Sustaining the Nation's Aging Infrastructure Systems : Lessons Learned Applying an Asset Management Framework

Infrastructure systems permeate society at both the personal and business levels. These systems are taken for granted, but the implications of system breakdowns are staggering and directly impact our national competitiveness, having both immediate consequences and long lasting effects on the local, regional and national economies. Many of the infrastructure systems found in the United States have been in place far beyond their design lives. How does an organization manage these aging assets given constrained resources? This paper presents an innovative research and problem formulation method created as part of an effort by the United States Army Corps of Engineers' to develop an Asset Management Framework (AMF) to manage its aging civil infrastructure assets. This paper outlines the development of the framework using an intent-driven command and control approach, grounded by the input from dozens of practitioners, gathered through a series of interviews, surveys, and field studies. The paper describes mechanisms used to bring together economists, biologists, civil engineers, and others to create a robust AMF. The AMF will be illustrated showing transparent integration of preservation and risk mitigation initiatives, as well as budget and resource allocation processes supporting a lifecycle investment strategy for sustainability across the entire agency. The Framework's scope includes oversight of much of America's watersheds covering 1,000 coastal structures, 800 dams, 250 navigation locks, 75 hydropower plants and other assorted facilities. Lessons learned in developing this system are provided, along with its current status. The implications of this work to other industries and pubic sector agencies will be examined