NOTICE
The Federal Construction Council (FCC) is a continuing activity of the Building Research Board of the National Research Council (NRC). The purpose of the FCC is to promote continuing cooperation among the sponsoring federal agencies and between the agencies and other elements of the building community in order to advance building science and technology--particularly with regard to the design, construction, and operation of federal facilities. Currently, 18 agencies sponsor the FCC:
Department of the Air Force, Office of the Civil Engineer
Department of the Air Force, Air National Guard
Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers
Department of the Army, Construction Engineering Research Laboratories
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
Department of Energy, Office of Project and Facilities Management
Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command
Department of State, Office of Foreign Buildings Operations
Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Construction Management
General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Facilities Engineering Office
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Endowment for the Arts, Design Arts Program
National Science Foundation, Structural Systems and Construction Processes Program
Smithsonian Institution, Office of Facilities Service
U.S. Information Agency, Voice of America
U.S. Public Health Service, Office of Management
U.S. Postal Service, Facilities.
As part of its activities, the FCC periodically publishes reports like this one that have been prepared by committees of government employees. Since these committees are not appointed by the NRC, they do not make recommendations, and their reports are not reviewed and approved in accordance with usual NRC procedures. Consequently, the reports are considered FCC publications rather than NRC publications.
For further information on the FCC program or FCC reports, please write to: Executive Secretary, Federal Construction Council, Building Research Board, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20418.
FCC CONSULTING COMMITTEE ON PROCUREMENT POLICY
Chairman
Robert Webb,
Office of Policy, Department of Energy
Members
Leland Anderson,
Engineering and Construction, Air National Guard
Wade Belcher,
Public Buildings Service, General Services Administration
Thomas Blanchard, Jr.,
Facilities Office, U.S. Postal Service
Charles W. Clark,
Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget
Calvin F. Curington,
Engineering Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Donald W. Dormstetter,
Office of Design and Construction, Smithsonian Institution
Luther H. Flouton,
Division of Health Facilities Planning, U.S. Public Health Service
Sandra Gatlin,
Operational Contracting Division, Department of the Air Force
Richard Hughes,
Design and Construction Branch, National Institutes of Health
Andrew Juettner,
Voice of America
John Joyner,
Public Buildings Service, General Services Administration
Charles G. Krips,
Office of Foreign Buildings, U.S. Department of State
Bob McMullen,
Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Department of the Navy
Get W. Moy,
Engineering & Construction, Office of the Secretary of Defense
Walt Norko,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army
James Pesnell,
Facilities Engineering Division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
David Petersen,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army
Emilo Pucillo,
Office of Engineering Service, U.S. Public Health Service
Lee Schmidt,
Office of the Civil Engineer, Department of the Air Force
Francis E. Sullivan,
Office of Construction Management, Department of Veterans Affairs
Jim Sullivan,
Voice of America
PREFACE
The federal government currently owns literally thousands of installations, both active and inactive, on which there are environmental problems that must be corrected; in addition, the government is responsible for overseeing the cleanup of thousands of non-federal sites through the Superfund. This cleanup effort is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars, rivaling or surpassing the savings and loan “bailout” in size, and it could well take 30 years or more to complete.
The Army Corps of Engineers, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, and the Environmental Protection Agency already have contracted for billions of dollars of environmental remediation, either as federal property administrators or as environmental remediation regulators and operators of the Superfund. Many other federal agencies will be involved in environmental remediation in the future.
Experience has shown that environmental remediation poses significant, special contracting problems for the federal government. Among the issues causing problems are project definition, regulatory liaison, choice of contract type, ordering procedures, fee arrangements, professional oversight, measurement of completion, and relations with the local populace.
The Federal Construction Council (FCC) Counseling Committee on Procurement Policy held a symposium in April 1993 to bring together interested parties from federal agencies, environmental contractors, and others to enhance the knowledge base and allow other agencies now facing this mission to learn from the experiences of others.
This report comprises summaries of papers prepared for the symposium. The summaries were prepared by the invited speakers, and the opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the FCC. However, the papers are believed to be relevant and timely and to contain information that will be useful to the sponsoring federal agencies.