The United States Army Corps of Engineers - Essay Example

? The United s Army Corps of Engineers U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United s Army Corps of Engineers stands out as thesingle largest public engineering and construction management agency. It consists of more than 23 000 civilians and about 18 000 military trained personnel and headed by a Commanding General. The agency is mainly concerned with public projects as concerns environmental protection, disaster management such as hurricanes control, military technology design, recreational facilities and corporation with other government agencies to ensure a sustainable technology and national security. Besides running and managing most of the nation’s Hydro Electric Power Dams, it is conversely the arm of the federal government acting to support the locals in case of a natural disaster. Every year, the agency responds to more than 30 natural disasters both in the USA and elsewhere, with flooding being the most common disaster faced. One of the main activities the USACE is involved with is the reconstruction of infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan. The history of the Corps dates back to the origins of the nation in the early 18th century, mostly during the revolutionary war .It came about as a desire to combat the several challenges facing the forces in terms of technical capabilities and skilled labor. Later in the 19th Century, the Corps resolved to inculcate civilians in to its mission to serve in areas with highly specialized labor as well as to quiet political demands of the locals. Today, the USACE is a large Federal Agency with branches all over and serving more than 130 countries worldwide. Regardless of the noble tasks associated with the Army Corps, coupled with its great success in most of its projects, the USACE has been criticized for mismanagement of funds and environmental risks in the projects allocated to it. Its projects have often subsidized personal interests at the cost of taxpayers’ money. Besides, the Agency has a dark history of blurring its costs so as to justify its projects. One of its projects, the design and construction of levees to curb Hurricane Flooding in New Orleans, was described by the American Society of Civil Engineers as the greatest civil engineering catastrophe in history (Bernhardt & Walsh, 2003). This was after hurricane Katrina cracked the levees and flooded the larger area of New Orleans, destroying property and lives. With other several and similar examples, it is clear that the Agency is failing to manage effectively its projects, as well as costing citizens lots of millions. This paper scrutinizes the Agency’s Data Management System, which is core towards an effective system, paying special regard to the causes of the systems lack of integrity. The author will also examine examples where the system has been described as a total failure. The conclusion section will entail recommendations towards implementing a more honest system and how to avoid future failures of the system. In 1802, the Congress created an Army Corps of Engineers to focus on supporting Military activities. With the progress of the century, the Corps became involved with civilian activities mainly flood control and river direction. With the growing demand for humanitarian activities, more and more missions outside the military circle crept in, and today’s Corps has faced 200 years of mission creep (Edward, 2012). The expansion go-aheads passed by the Congress since the 18th Century has not been taking clear considerations on the management of the Agency. Rather, the focus was on eradicating the threats posed by natural disasters. Such a process allows for large possibilities of over budgeting. In one instance in 1836, the House Ways and Means Committee discovered that more than a quarter of the Agency’s projects were over budget. Another expansion mishap was seen in the 1930s where flood control projects were seen as a job creation strategy (Edward, 2012). Many government agencies, including USACE worked to drain many wetlands all over the nation. With the hiring of people seeing as the major purpose, the lack of skilled labor in such a task led the Corps to be described as having “ruined more wetlands than anyone in history….” (Reisner: 1993, p 172). Similarly, the Corps became involved with hydroelectric power due to its involvement with flood control along rivers. The initial plan was to involve private investors in the construction and maintenance of these dams, but later the Congress authorized the agency to build its own dams. The Corps has also been accused of engaging in environmentally degrading projects. One of the most outstanding is its engagement in an $8 billion rehabilitation project in Florida Everglades, which entails the rehabilitation of an area damaged by the Agency’s infrastructure development in earlier years (Bernhardt & Walsh, 2003). In the 1970s, Politics and personal interest again saw the Agency being involved in more than 15 non-environmental friendly water reservoir projects. Moreover, legislators have found in the Corps an exploitation tool to promote their farms, voyage companies, innovators and other firms in their states. Rather than considering the public interest in proposing which projects to invest in, a 1950s observer noted that the agency collaborated with local businesses and several congressional committee members. The collaboration sees the three run proposals of their choice, without any regard to its federal significance. Above all, the Corps Agency has almost always been bombarded with activities and projects which call its urgent attention. Members of the Congress have always being pressuring the Agency to tackle projects in their districts and states. In such a scenario, the Corps has never had an ample time to engage effectively in its expansion measures, which have been in its core improvement programs since its inception (Bernhardt & Walsh, 2003). They are rather faced with the task of implementing expensive projects with provisional management systems which in due time end up being fiscal. This partly explains why the agency had to incorporate civilians in a military based and focused department, which made it a little more difficult to manage and coordinate. There are numerous projects to which mismanagement and misappropriation of funds has fueled depletion, degradation and wastage of taxpayers’ money. Similarly, the number of projects which have failed due to political and private interests has kept increasing year by year. However, it is important to note that the Agency in itself has of late being trying to reduce such setbacks by improving its efficiency. From the presence of the many researchers conducted and proposals made to the Corps, it is evident that the Agency is attempting to recover from its condition. In the USACE Campaign Plan FY11, for instance, Lieutenant Genera R.L Van Antwerp, a commander in the USACE states, “It is my intent that USACE will be one disciplined team- in thought, word, and action- and to meet our commitments, with and through our partners, by saying what we will do, and doing what we say” (USACE 2011). Similarly, efforts such as shutting down some of the district offices and the attempts to remain within the budget limits cannot go unmentioned. Given the extent of climatic change, the agency should aim at collaborating with other agencies to ensure sustainability. To some extent, this will have several benefits such as improving the overall performance and the manner activities are performed. For instance, this will reduce overlapping responsibilities in maintaining the environment as well as ensure a sustainable development. In so doing, it will be easy to run the daily activities without great challenges. This strategy is already being put in place by USACE, which in the recent past has collaborated with the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. The two agencies are engaging in the development of environmental friendly projects and their maintenance and sustainability. The two agencies have so far engaged in several researches and reports on Climate Change and its effect on Water. Moreover, one of the Data Management Companies in the USA Rack-wise noted that it was collaborating with USACE to provide it with DCIM, software necessary in the management of its primary and satellite data centers. USACE ought to adopt more of these collaborations even in its projects rather than engage in a rush against time to finish a constantly flowing bilk of responsibilities. Nevertheless, there remains a lot to be done in refurbishing and renovating this agency to ensure a sustainable, environment friendly and dependable system of service delivery for the United States Army Corps for Engineers. There have been several propositions made by both private scholars and federal authorized research agencies on the way forward for such reforms in the Corps (Edward, 2012). As … suggests, the foremost important step in improving the functionality of the Corps would be to reduce the number of responsibilities assigned to it. The decision by the Congress to add more projects to the Agency which already has thousands of other none funded projects is both absurd and nonrealistic. There ought to be an audit into the agency’s budget to determine which projects could be effectively tackled by the state and local governments. Conversely, some of these projects could be handed to the private sector, which is known for precision in service delivery and efficiency in speed. After such a research, USACE should be completely removed from those projects which do not require the participation of the federal government accordingly. Similarly, the reduction of the bulk of work on the agency could be achieved by privatizing some of its departments. Recreational facilities and hydropower stations could as well be effectively provided by the private sector. Moreover, harbors and ports could be allowed to manage and impose their own axes rather than have USACE act as an operator. This independence of harbors will allow for self-management and financing of the harbors. A process similar to the one followed in 1999 to dissolve the United States Information Agency should be used to determine which department fits where. In such a situation, the USACE will only be left with its core mandate of serving the Nation’s Defense forces with up to standard equipment and training programs. Secondly, the criterion used to fund any of the projects by the USACE should be highly focused on the economic impacts to the nation t\rather than on political influence and power. It is clear that some of the projects that receive substantial funding from the corps bring little or less income to the state than some which are poorly funded. Several analysts have also noted that some projects suffer under the agency’s distorted cost analyses and approximations. Building on such facts, it is worth noting that once such measures are put in place accordingly, it will be not tricky to manage several issues run in the agency. As a provisional measure, the agency should identify sufficient authorities to govern effectively and sustain its water resources, such as beaches, lakes and dams. To curb loss of information, the agency should adopt more technological measures towards its data management system. The system should be able to account for the data through all its life time, from introduction to retirement. In as much as USACE have introduced Advanced Data Management Systems such as EDMS, similar efforts should be geared towards its management of records and finances. Such a system will ensure that any amount of money allocated to the agency is spent carefully to the latter (Edward, 2012). The system should be free from unhealthy manipulation. Besides providing for sharing and downloading spatial and tabular data, EDMS studies and tracks the environment for contaminant sources and hazardous chemicals. It will not be forgotten that there are challenges involved in implementing any change or strategy. In a case like that of USACE, which deals with a large population of employees, and whose stake holders involve more than one department, the situation will be no different. Management change studies have shown that in any organization engaging in a change, there will be barriers faced. Some of these barriers will include resistance due to risk factors, an inability to see the problem clearly, giving too much information, and misjudgments. It is also anticipated that, in its initial stages, change always has a way of reducing the momentum gained by the organization. In the case of USACE, whose schedule is ever busy, such an effect could greatly impact its service delivery. Withstanding, with proper preparation of all stake holders, USACE could go through a smooth transition to a modern state of the art engineering agency with effective service delivery and an unprecedented management structure. Conclusion Reflecting on the above discussion, there are various conclusions that can be drawn. To begin with, the state of the USACE is only an indicator of how inefficient and unreliable a situation can be when the federal government gets involved in local infrastructure. The nation has come to a time when it should seek to dissolve the Corps responsibilities in to private or state governments. As a more feasible measure, the Civilian section of the Corps should be closed down and its responsibilities either moved to the Interior Department, if they are really federal in nature, or moved to the state if otherwise. Various issues have been analyzed in this discussion and the most relevant solutions as well explained. References Bernhardt, A., Walsh, M (2003). Web Based Environmental Data Management System for Military Installations. AMEC, USACE. Edward, C. (2012). Cutting the Army Corps of Engineers. Massachusetts, DC: CATO Institute Press. Fitzsimmons, A. (2012). Reforming Land Management: Cutting the Gordian Knot. Lanham, ML: Rowman & Littlefield. Reisner, M. (1993). Cadillac Desert. New York, NY: Penguin. Read More