Infrastructure Systems Development Research
Stephen C.
Wooldridge, Ph.D., P.E.
Major, U.S. Army
Director, Health Facility Planning
Europe Regional Medical Command
Nachricten Kasern, Bldg. 3609
Karlsruherstr. 144
Heidelberg, Germany 69124
Phone: 49.6221.172.113
Fax: 49.6221.172.408
Email: stephen.wooldridge@us.army.mil
Doctoral Research Abstract
Capital facilities – land and
buildings – provide a long-standing environment in which public and private
enterprise works, communicates, and thrives. Aligning how facilities "fit" with
the dynamic demands of enterprise necessitates continual investment in maintenance,
modernization, and development. Conventional tools – condition assessment and master
planning – provide a means for measuring this "fit" and producing related
investment needs. These tools are often applied independently with a singular focus:
condition assessment on physical systems and master planning on sizing and function. The
resulting investment needs and condition metrics become fragmented elements of a larger
(and often unstructured) investment context that must also consider funding realities and
other strategic choices. Exceedingly the methods of collecting and managing assessment
data are emphasized, while linkages to capital planning and decision-making remain
narrowly focused and limited in scope. The result is simply greater volumes of more
"bad news", as facility decision-makers are ill equipped to effectively
synthesize numerous requirements and objectively understand the effects of investment
decisions.
This research develops and applies a new approach to facility investment strategy. The approach links the products of condition assessment and master planning, as well as ongoing facility costs, within a dynamic capital planning environment, where tradeoffs between present funding decisions and future conditions can be comprehensively explored. Central to the approach is a conceptual framework that integrates investment needs and condition data within a broader planning context. A prototype tool is developed with the aid of information technology as a step toward implementation. The tool employs system-based cost models, aggregated deterioration models, financial-based condition metrics, and other facility cost modeling techniques to estimate present and future investment requirements and facility conditions.
The tool is applied to two real facility portfolios within the U.S. Army Medical Department to demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of developing and evaluating investment strategies that balance capital, condition, and other strategic concerns. The application suggests a new direction for public and institutional capital allocation policy and asset accountability.
Infrastructure Systems Development Research is affiliated with the Construction Engineering and Management Program in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT.
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