Photo By Andres Guzman | Dr. David Pittman (left), director of the Engineer Research and Development Center...... read more read more
For the last 250 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been tasked with delivering vital engineering solutions to secure the nation, energize the economy and reduce disaster risk. While the mission has evolved over time, USACE has always been America’s engineers, serving the country by providing solutions for the nation’s toughest challenges.
Like USACE’s mission, the nation’s toughest challenges have also evolved over time, but perhaps never more quickly than the rate at which they evolve today. To keep up with constantly evolving challenges, USACE must also keep up with industry partners and stakeholders technologically. This is no small feat since the federal government is often disparaged as being slow, outdated, difficult to work with or posing unnecessary barriers to its industry partners.
However, bureaucracy exists for a reason, so doing what it does best, USACE has engineered a solution with the creation and implementation of the Construction Management Technology Modernization Office, or CM TMO—the government loves its acronyms, after all. Based out of the Kansas City District in Kansas City, Missouri, the CM TMO is the execution arm of USACE Headquarters’ Construction Management Innovation Office.
“Our number one priority is to improve working conditions for our staff and to give them the tools and technology they need,” said Alexandra Henderson Connors, technology modernization officer with the CM TMO. “We are focused on making the everyday tasks our workforce is doing in the field—their everyday construction management activities—more efficient, more effective and with a higher level of quality.”
This work ranges from developing and populating a comprehensive constructive management knowledge management platform; providing training on existing technology; assisting project delivery teams in navigating technology logistics; hosting lab services appointments bringing new technology to the workforce, to hosting partners and stakeholders at the Construction Management Innovation Lab to test and learn how to use virtual reality and artificial intelligence tools on their projects.
But Henderson Connors envisions the CM TMO going beyond equipping and training USACE staff with technology on par with what industry partners use.
“I’m really excited that we are able to more widely engage in research and development—what problems do we have to solve, what opportunities are in front of us and how can we create something that meets the specific and unique needs of a government setting,” she said. “How can we improve the professional lives of our staff with that perspective?”
Considering the vast and vital missions USACE provides the nation—from its civil works mission, military construction mission, environmental and regulatory missions to its emergency operations mission, just to name a few—some might find it hard to believe USACE has been able to successfully deliver quality programs on time, within budget and safely all while using outdated methods and technology no longer used by industry. According to Henderson Connors, this is a testament to the talented people who work for USACE.
“We have a really gritty and resilient workforce and everything we accomplish, that’s due to a lot of ingenuity in the field,” she said. “I think the most exciting and rewarding part about our work is helping people be able to do their jobs in ways they didn’t realize were possible.”
USACE cannot deliver on its commitments without collaboration from partners. Likewise, it cannot research and develop new construction management processes and technologies alone.
“We are committed to sourcing ideas from outside our own USACE environment. We partner with [USACE’s Engineer Research and Development Center,] … we have partnerships with academia and we have roundtables or consortia with industry … to leverage ideas from as many places as possible,” said Henderson Connors. “All these things make us easier to work with and [make us] a better partner.”
For more information about USACE’s Construction Management Technology Modernization Office and its innovation lab, email CM_TMO@usace.army.mil.
| Date Taken: | 01.17.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 01.17.2025 11:15 |
| Story ID: | 489262 |
| Location: | MISSOURI, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Construction Management Technology Modernization Office: The future of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, by Christine Paul, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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