9

Summary Assessment

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents major conclusions and related recommendations developed by the committee from the information collected, synthesized, and evaluated as presented in the preceding chapters. As stated in the Introduction, the committee focused on applications of innovative materials for operations and maintenance (O&M) projects as these present opportunities at relatively small scale, cost, and risk, and with relatively rapid implementation. The focus on O&M does not preclude the use of innovative materials in future capital investment projects and indeed will build experience for major rehabilitation projects and new construction. The conclusions and recommendations are organized by theme, and they are designed to be multiprong efforts for inducing systemic changes through both short- and long-term actions. Recommendations build on the key conclusions and are directed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the study sponsor, and in some cases to the U.S. Congress, who requested the study. Recommendations directed generally to USACE refer to the USACE innovation ecosystem, an interconnected network of units, groups, and individuals at the district, division, and Headquarters levels, and within the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Communities of Practice, and Centers of Expertise. Action can be initiated individually or collaboratively within the USACE innovation ecosystem.

Prioritize, Facilitate, and Incentivize

Several study findings—including those outlined below—indicate that USACE should prioritize the evaluation of innovative materials for maintaining and repairing water resources infrastructure, and take deliberate, coordinated actions to promote and incentivize their use when benefits are identified. To support the goals of prioritizing, facilitating, and incentivizing the use of innovative materials, the committee recommends several key actions. Chief among them are appointing an advocate for innovative materials at USACE Headquarters, establishing dedicated funding for demonstration projects, and creating mechanisms to ensure that district personnel who make well-justified decisions to use such materials are recognized and supported.

Key Conclusions

Districts have significant autonomous decision-making authority in managing their water resources infrastructure, including identifying O&M project needs and desired approaches for meeting those needs. The districts are completely dependent on USACE Headquarters, however, for funding allocations. Low-consequence projects for which districts may desire to try innovative approaches and materials rarely are funded. (Chapters 2 and 3)

Risk aversion can hinder the adoption of innovative materials; overcoming this barrier requires targeted measures that encourage and empower district personnel to pursue innovation with confidence. (Chapters 3 and 8)

Focus on initial cost versus life-cycle costs can be a barrier to the transition of innovative materials. (Chapters 3 and 8)

USACE policy that encourages consideration of life cycle in design can be leveraged for development of guidance and specific tools that can help support adoption of innovative materials. (Chapter 8)

Although the O&M budgeting process is supposed to prioritize the use of innovative materials, there are few formal mechanisms to support such prioritization when innovative materials require a higher budget allocation but have the promise of lower life-cycle costs and lower budgetary demands in the future. (Chapter 3)

O&M projects for “specific work not commonly performed” provide opportunities for employing innovative materials at relatively small scale and lower cost and risk. (Chapter 3)

USACE’s O&M asset management system’s risk matrices may be used to identify potentially low-risk assets and components that may be candidates for the use of innovative materials that require more field experience to build user confidence. (Chapter 3)

The Composite Material Applications and Research Roadmap for USACE Civil Works and the HQ 2024-08 directive have helped promote the consideration of FRP materials and may provide a model for the advancement of other innovative materials. (Chapter 4)

The Incentive Awards Program has been successful in fostering innovation within USACE and may be used to specifically encourage the use of innovative materials. (Chapter 8)

Recommendations

Recommendation 1: USACE should designate a Headquarters (HQ) unit to coordinate and champion the use of innovative materials in the civil works infrastructure. Key functions would be to inventory, review, and report on the uses of innovative materials in the Civil Works program and to develop a roadmap to facilitate their use by the districts, including for water resources infrastructure. The roadmap should include plans for filling key research gaps by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and others, conducting demonstrations and related evaluations to transition the materials more broadly in the water resources infrastructure. Indeed, this recommended HQ unit could play a key role in spearheading and supporting many of the additional recommendations in this report.

Recommendation 2: To counter aversion to risk, USACE Headquarters should explore ways for assuring district personnel that if they use an innovative material based on sound justification but nevertheless experience unsatisfactory performance, they will not be held at fault and will be provided the resources needed to rectify problems.

Recommendation 3: A district’s interest in maximizing the number of worthy projects funded through a fixed annual budget can lead to an undue emphasis on reducing each project’s annual budgetary allocation rather than over its lifespan. Therefore, USACE should consider

requiring districts to develop budget models that compare the life-cycle budgetary impacts of conventional and innovative materials.

Recommendation 4: USACE should be open to the use of innovative materials for low-risk (i.e., low-consequence) maintenance projects that are not recurring or routine and where there are fewer established methods, such as for activities that fall under the operations and maintenance budgeting category “specific work not commonly performed.”

Recommendation 5: As it did for fiber-reinforced polymer by requiring the explicit and documented consideration of this material as an alternative to steel for new and replacement hydraulic structures (i.e., Headquarters Engineering and Construction Bulletin 2024-08), USACE should consider where policy guidance and direction could motivate the formal consideration of applications for other innovative materials. The myriad of water resource small components, such as floor and walkway grating panels, handrails, and electrical boxes, may be particularly suited for such policy guidance.

Recommendation 6: To motivate interest in innovative materials, USACE should make a point of recognizing and rewarding Civil Works personnel who have championed the beneficial use of innovative materials, perhaps by adding nominations guidance to the Incentive Award Program.

Monitor, Evaluate, and Demonstrate

Findings and conclusions in this report, as listed below, suggest the importance of long-term monitoring and evaluation of the condition and performance of water resource assets that use innovative materials as well as formal demonstration programs that have evaluation and verification phases as well as educational and promotional aims. Steps that USACE should take to further these interests are then recommended.

Key Conclusions

Demonstration programs, if designed appropriately, can reveal benefits of an innovative material when used in a project, increase the confidence of potential users, provide data for qualifications and acceptance, and familiarize districts with the material and implementation process. Aspects of FHWA and DoD demonstration programs for innovative technologies can be useful for USACE in developing demonstration programs for innovative materials. (Chapter 8)

Inventorying, regular monitoring, and periodic evaluation of assets that use innovative materials are important for understanding material performance over time and under different conditions. (Chapters 4–7)

USACE’s asset management system provides an opportunity for USACE to monitor the condition of assets that use innovative materials. (Chapter 3)

USACE has opportunities to demonstrate the use of innovative materials in low-risk projects before expanding their use to larger, higher-risk projects. (Chapter 3)

Construction materials science advances quickly, continuously presenting many opportunities for innovation. (Chapters 4–7)

Recommendations

Recommendation 7: USACE should establish a program dedicated to funding demonstration projects for the use of innovative materials in water resources infrastructure, seeking resources from Congress as necessary to fund the program as a special supplement to the annual operations and maintenance appropriation.

Recommendation 8: USACE should establish inspection protocols and reporting systems for projects that deploy innovative materials. Water resources infrastructure assets and components that use innovative materials should be subject to regular and long-term condition and performance monitoring and evaluation.

Recommendation 9: USACE should include in its asset management databases fields for recording the use of innovative materials in an asset or component, including details on the type of material and application. In addition, USACE should identify and gauge the condition and performance of assets and components that have previously used innovative materials.

Recommendation 10: USACE should leverage the data in its asset management system to identify candidate applications for demonstrating the use of innovative materials, including the system’s severity ratings of the consequences of individual assets failing or underperforming. The ratings may be particularly helpful for identifying low-consequence applications that would otherwise go unfunded and where the demonstration of an innovative material with limited field experience would present minimal risk to the proposer.

Recommendation 11: USACE should ensure that all projects that are intended to demonstrate the use of innovative materials, including projects funded under the recommended dedicated program, are planned and designed with long-term condition and performance monitoring, evaluation, and reporting (as recommended above). USACE should develop processes to use data from the demonstration projects (and leverage data from other domains in similar environments when possible) to facilitate certification of innovative materials where needed.

Guide, Inform, Educate, and Train

Study findings and conclusions in this report suggest that USACE should focus more attention on providing sufficient guidance and information on the uses of innovative materials in water resources infrastructure, as well as relevant education and training opportunities for USACE personnel. Recommendations focus on leveraging and supporting existing mechanisms for these purposes.

Key Conclusions

Material certification and contractor qualification processes can impede the adoption of innovative materials. (Chapter 8)

There is a need for further development of USACE guidance and Unified Facilities Guide Specifications to provide internal consistency among potentially conflicting guidance and standards for innovative materials. Opportunities exist to leverage guidance and standards for the use of innovative materials from other domains, including in marine environments. (Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 8)

Voluntary consensus standards developed in the private sector through organizations such as the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, the American Concrete Institute, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society for Testing and Materials, and others could also help USACE advance the use of innovative materials. (Chapter 8)

USACE Communities of Practice and Centers of Expertise provide opportunities for advancing knowledge and use of innovative materials, for example, to provide resources and training on life-cycle tools and analytical approaches. (Chapters 2 and 8)

USACE training programs for the use of fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) have been successful and may be models for other innovative materials and technologies. In particular, the USACE Proponent Sponsored Engineer Corps Training (PROSPECT) program is robust but does not specifically include innovative materials (an ad hoc workshop was developed for FRPs outside of the PROSPECT program). (Chapters 4 and 8)

Recommendations

Recommendation 12: USACE should harmonize and orient the existing body of standards, requirements, and guidance documents applicable to the use, qualification, and acceptance of innovative materials in water resources infrastructure. An early focus should be on materials that are supported by an existing body of standards and guidance such as for fiber-reinforced polymer application in hydraulic and marine structures and components by the U.S. Navy.

Recommendation 13: To foster learning, disseminate best practices, and capture institutional knowledge about the use of innovative materials, USACE should encourage participation by district and other USACE personnel in voluntary Communities of Practice. USACE’s Centers of Expertise should be assigned roles with appropriate budgets to steward and grow the base of knowledge on innovative materials.

Recommendation 14: USACE should offer a selection of technical and professional courses supportive of the use of innovative materials in water resources infrastructure through its Learning Center and Proponent-Sponsored Engineer Corps Training program. USACE should also encourage attendance at workshops, professional conferences, and college-level courses that focus on innovative materials. USACE Headquarters should encourage district leadership to promote and facilitate participation by district personnel.

Recommendation 15: USACE should support opportunities for USACE personnel knowledgeable in the use of innovative materials to provide technology transfer to external constituents through avenues such as workshops at professional conferences or lectures at universities.

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