NAVFAC Chief of Civil Engineers Outlines Strategic Priorities

VanderLey identified four priorities in his introductory remarks: partnership and governance, planning, risk allocation, and affordability.

“The good news is, business is booming,” he said. “Last year NAVFAC awarded about $15B worth of contracts and it’s not slowing down this year. That was a record for us last year, and things aren’t slowing down.”

“We’re in an era of strategic competition,” VanderLey explained. “But along with that, we’re seeing the Navy and the Marine Corps really understanding the importance of shore infrastructure to the overall mission. We’re seeing that manifest in a lot of investments in shore infrastructure, which is driving the workload we’re seeing.”

He highlighted complex and challenging examples such as multibillion dollar drydock projects and infrastructure investments in remote areas of the Pacific. “That’s really the environment that we’re in,” he said. “A lot of work, a lot of big work and a lot of challenging work.”

The admiral stressed partnership and governance for meeting critical mission requirements. “That continues to be my priority,” he said. “I think one of the most important things we can do as NAVFAC and the government to ultimately produce success in projects is to really be in lockstep with our industry partners.”

VanderLey defined governance as “having a structure in place that not only empowers the folks on the ground to figure things out and solve problems to get work done, but also to set the structure in place to allow that when there are problems that can’t be solved at the working level that we elevate them. Then we’re able to engage leadership as necessary to get after those issues and really keep projects rolling, both in design and construction,” he added.

The second priority for VanderLey is what he called “the front end, or the planning, or the getting the scope of the requirements right in the beginning.”

He talked about breaking down internal stovepipes between planning and design, and working externally to improve processes. “The more I’ve been involved in this business, in this industry,” he explained, “the more and more I’m convinced that the success or failure of most projects is resident in how well the planning requirements and scope development goes in the very beginning.”

VanderLey identified risk allocation as his third priority. “As we’re seeing these projects that are much, much larger and much, much more complex, the traditional approach of trying to place the maximum amount of risk on industry is not always going to be successful for us.

He talked about economic price adjustments, early contractor involvement, and integrating planning and design as risk allocation strategies. “We’re looking at what we can do in government to reap the benefits of allocating risk in an appropriate way.”
The NAVFAC commander called affordability his fourth strategic priority. “As the Navy and Marine Corps are putting all these investments into the shore infrastructure, affordability is a huge challenge,” he said.

“The Navy and Marine Corps appetite for construction far outstrips its budget,” VanderLey said. He promoted collaboration with industry to help to break down barriers and identify alternate construction methods. “We’re really looking for engagement with industry to help us get after that affordability challenge,” he said.

VanderLey shared his remarks with more than 500 military engineers and industry professionals during a panel discussion that also featured facilities engineering leadership from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Air Force Directorate of Civil Engineers, and Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Facilities Acquisition.

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Naval Facilities Engineering Command is the Naval Shore Facilities Command, Base Operating Support, and Expeditionary Engineering Systems Command that delivers life-cycle technical and acquisition solutions aligned to Fleet and Marine Corps priorities.