The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reorganizing its long-standing value engineering program by shifting it from a separate activity and folding it into existing project delivery processes, a move critics warn would increase the risk of waste, cost growth and schedule overruns.
USACE said the transition is already underway and that the new model is expected to be fully implemented by Sept. 30.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is not dissolving, eliminating or reducing our commitment to value engineering. To the contrary, USACE is elevating and modernizing value engineering by transitioning it from a standalone, parallel compliance program to an organic, fully embedded capability within our standard project delivery business processes,” the Army Corps of Engineers public affairs office told Federal News Network.
“Value engineering is historically successful and inherent to how USACE delivers complex engineering solutions. Recognizing this organizational maturity, we are integrating these proven cost-and-function optimization methodologies directly into the daily workflows of our project delivery teams and standard design reviews. This strategic shift ensures that USACE will continue to meet the intent of federal statutory requirements under 41 U.S. Code § 1711, while removing redundant administrative steps, to efficiently deliver quality projects for the nation on schedule and on budget,” the office added.
Robert Stewart, SAVE International immediate past president, said while the Corps of Engineers is acknowledging the importance of value engineering, its decision to reassign the employees who administered the program contradicts that statement.
And while the Corps maintains that the program is being reorganized and modernized rather than dissolved, SAVE International, a professional society for value methodology and value engineering, is urging Army leaders to reverse its decision and restore the program’s organizational capability by July 1.
Value engineering is not the same as simply cost cutting. Instead, it is a structured methodology used to improve project outcomes by reducing lifecycle costs, accelerating project delivery timelines and mitigating risks and uncertainties — a process that requires specialized training and expertise. Since its inception, the Corps value program has reported over $24 billion in accepted cost avoidance.
“It’s proven, it’s got a long track record. It works and it is one of the best tools available to ensure that taxpayer money is spent prudently. I’m really mystified as to why this decision was made, especially when there had been ongoing efforts to make the process more efficient, to streamline it, and I believe core leadership was aware of these activities, so it really came as a surprise to a lot of people,” Stewart said.
Stewart said the decision to end the value engineering program in its current form was made around June 1, but employees responsible for running the program did not learn about the changes until days later and that they would be reassigned beginning July 1.
“My understanding was that those reassignments were going to be more focused on traditional project delivery, project engineering, project management, that type of thing. There was no indication from anybody about how the actual process of value engineering would be integrated into their project delivery processes,” Stewart said. “It sounded like there really wasn’t a clear answer as to how the Corps is going to respond to its value engineering mission. I think that’s still unclear. Nobody really knows for sure how this is going to take place, but I found it very strange that the decision would be made to eliminate all of those professional positions,”
Workforce changes
USACE said no technical capabilities are being eliminated and that “standalone, administratively isolated value engineering office roles are transitioning into critically important district and project level roles.”
“The highly talented, specialized VE workforce (primarily 0800-series technical subject matter experts) is being actively retained and integrated into critical project delivery, engineering, and centers of expertise roles across USACE districts and major subordinate commands,” the Army Corps of Engineers public affairs office said.
“All core value engineering functions will continue. This includes life-cycle cost analysis, function analysis, and project cost/benefit optimizations. Rather than being executed as standalone, external VE workshops, these analyses will now occur natively during standard project design charrettes and planning phases. The external, contractor-driven value engineering change proposal process governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation remains unchanged,” the office added.
Stewart said it’s unclear how exactly the process of value engineering would be integrated into their project delivery processes, even though the Corps had started exploring ways to integrate those activities before the reorganization.
Formal analysis
When asked whether USACE conducted an analysis before making the change, the agency said it had concluded that value engineering had become sufficiently integrated throughout the organization to no longer require a standalone structure.
“It is our assessment that the VE Program has been instrumental in optimizing our project delivery, improving safety, and managing life cycle costs, and the logical next step in our organizational maturity is to no longer treat it as a separate, parallel process. To implement this change, VE responsibilities will be integrated into other areas of expertise across the USACE enterprise,” the public affairs office said.
Integrating value engineering activities into normal project delivery processes is nothing new. It has been done for years in other organizations, and the Corps had recently started identifying specific ways that could be done. But embedding value engineering into routine project work does not eliminate the need for dedicated specialists.
“The concern is … it gets back to specialized knowledge and expertise. It’s not a normal engineering activity. It’s a process that requires people to shift their thinking in a different way, and that requires training and experience to do that. It just doesn’t make sense that you would toss that away and just assume that people are going to be able to do this as their normal course of work,” Stewart said.
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email anastasia.obis@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at (301) 830-2747.
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