Construction Management Technology Modernization Office: The Future of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | Article

For the past 250 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been responsible for providing vital engineering solutions to secure the nation, boost the economy, and reduce the risk of disaster. Although the mission has evolved over time, USACE has always been America’s engineer, serving the country by providing solutions to the nation’s toughest challenges.

Like USACE’s mission, the toughest challenges facing the nation have also evolved over time, but perhaps never more rapidly than they are evolving today. To meet evolving challenges, USACE must also keep pace with industry partners and stakeholders technologically. This is no small feat since the federal government is often criticized as slow, outdated, difficult to work with or posing unnecessary obstacles to its industrial partners.

However, bureaucracy exists for a reason, so doing what it does best, USACE has designed a solution with the creation and implementation of the Construction Management Technology Modernization Office, or CM TMO – the government loves its acronyms, after all. Headquartered in the Kansas City District of Kansas City, Missouri, the CM TMO is the executing arm of the USACE Headquarters Construction Management Innovation Office.

“Our number one priority is to improve the working conditions of our staff and provide them with the tools and technology they need,” said Alexandra Henderson Connors, head of technology modernization at CM TMO. “We are working to make the daily tasks performed by our field staff – their daily 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; provide training on existing technology; help project delivery teams navigate technology logistics; hosting laboratory service appointments bringing new technologies to the workforce, hosting partners and speakers at the Construction Management Innovation Lab to test and learn how to use virtual reality tools and artificial intelligence on their projects.

But Henderson Connors envisions the CM TMO going beyond equipping and training USACE personnel with technology comparable to that used by industry partners.

“I’m really excited that we can engage more broadly in research and development: what problems do we need to solve, what opportunities are available to 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 employees from this perspective?

Given the broad and vital missions that USACE provides to the nation – from its civil works mission, its military construction mission, its environmental and regulatory missions to its emergency operations mission, and more Name just a few – some might find it hard to believe that USACE was able to pull this off. delivering quality programs on time, on budget and safely, while using outdated methods and technologies no longer used by the industry. According to Henderson Connors, this is a testament to the talent of the people who work for USACE.

“We have a really brave and resilient workforce and everything we accomplish is down to a lot of ingenuity on the ground,” she said. “I think the most exciting and rewarding part of our job is helping people do their jobs in ways they didn’t know were possible.

USACE cannot meet its commitments without the collaboration of partners. Likewise, it cannot research and develop new construction management processes and technologies alone.

“We are committed to looking for ideas outside of our own USACE environment. We partner with (the USACE Engineer Research and Development Center)… we partner with academia and we do roundtables or consortia with industry… to harness ideas from as many people as possible of places possible,” said Henderson Connors. “All of these things make it easier to work with us and (make us) a better partner.”

For more information about the USACE Construction Management Technology Modernization Office and its Innovation Lab, email CM_TMO@usace.army.mil.