Role of Inspection and Condition Assessment in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Infrastructure Management: Current Practices and Opportunities for the Future

摘要

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Directorate of Civil Works is in the early stages of implementing infrastructure asset management principles to better manage its civil works infrastructure. This effort is being done, in part, in response to Executive Order 13327, which mandates a pragmatic and consistent approach to Federal agency management of real property. An understanding of how current inspection and condition assessment efforts support infrastructure asset management is needed if USACE is to move forward. The U.S. Army Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory was tasked with surveying a number of USACE District and Division personnel about their inspection and condition assessment practices and how that supports decisions related to infrastructure asset management. This report: (1) describes the demographics of the survey participants and explains the different approaches to condition assessment in use within USACE. (All rely on a deficiency-based approach, i.e., deviations from standards or from known benchmarks, to inspection.); (2) describes how inspection and condition information is used in developing work packages, budgeting, and prioritizing work, and also how inspection and condition information is reported for management; (3) provides recommendations for future opportunities that, if developed and adopted, would strengthen the process.