New Directions in Water Resources Planning for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1999) / Chapter Skim
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3 Assessment of the Corps' Planning Process
3 Assessment of the Corps' Planning Process
Pages 33-50
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From page 33... ...
The Corps' main water planning and development activities include flood damage reduction, navigation enhancement, aquatic ecosystem restoration, hurricane damage prevention, and beach protection. The Corps' water resources project planning procedures consist of two planning phases: a reconnaissance study and a feasibility study.
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From page 34... ...
Select recommended plan These six steps are not necessarily applied sequentially in Corps planning; rather, the activities of problem definition, goal setting, and comparing project alternatives can be conducted simultaneously and recur throughout project planning. The concept of"planning" defies exact description but is explained in a Corps Institute for Water Resources OWN)
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From page 35... ...
Conducted by a Corps district office Figure 3.2) , the reconnaissance study also examines the likelihood of enlisting local sponsorship.
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From page 36... ...
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From page 37... ...
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From page 38... ...
Throughout the course of the FCSA, the Corps may receive input from Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., and also receives public input through a variety of means. The FCSA is signed when the sponsor and Corps reach agreement on the negotiable terms and Congress appropriates feasibility study Finding.
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From page 39... ...
and incorporates comments from the public and headquarters into a revised feasibility report. When the project sponsor and the Corps agree on a final plan, the feasibility study ends with the signing of the division engineer's notice, which represents a public announcement that the top Corps-leve} field official recommends approval of the project and allows the final feasibility report to be sent to Corps headquarters for review.
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From page 40... ...
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From page 41... ...
The data indicate that the average time to complete both the reconnaissance and feasibility studies is approximately 5.6 years, roughly the same as those reported In 1996 by a special Corps task force on shortening the phoning end design process (USAGE, 1996b)
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From page 42... ...
After receiving guidance from lbe OMB for the impending budget cycle, Corps districts send proposed budgets to Corps divisions, which then send the requests to Corps headquarters. Annual budget requests generated through this process consist of individual amounts for wed over a thousand studies, projects, and programs, including reconnaissance studies, feasibility studies, FED, construction projects, and operation and management (O&M)
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From page 43... ...
Congress then has until October ~ to enact an appropriations bill. Because the total amounts requested by Corps districts may exceed what the president's budget includes, congressional committees may require the Corps to determine its "capability" during the fiscal year: its capacity to process projects and studies, considering not only budgetary but also personnel constraints, sound engineering practices, and the timing of available funds.
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From page 44... ...
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From page 45... ...
Since 1986, the Corps has on several occasions increased the feasibility study costs abler the signing of the feasibility cost-shanng agreement. Such cost increases can place nonfederal sponsors in an awkward position.
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From page 46... ...
are not on hand during the same year, the planning or design process can stall. There is often a six to twelve month gap between completion of the reconnaissance phase and initiation of a feasibility study even though funds are available immediately in the year following completion of reconnaissance.
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From page 47... ...
6. The Corps should continue to seek conditional authorizations in Water Resources Development Acts.
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From page 48... ...
Examples of continuing authority programs include: · Section 204: Beneficial Uses of Dredged Material · Section 205: Flood Damage Reduction · Section 206: Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration · SectionIl35:EnvironmentalImprovement Although selection of the spending cap within We CAP is arbitrary, the committee believes that the current limit of $5 million is too low. As these continuing authority programs allow We Secretary of the Anny to approve certain types of projects, rather than requiring a specific project authorization by Congress, Hey can significantly reduce delays due to authorization details and help streamline 48 New Directions in Water Resources Plannirlg
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From page 49... ...
Second, congress should consider seamless funding of projects, assuring that finds are immediately available to begin the PED process as the first step In construction following a favorable feasibility study outcome. Third, the lag time between the feasibility study and initiation of the PED processes should be eliminated if the nonfederal partner agrees to share the costs of preconstruction, engineering, and design.
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From page 50... ...
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