Employing Risk Management to Control Military Construction Costs

Abstract

Systems acquisition inherently contains elements of uncertainty that must be effectively managed to meet project cost, schedule, and performance objectives. While the U.S. Department of Defense has a record of employing systems engineering technical management processes (including risk management) to address these uncertainties for major weapon systems acquisition, the application of risk management to Military Construction (MILCON) projects is a recent development. This research studies the use of a formal risk management program on a MILCON project and assesses whether such use influences the project's total cost growth relative to that of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' historical data. A case study methodology is employed assessing the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)'s multibillion-dollar NGA Campus East program.

Keywords: Risk Management, Military Construction (MILCON), Construction, Risk, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE, COE), National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)