulu Center completed three of its four planned updates.

We also found that the Board does not evaluate progress toward ensuring that the Centers consistently apply standard designs across the Centers of Standardization program (second objective of the Centers). Specifically, as shown in table 1 above, the Centers engage in a number of activities that support the consistent application of Centers standards on a project-by-project basis. However, the Board does not maintain, consolidate, or analyze information about how frequently the Centers engage in such activities, or how the Centers’ activities affect the program. That is because, according to Army and Centers officials, neither the Board nor the Centers have developed and implemented performance measures to assess the progress the Centers are making in ensuring that standard designs are consistently used. Absent such measures, the Army lacks assurance that standard designs are being applied, when appropriate, and that standard designs are being applied consistently across the service.

In fact, to provide the project-specific documentation that we reviewed, the Centers needed to request documents from the USACE district office responsible for the projects. According to Centers officials, this was necessary because the Centers currently do not have a document management system in which project documentation is stored. Instead, as the USACE organization responsible for specific projects, each district maintains its own project records. The officials stated that USACE recently moved to a cloud-based system for storing project documents and is exploring whether this system could provide a more central document storage system. We note that having access to such information, along with creating appropriate performance measures, could enable the Board to measure whether progress has been made in ensuring that standard designs are applied consistently.

In addition, we found that the Board does not evaluate whether the Centers are making progress in supporting the objectives and priorities of the AFSP (third objective of the Centers). One of the objectives of the AFSP is to reduce design costs and time, construction costs and time, and the number of change orders issued during construction. Although Army and Centers officials told us that the use of standard designs reduces project costs, time, and change orders, they could not provide supporting data. That is because, according to Army and Centers officials, neither the Board nor the Centers have developed and implemented performance measures to assess the effects of the use of standard designs. Creating such measures could enable the Army to assess the extent to which the Centers are reducing design costs and time, construction costs and time, and the number of change orders issued.

DOD’s Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Performance Plan and Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Performance Report established a goal of simplifying, delivering faster, and reducing costs of product and service procurement. One of the performance measures associated with this goal was to reduce cost overruns and schedule delays by up to 50 percent for military construction projects. Developing and implementing performance measures related to reducing design costs and time, construction costs and time, and the number of change orders issued would enable the Centers to demonstrate the extent to which they are supporting DOD’s annual performance goals.

Use of Standard Design Does Not Introduce Increased Liability to Facility Projects

We found that the use of the standard design does not introduce increased liability for the Centers if issues arise during a construction project. Centers officials stated that a contractor could file a claim against the government if the contractor felt there was a flaw in the Army’s standard design or that using the standard design resulted in unanticipated costs during the design or construction phase. However, Centers officials stated that there have been no instances in which any of the Centers was a party to legal action related to the use of a standard design.

According to Centers officials, the design for a facility project is typically developed by one of the USACE district offices or an architect-engineer contractor. Further, these officials stated that while the pertinent Army standard design guides the development of Army project designs, the final project design, certified by the USACE district office or an architecture/engineering contractor, represents the plan for a specific project. In addition, according to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the architect-engineer contractor is responsible for the professional quality, technical accuracy, and coordination of all designs, drawings, specifications, and other services furnished by the contractor under its contract. Furthermore, the FAR states that the contractor shall, without additional compensation, correct or revise any errors or deficiencies in its designs, drawings, specifications, and other services. The FAR also stipulates that the contractor may be liable for government costs resulting from errors or deficiencies in designs furnished under the contract. Consequently, according to USACE officials, because the Centers are not responsible for the design of a specific project, they would not have increased liability in the event that changes were required during construction.

Conclusion

The Centers of Standardization develop and update Army standards and Army standard designs within the Army Facilities Standardization Program. In addition, the Centers are responsible for ensuring that the design and construction of Army military construction projects comply with approved Army standards and Unified Facilities Criteria. While the Army tracks the Centers’ program execution related to the Centers’ efforts to develop new and update existing standard designs (first objective of the Centers), it does not have performance measures for assessing progress toward the Centers’ other two objectives. Specifically, the Army does not have performance measures in place to assess the progress the Centers have made toward assuring consistent application of standards from the Centers’ program (second objective of the Centers) or monitoring the Centers’ execution to meet the overarching objectives and priorities of the AFSP and standardization process (third objective of the Centers) including, among other things, reducing design costs and time, construction costs and time, and change orders during construction. This hinders the Centers’ ability to determine how well they are supporting the objectives of both the Army Facility Standardization Program and DOD’s annual performance plans, as well as the Centers’ ability to demonstrate the extent to which they are achieving their objectives.

Recommendations for Executive Action

We are making two recommendations to the Secretary of the Army.

The Secretary of the Army should ensure that the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management, in conjunction with the Centers of Standardization and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, establish and implement performance measures to assess the progress the Centers are making in ensuring that standard designs are used consistently. (Recommendation 1)

The Secretary of the Army should ensure that the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management, in conjunction with the Centers of Standardization and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, establish and implement performance measures to assess the effects of the use of standard designs, specifically the progress the Centers are making in reducing design costs and time, construction costs and time, and change orders. (Recommendation 2)

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

We provided a draft of this report to the Department of the Army for review and comment. In its written comments, the Army concurred with both of our recommendations, and stated it would take actions to implement them. The Army’s comments are printed in their entirety in appendix V.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional committees; the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

In addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions concerning this report, please contact Diana Maurer at (202) 512-9627 or maurerd@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are listed in appendix VI.

Appendix I: List of Projects GAO Reviewed

Appendix II: Facility Types Supported by Centers of Standardization

According to Centers officials, a total of 12 full-time and 21 part-time staff are assigned to the Centers of Standardization. Each Center specializes in and is responsible for specific facility types and their designs. Table 3 below lists the current staffing levels and the facility types supported by each of the Centers.

Appendix III: Department of Defense Standardization Program

The Department of Defense’s (DOD) department-wide standardization program has the goals of improving military operational readiness, reducing total ownership costs, and reducing cycle time. Overseen by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)), the Department of Defense Standardization Program is described in DOD Manual 4120.24, which outlines its governing council, definitions, and procedures that apply to all components within the department.

Under the Defense Standardization Program, DOD component heads ensure that materiel standardization, including information technology and facilities, is addressed throughout the acquisition process. The three overarching goals of the Defense Standardization Program are to (1) improve military operational readiness, (2) reduce total ownership costs of the department, and (3) reduce cycle times. The manual also defines the following terms:

Standard. A document that establishes uniform engineering or technical criteria, methods, processes, and practices.

Standardization. The process of developing and agreeing on (by consensus or decision) uniform engineering criteria for products, processes, practices, and methods for achieving compatibility, interoperability, interchangeability, or commonality of materiel.

Defense standard. A document that establishes uniform engineering and technical requirements for military-unique or substantially modified commercial processes, procedures, practices, and methods. There are five types of defense standards: interface standards, design criteria standards, manufacturing process standards, standard practices, and test method standards.

DOD’s Unified Facilities Criteria (Facilities Criteria) and Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS) provide facility planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance, sustainment, restoration, and modernization criteria for facility owned by the DOD. The Facilities Criteria contain technical guidance; introduce new and innovative technology; or provide mandatory requirements to implement laws, regulations, executive orders, and policies prescribed by higher authority documents. The Facilities Criteria also define performance and quality requirements for facilities to support their mission throughout their life cycle. According to DOD guidance, the Facilities Criteria provide the most current operationally effective, cost-efficient, and safe criteria at the time of publication. Both the Facilities Criteria and UFGS are developed through the joint efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, and the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, and are approved by the Engineer Senior Executive Panel of the Unified Facilities Criteria Program.

The Facilities Criteria and UFGS systems were designed not only to establish uniformity among defense facilities, but to standardize and streamline the process for developing, maintaining, and disseminating construction criteria. The procedures for the development and maintenance of the Unified Criteria and Unified Specifications are outlined in Military Standard 3007G, which is updated by the Engineering Senior Executive Panel.

Each military department (Army, Navy, and Air Force) has its own facilities standardization program that implements the Unified Criteria and Unified Specifications as well as service-specific facilities criteria, standards, and guides. The Army’s program, known as the Army Facilities Standardization Program (AFSP), is the oldest among the three departments, having been initiated in 1993. Due largely to the unique construction needs of the Army, the AFSP is the most complex and comprehensive of the facility standardization programs. It utilizes two levels of guidance for standardized facility types: a broad standard, called “Army Standards,” and a specific standard, called “Standard Design.” The Department of the Navy program began in 2014 and provides policy and standards for the design development, and revision of Navy project documents in Navy and Marine Corps Design and Facilities Criteria, while the Air Force program was started in 2016 and provides criteria in an Air Force Instruction for design and construction of Air Force facilities.

Appendix IV: Crosswalk of Key Centers of Standardization Activities and Objectives

The Centers of Standardization (Centers) undertake a number of activities designed to support the key objectives found in their charter, which includes supporting the objectives of the Army Facilities Standardization Program (AFSP). Table 4 identifies each of these activities along with the specific objectives that we determined the activities support. developing and refining Centers of Standardization policies and processes, assuring consistent application of standards of the Centers’ program, and monitoring the Centers’ execution to meet the overarching objectives of the AFSP and standardization process. increased credibility with the Congress through more consistent construction program development, increased consistency in facility types with equal treatment among Army Commands, installations, and users, improved master planning and site development activities, improved design quality, and the promotion of design excellence, simplified design and construction project management, reduced design costs and times, reduced construction costs and time, and reduced change orders during construction, and increased customer satisfaction through improved responsiveness to users’ functional and operational requirements.

Appendix V: Comments from the Department of the Army

Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff Acknowledgments