Monitoring and Controlling Engineering and Construction Management Cost Performance Within the Corps of Engineers

摘要

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provided $7 billion worth of design, engineering, design and engineering management, and construction management services for the military construction (MILCON) and the civil works programs in FY88. Since cost control is a major part of USACE's management responsibilities, their customers expect strict control of authorized funds and adherence to established budgets. This expectation has been heightened by the decreased MILCON budgets of recent years and by legislative initiatives such as the Water Resource Development Act of 1986. Comparisons with firms providing construction management for projects of similar complexity such as roads, bridges, tunnels, and heavy industrial facilities indicate that USACE construction management costs for its military program are below the industry average for comparable work and its engineering and design costs for the military program are higher than industry averages. We also find that the direct-to-indirect cost ratio varies greatly within the engineering and construction industries. The variance is even more dramatic for USACE organizations and is the result of different interpretations of USACE policies that encourage the direct charging of as many costs as possible. These variances prevent using indirect cost rates as a basis for controlling costs - the cornerstone of the most current USACE cost management efforts. Keywords: Design, Engineering, Construction management services, Military construction (MILCON), Cost-monitoring strategy. (sdw)