Photo By Richard Bumgardner | Clarence Banks, left, the Fort Worth District’s Value Officer, discusses projects...... read more read more
Picture a scenario where an Army Corps of Engineers project manager is working on a military construction project consisting of a 20,000 square foot administrative space with mixed carpeting and tile flooring. The customer also indicated the desire for a conference room with audio-visual equipment but could not get these features due to overall costs.
The project manager found out that using a smooth concrete surface, instead of carpet and tile flooring, would save a substantial amount of money for the project while still meeting the project and functional requirements.
With the money saved, the project manager could now use those saved funds towards the customer’s desired features, such as adding audio-visual equipment to the facility conference room. This enhances the project by reducing costs and providing betterments for the customer.
This is a prime example of value engineering, known within project management circles as VE.
One can describe VE as a systematic, organized approach to providing necessary functions in a project at the lowest cost. Ideally, it promotes the substitution of materials and methods with less expensive alternatives, without sacrificing functionality of the overall project.
Another possible benefit of performing a VE study on a project that is within budget is to roll over the possible savings on VE suggestions into increased, sustainable design features for a project.
Clarence Banks, the Fort Worth District’s Value Officer for the past eight years, understands the importance and legal requirements for VE. He was previously a program and project manager at the district. Now his job is to oversee value engineering analysis of construction projects throughout the Fort Worth District for added value and/or project improvements.
“The VE team strives to support project delivery teams to achieve the optimal value-added solutions for the district enterprise,” said Banks.”
When projects have an authorization of $2 million or higher, the VE team coordinates with the project manager to draw up a value management plan, as it relates to scope and cost.
“Value management plans are developed to assess project elements and determine the best VE strategy(s) for district compliance measures,” said Banks. “We have the responsibility to support each program and project manager so they can have successful project outcomes, by meeting and exceeding their customer expectations and goals.”
The VE office is two-person office that serves the entire district, so it is important for the value team to stay ahead of projects the district’s VE compliance.
Banks is assisted by Derrick McCollum, an engineering technician. McCollum assists Banks by working closely with project managers and the Fort Worth District’s scheduling group. He also prepares drafting plans, develops strategies, and coordinates activities.
“We cover all business lines within the district such as Program and Project Management, Civil Works, Regional Planning and Environmental Center and Interagency projects,” said Banks. “It is important to educate program and project managers on the VE process, and I encourage everyone to work with us early on so we can help them get to where they need to be from a VE standpoint.”
According to Banks, a key component to the success of the Value Engineering efforts is maintaining a positive working relationship with the program and project managers.
“Letting them know that I am on their side and getting them to understand that I am not here to critique their project, but to enhance it, is very important,” said Banks. “It is one-on-one communication to explain the process and to assist them at the onset of the project as to not impact their schedule, cost and overall project.”
As a monetary example of successful cost avoidance, in 2022 more than $27.4 million was identified from 18 studies. In 2024 it was significantly higher.
A key component for value engineering involves striving to maximize function while minimizing cost. It’s more than just reducing costs at the expense of quality.
“In a nutshell, VE shows you where you didn’t think you could spend funds on projects; and shows you how you can spend the funds better,” he concluded.
Value engineering is another example of where the Army Corps of Engineers is striving to be better stewards of taxpayer and customer dollars.
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2024 17:21 |
| Story ID: | 480998 |
| Location: | FORT WORTH, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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