Sustainable acquisition process improvement for Naval Facilities Engineering Command

Abstract

Mandated reduction of natural resources consumed by U.S. Federal Facilities has forced agencies to reconsider how facilities are acquired. The process for acquiring federal facilities is guided by laws, executive orders, policies and regulations. While this guidance is intended to create an open and competitive process to achieve lowest cost or best value, conflicts among traditional acquisition processes and new law requirements are emerging. To meet the new requirements, laws must be implemented through effective policy. For over 6 years, the Navy has been acquiring sustainably designed facilities and has recently set sustainable development policy guidelines. To meet these new sustainable development goals, facility acquisition processes must reflect current policy mandates. In this thesis, numerous sustainable acquisition processes are evaluated. Selected processes occurring primarily in the Planning and Programming phases of a construction project are emphasized and represent common practices used by other governmental agencies. Through interviews and case study research, a set of feasible actions aimed to help NA VF AC achieve sustainable development goals are outlined. This thesis provides process improvement recommendations for Naval Facilities Engineering Command.