The work on the new Louisville Veterans Affairs Medical Center has provided the project team opportunity to set the standard for future Department of Veterans Affairs projects managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The team is sharing its lessons learned with the contingency management process.
Several USACE South Pacific Division (SPD) employees were recently able to take advantage of this knowledge as they visited the site to learn how the Louisville District has been working change management items.
Drew Henry, a USACE Louisville District risk manager for the Louisville VA Medical Center project, lead a two-day learning opportunity with four employees from the SPD Feb. 12-13. Eileen Nixdorf and Kevin Kenworthy, South Pacific Division, Earl Chow, Sacramento District and Joshua Keever, Los Angeles District took part in the two-day training event to learn about the review process and tools the district uses for contingency management on the project.
Henry said a wide variety of topics were covered during the visit.
“We reviewed Louisville District collaborative and coordinated team efforts between multiple stakeholders including USACE, VA, and VA’s Office of Construction and Facilities Management to track, manage and report on contingency funding, contract changes, contract modifications, contingency funding and Cost and Schedule Risk Analysis projections related to the VAMC replacement project,” he said. “We also reviewed how the Louisville team uses strategic engagements including the monthly bi-weekly VAMC project coordination meeting, monthly joint risk management meeting, monthly change management meeting, monthly contingency management meeting, annual Cost and Schedule Risk Analysis update and bi-weekly project leadership reporting to track, manage and report on project contingency status.”
Kenworthy, a risk manager for the SPD, said the information shared was invaluable for others working on future VA projects.
“The Contingency Funds Management overview and training the SPD team received from the Louisville Team was excellent—the level of detail unequaled, and it provided a fresh new perspective for the Department of Veterans Affairs projects in the $1 billion range requiring an Integrated Project Office level team,” he said. “At the present time all the SPD DVA construction projects have Resident Engineer level teams and none of the construction phases are near the $1 billion level. This new risk management tool that was gone over provides a great way to provide transparency and effective financial management for USACE, the DVA and the American taxpayers.”
Henry said he was happy to share these tools and tips that could provide value for VA construction projects in the SPD's footprint.
“I hope they gained a better understanding of the contingency management tools developed at the Louisville District and are able to take that knowledge applying it to their VA projects adding value for our stakeholders,” he said.
Kenworthy added that he felt one benefit beside the technical aspects of the training was how it allowed everyone to share and learn.
“The most valuable take-away for me was the positive team climate this contingency management tool provided for the working level stakeholders to sit down and communicate the simple to complex construction variables a $1 billion project will always have,” he said. “This positive team climate at the Louisville IPO project had a secondary order of effect of allowing working level stakeholders to evaluate engineering and contractual project details and develop the best solutions possible and, at times, determine a potential modification was not in the best interest of the taxpayers.”