Photo By William Farrow | Senior leaders from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the US Army Corps of...... read more read more
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. --The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) collaborative efforts continue to shape the future of Veteran health care facilities, marking a significant stride forward for VA’s medical construction programs.
Nearly a decade ago, an Interagency Agreement was signed between the VA and USACE for USACE to provide project and construction management, engineering services, and other support to the VA.
The USACE Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville plays a great role in the VA projects as it serves as the design and construction agent for major VA medical facilities valued at over $100 million.
Currently, VA’s major medical construction program oversees 30 health care facility construction projects in the U.S., with a total value exceeding $14 billion.
Earlier this summer, USACE and VA representatives united for a joint summit in Frederick, MD, to discuss strategic priorities including reinforcing the commitment to enhancing the national medical construction program.
Attendee Wade Doss, Huntsville Center Engineering director, said with so many stakeholders involved in every project, it is imperative that they all collectively recognize and understand each other’s roles on the team.
He said presentations at the summit included information on the Enterprise Program Management Plan, the VA’s infrastructure strategy including details on their current planning and programming efforts, roles and responsibilities and lines of communication from the PMO down to each project, as well as details on how to adjudicate disagreements along the way as facilities are planned, deigned, constructed, and turned over to the DVA.
“It was important for USACE reps to hear the ‘big picture’ from the VA in terms of their overall facilities portfolio and capital investment strategy,” Doss said.
Key focuses of the conference were the health of the partnership for the national level medical construction program, shaping program priorities, and review of the strategic plan and partnering initiatives that will drive the future of this significant interagency program.
While VA and USACE leadership reflected on significant progress, it also found areas to improve, according to Mike Lanier, Michael Lanier, Project Development Team leader and Liaison to the VA for the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville.
“Specifically, the group identified gaps in financial reporting and took decisive action to improve program performance,” Lanier said.
Lanier said the group also collaborated to standardize financial reporting, enhance funding capabilities, and implemented more efficient processes.
“These updated financial policies will ensure that implementation is accountable, auditable and repeatable,” he said.
“Additionally, the leaders will continue to focus on simplifying and standardizing customer invoicing and order fulfillment.”
Lanier said collaborative analytics too, will continue to drive personnel behavior, improve teamwork, and enhance the overall performance of the medical construction project.
Huntsville Center’s Medical Facilities Center of Expertise developed and implemented enterprise-wide standardized Medical Construction Quality Assurance training for USACE Districts executing VA projects with a focus on medically unique features.
The MCX trained over 300 staff from Louisville, Sacramento and Buffalo Districts and VA area offices. Training covered topics such as: joint commission accreditation; medical gas systems; fire protection/life safety; plumbing systems, radiation shielding, HVAC; architectural mockups and communications systems.
Lanier said additional training at summits and training next fiscal year and beyond with additional training modules currently under development.
| Date Taken: | 09.05.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.05.2024 11:40 |
| Story ID: | 480155 |
| Location: | REDSTONE ARSENAL, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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