Defense Infrastructure: Army Should Assess Progress in Standardizing Designs for Facility Construction
Fast Facts
The Army uses standard designs for 70 types of facilities it regularly builds, e.g., barracks and fitness centers. Doing so can improve quality, reduce costs, and streamline contracting.
The Army Corps of Engineers’ “Centers for Standardization” should:
Develop and refine standard designs
Ensure application of the Centers’ standards
Monitor the effects of designs
The Army tracks the Centers’ progress in developing and refining designs, but doesn’t ensure that standards are consistently applied or assess the effects of designs on reducing costs or contract changes. We recommended establishing performance measures to do these things.
Newly Constructed Dining Facility at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin
Dining facility
Highlights
What GAO Found
The nine Centers of Standardization (Centers) within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertake a number of activities designed to support each of their program objectives. Their charter includes three objectives: (1) developing and refining Centers' policies and processes; (2) assuring consistent application of the Centers' standards; and (3) monitoring execution to meet the overarching objectives and priorities of the Army Facilities Standardization Program (AFSP) and standardization process. We found that the Centers' various activitiessuch as conducting value engineering and life-cycle cost studies to identify possible cost savings and analyze long-term costs of new facilitiesare consistent with key principles and concepts in Office of Management and Budget guidance for a disciplined capital planning process. Additionally, the post-occupancy evaluations led by the Centers are designed to evaluate whether the Army functional requirements have been met, Army standard design has been implemented, and there are any areas where the design could be improved. These evaluations support all three of the Centers' objectives by evaluating whether a design needs improvement, a facility was constructed in accordance with the approved project design, and customer needs were met.
Centers of Standardization Activities Performed during Army Military Construction Projects
The Army has limited performance measures to track the Centers' progress in achieving program objectives. Semi-annual meetings of the Army's Centers of Standardization Management Board (Board) enable the Army to track the Centers' progress toward their goal of developing and updating Center policies and processes (first objective of the Centers). However, GAO found that the Army lacks performance measures to assess the Centers' progress in ensuring the consistent application of Army standard designs (second objective of the Centers) and in monitoring how well the Centers meet the objectives and priorities of the AFSP and standardization process (third objective of the Centers). Specifically, the Board does not maintain, consolidate, or analyze information about how frequently the Centers participate in construction projects, or how this activity affects the program and supports AFSP objectives, such as reducing project costs, times, and change orders. Taking steps to develop and implement appropriate performance measures would enhance the Army's efforts to ensure that the Centers are meeting their program objectives.
Why GAO Did This Study
In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began its Centers of Standardization program to develop design standards for facility types that the Army constructs on a regular basis. The Centers support broader Army efforts under the AFSP to standardize facility types with objectives such as improving design quality, reducing design and construction costs and time, and reducing change orders.
Senate Report 115-262 accompanying the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 included a provision for GAO to evaluate the Centers' effectiveness. This report assesses, among other things, the extent to which (1) the Centers have identified activities that support their objectives, and (2) the Army tracks the Centers' progress toward their objectives. GAO reviewed and analyzed applicable regulations and program and project documentation; compared Center activities to program objectives; and interviewed cognizant agency officials to gain an understanding of the Centers' operations and potential financial liabilities.
Recommendations
GAO is recommending that the Army establish performance measures to assess the Centers' progress to (1) ensure the consistent use of standard designs and (2) reduce construction costs and time and reduce the occurrence of change orders. The Army concurred with our recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department 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) |
DOD concurred with this April 2020 recommendation. In September 2021, DOD provided information that it had established and implemented performance measures to assess the progress the Centers are making in ensuring that standard designs are used consistently. Specifically, DOD provided the Center of Standardization project status tracker used to identify standard design projects that were completed during the year. The tracker identifies projects that were completed during the year, if documents were submitted to Centers of Standardization for review and certified to be Army Standard or Standard Design compliant, and whether projects that were not Army Standard or Standard Design compliant were approved through a waiver. Officials stated that, per policy, all the projects have had Centers of Standardization involvement and all have been approved by the centers. In November 2021, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials confirmed that they will continue to use the Centers of Standardization project status tracker moving forward. The actions taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers meet the intent of our recommendation to establish and implement performance measures to assess the progress the Centers are making in ensuring that standard designs are used consistently.
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| Department 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 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) |
DOD concurred with this April 2020 recommendation. In June 2021, we met with DOD and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials to discuss information provided on their efforts to develop performance metrics to evaluate the use of standard designs on Army military construction projects. Specifically, DOD provided performance data from fiscal year 2020 that had been developed to support their annual program evaluation of the Centers of Standardization. This data included performance metrics to measure the effects that standard designs have had on (1) reducing design costs, (2) reducing design time, (3) cost growth on projects, and (4) time growth on projects. These metrics showed that design costs and design time were lower for standard design projects and that cost growth and time growth were also lower for standard design projects. According to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials, these metrics will be part of their annual review of the performance of the Centers of Standardization. Regarding the use of change orders, the officials stated that a metric for reducing change orders was not developed because there are many potential reasons why change orders are submitted other than design issues and therefore, change orders do not represent a sound metric for measuring the effects that standard designs have on military construction projects. The actions taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers meet the intent of our recommendation to develop appropriate measures to evaluate the effects of the use of standard designs.
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