In the political and cultural history of place, embassies stand as a physical testament to a nation’s international engagement. The embassies of the United States provide the indispensable infrastructure by which we deliver America’s vision to the world. These halls of diplomacy have borne witness to historic encounters, influential negotiations, signing of treaties, celebrations of peace, and the sorrows of war. Our embassy buildings are the concrete evidence of our commitment to international cooperation and provide the stage upon which the vital work of diplomacy goes forward. The embassy bombings of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam coupled with the horrific events of 9/11 have dramatically changed the way the United States looks and feels, both here and abroad. Never in the history of U.S. politics has Congress been more aware that Americans’ interests are more entwined with those of other nations — as trading partners, as peacekeepers, and as stewards of a fragile and finite world.
We transformed not only the Foreign Buildings Operations into the Overseas Buildings Operations but made it the catalyst and creator of diplomacy’s new physical settings in the Bush Administration — first, with Secretary Colin Powell and now with Secretary Condoleezza Rice.
In March 2001, when Secretary of State Colin Powell called upon me to lead the Department’s Foreign Buildings Operations Bureau, the organization confronted numerous challenges in maintaining a $12 billion inventory of over 15,000 facilities. These challenges included deteriorating facilities, extensive security upgrade requirements, an enormous portfolio of new facilities requirements, and a “right-sized” overseas presence, all of which were illustrated in studies and reports by the General Accounting Office, Overseas Presence Advisory Panel, and the Brookings Institution, among others. Exacerbating the challenges was the organization’s tenuous standing in the State Department.
Upon my appointment as Director and Chief Operation Officer of the renamed, and now bureau-level, Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), we instituted several immediate changes to create a results-based organization leveraging commercial best practices. These practices, documented in several recent articles in The Engineering News-Record, The Military Engineer, and Construction Review, include the following.
- Developed the first-ever long-range capital plan for the State Department.
- Created standard embassy designs to allow OBO to start design and construction from a well-developed prototype, thereby streamlining the process and reducing design and construction costs.
- Established an Industry Advisory Panel to solicit best practices from industry and academia, and an associated Industry Day to forge relationships between OBO and potential industry partners.
- Instituted an Integrated Design Review Process that optimizes stakeholder review and leverages new technology.
- Initiated an innovative, accountability-driven performance measurement program where individuals may receive financial awards if they achieve performance measures linked to higher-level OBO strategies.
- Instilled project management and controls discipline by requiring business cases for all new projects, chairing monthly performance reviews, and adopting a uniform standard for estimating facility systems costs.
- Implemented commercial best practices in value engineering, commissioning, and performance-based programming.
- Converted OBO’s primary acquisition strategy to design-build. Pursuing a design-build strategy for new embassy compounds, OBO has been able to reduce the standard duration and cost of projects; what used to take three to five years now takes 24 months, while ensuring contractor accountability for the success of the projects.
The benefits of OBO’s work are extensive. OBO’s conversion to a results-based organization, with measurable accountability driven to — and by — every employee, has reinvented the culture at OBO, creating a dynamic, efficient, and charismatic environment for employees and contractors alike. We completed 16 new Embassy compounds since 2001 and over 40 new embassy compounds are under design and construction all over the world.
OBO today is in a new and different era. Keeping our eye on the future by touching the leading edge, we are:
- Enhancing SED efficiencies and using fast and flexible building techniques;
- Testing technologies such as photovoltaic; and
- Developing model criteria for a volume build approach to LEED Certification.
While OBO faces unique challenges in implementing a sustainable design and construction program overseas, these and many more are stories of success. OBO continues to make significant strides in sustainability. Literally thousands of U.S. citizens and others working or living in overseas facilities are safer because of improved security at new or renovated buildings. On a scale unprecedented at the State Department, OBO has guided the delivery of a portfolio of new embassies in record time, and, to the benefit of U.S. taxpayers, at reduced cost. In addition to improved security, the standard embassy designs allow occupants of the building to execute the important business of the U.S. government in foreign countries. As perhaps the most visible symbol of our country to our foreign neighbors, the new embassies and consulates will ensure that OBO’s legacy will endure for many years to come. I reshaped the organization, but positioned it in such a way that it could turn the corner and be poised to continue on the organization’s upward spiral toward facility excellence.
As long as people look to the United States for world leadership and as long as embassies reflect America’s self-image and its commitment to other nations, the work of the Overseas Buildings Operations and its leadership will be key in the progress for “Providing Platforms For Diplomacy.”
Williams’ New Ways to Think —
New Ways to Build a Program for 2006 and Beyond
1. MOVE to a true risk allocation process that is fair, clear, and acceptable to all parties.
2. AVOID adding a non traditional scope of work to the general contractors/design-build team.
3. ALLOW specialty contractors to perform highly sensitive and special work (separate contract).
4. REPRESENT to the design-build team that all “rights of passage” issues have been handled to the extent that they will not impact an orderly construction process. (i.e. host country requirements).
5. MOVE to provide a simple, clear, and firm RFP (language for procurement).
6. ENSURE that estimates are derived from empirical data extracted from normal conditions.
7. MOVE value engineering to the planning phase of project development.
8. LOOK for project directors who can create and maintain a strong team.
9. PAY more attention to the quality of the design-build team’s on-site staffing.
10. FIX customer expectations at the (PRE-CON) session and control them through the construction period.
11. DELIVER a building site that is ready for construction now.
12. MAKE the standard design (SED) a true “site adaptation” vehicle.
13 MOVE to a “true” design-build delivery method for our NECs by providing the design-build team a standard design that equals an approved construction document.
14. INCREASE emphasis on smart, energy efficient, and sustainable building going forward.
15. HELP bring the procurement team to the “new ways to think new ways to build” mentality.
16. DEAL appropriately with change orders immediately (set time periods in the early stages of the process).
17. DESIGN reviews must be expedited and cannot generate requirements that add to scope without identifying funding and allowing time extension.
18. CONSIDER the “how-to” for operations and maintenance in the planning phase of our projects.
19. ADD a commissioning staff to the on-site team and ensure that this staff is an active participant in PRE-CON.
20. BEGIN to get serious about the use of public private partnerships to assist with some of the work.
Charles E. Williams, Major General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Retired), has had an exemplary engineering and construction management career, first in service to his country in the military and now as a civilian. General Williams is currently serving as Director and Chief Operating Officer in the Department of State's Bureau of Overseas Building Operations. In this capacity, he is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of construction management, real estate, operations and maintenance, design and engineering, planning and programming, and budget management of over 15,000 facilities in multiple locations abroad.