The Wild Rover
11-16-06, 01:39 AM
From the "Engineering News Record"
FEDERAL BUILDINGS
State Learns that Embassies Can Be Cheaper by the Dozen
Management skill of new director is credited with transforming program to upgrade security
5/23/2005
By Janice L. Tuchman and Sherie Winston
Marching Orders. Williams formed a team to work "quicker, better, more responsively." (Photo by Janice L. Tuchman for ENR)
How do you open 15 embassies and consulates in four years, start construction on 39 more and have 13 ready to bid? Two words: "Discipline and accountability," says Charles E. Williams, director and COO of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations at the U.S. State Dept.
"Accountability is a word Williams uses every day," says P.K. Bagchi, OBO’s project director for the new U.S. Embassy complex under construction in Beijing. "He doesn’t micromanage, and his door is open so you can discuss problems on the horizon. But he has truly implemented performance measures."
Williams was hand-picked for the job in December 2000 by then Secretary of State designate Colin Powell as the newly elected Bush administration prepared to enter the White House. He recalls that Powell charged him with what Williams calls an "awesome task," to turn around the existing, slow-moving program and rapidly increase security.
Upgrading embassy security around the world became a top State Dept. priority after the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The department found major deficiencies at 195 of its 264 embassies and consulates, real estate worth $12 billion. Some were functionally obsolete as well. But the standard design-bid-build process used then, along with limited resources, meant only one or two facilities a year could be built. The old program, under the Office of Foreign Buildings Operations, suffered because it did not have a plan. Says one critic: FBO "had a lousy reputation on Capitol Hill and within State."
But Williams, who retired as a major general after 29 years with the Army Corps of Engineers, had a mandate straight from Powell. Williams shows visitors the reference in the book, The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell: "Do whatever is needed to overhaul the capital planning procedures and operations of your office....Go ahead and push the envelope...ignore traditions that don’t work any more–and whatever you do, don’t bother asking for permission."
Williams indeed pushed the envelope. After Powell raised the office to the more senior bureau status within the State Dept., Williams asserted his unique management style to turn the program around. His first term was an unqualified success. Four years into his tenure, there were 54 embassy compounds under construction or completed. Not only did he dramatically accelerate the pace of construction, he started saving money by implementing Standard Embassy Designs (SED) and design-build project delivery. These techniques reduced the duration of a project by as much as a third. Officials saved $63 million on fiscal 2002 projects, for example, allowing OBO to plan an additional facility.
SED allows contractors "to take more consistent design criteria to delivery more rapidly," allowing construction to begin sooner, explains Mike Gwyn, a government group vice president with Fluor Corp., now responsible for the operation of J.A. Jones International. Williams works regularly with industry to refine SED, adds Gwyn.
Williams also shifted the program away from a traditional government approach, employing some of the management skills he used in the military and in the private sector to achieve performance-based results. His first task, he says, was to sprinkle private-sector talent within the staff. "We had to do things quicker, better and more responsively," Williams says.
He also instituted a land acquisition strategy where U.S. officials select 10-acre sites for future compounds that meet environmental, security and other criteria. Preselecting the land makes it easier to go to Congress and ask for money to build the compound, Williams explains. It also frees the design-build team from worrying about issues in the host country such as zoning or night work.
Frequent Flyer.
Williams has visited 122 countries, often for ceremonies such as groundbreakings in Berlin (above) and Managua, Nicaragua. (Photos courtesy of Department of State)
Four years ago OBO was managing $700 million worth of work. Today, that portfolio exceeds $4 billion. Williams has visited 122 posts during his tenure, including numerous groundbreakings and opening ceremonies such as the one at the $75-million embassy in Yerevan, Armenia, on May 6 (see cover).
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget "rated our new construction management as 97% effective for execution. We have 15 to 20 large reliable American contractors working for us now, versus two or three in years past." Williams says. The plan now stretches out over 14 years with a total cost of $17.5 billion. To stretch those resources further, the White House is phasing in a cost-sharing program among the many agencies that will share space in new embassy compounds. When fully matured in four years it will add $1.4 billion each year to the funding stream.
Leadership Secrets
Observers credit Williams’ managerial skill as a key to his success. Larry D. Walker, group vice president for global infrastructure of Louis Berger Group, says one can’t divorce Williams’ style from the magnitude of the program. Williams "had to implement a strong organizational model," Walker contends. "He is a strong disciplinarian and this is what this organization needs."
Louis Berger currently is assisting OBO with conceptual design for the new embassy compound in Baghdad. "It’s the upfront work," explains Walker. Designers take the concept to a point where the design-build teams can bid on it–generally 15 to 25% complete. Click here to view Who's Who in State Dept. Design-Build
Along with management strength, Williams needed the support of senior leaders at the State Dept., considered extremely political even by Washington standards, as well as Capitol Hill. "He was brilliant in understanding Congress and OMB," which ...was key to securing the financial resources to grow the program, says one former associate. "This wasn’t just lip service, he was leading it and making it happen," says the associate.
Such leaders generally find opposition within the organization they are trying to change, and Williams was no exception. "Some people don’t like change [and Williams] represents change," says a source. The primary opposition came from architects who initially opposed the standard design concept. But while SED standardizes space parameters, perimeter facilities, utilities, building mass and structural grid, it still leaves room for architectural creativity.
...
Achieving Buy-In
Williams also achieved buy-in from industry by launching an Industry Advisory Panel. The panel has nine members representing a wide variety of industry associations. Beijing Project Director Bagchi says the panel gives Williams a "sanity check" on how new ideas will impact construction.
At the panel’s April meeting, for example, Williams asked for ideas to keep designers and construction managers on the same page. Ida Brooker, manager of construction contracts for The Boeing Co., Seattle, said, "It doesn’t matter if the two...are on the same page, if it’s the wrong page." She recommended starting a project with a work group that combines users, designers and contractors.
Panel member Tod Rittenhouse, principal of Weidlinger Associates, New York City, added that designers sometimes feel they are brought in to give the client "something different." He recommended a "project confirmation meeting," which clarifies objectives and says "this is the area where you can play, this is the area where you cannot play."
Williams has strived to bring new players into the embassy construction program which historically handed out work to the same few firms. Now, Industry Day lays out program plans to potential participants. It drew 450 attendees in 2003, almost 700 in 2004 and expects up to 900 at a meeting on Nov. 2.
One new player, HNTB, is drawn to the work largely because of the size of the market, estimated between $1 billion and $1.5 billion annually over the next 10 years. Embassy work is one of six focus sectors of HNTB Federal Services, says Kevin McDonald, president of the unit.
But traditional players also have stayed on board. Kirby Caddell, CEO of Caddell Construction Co. Inc., Birmingham, Ala., says his firm has been building embassies since the early 1990s. It is now working on the U.S. embassy compound in Beijing as well as seven other projects, including four in West Africa. Working in poor countries, requires enormous planning, Caddell says. "If we want a crane, an air compressor or a dump truck, we have to bring it in. We also have to bring in skilled workers."
Customs. Openings, such as this one in Sofia, Bulgaria, and designs involve local customs and materials. (Photo courtesy of Department of State)
Success is defined by results, tracked by Williams’ monthly reviews. They are exhausting, participants claim. This discipline causes "all the people in the management chain to be accountable," says one. "Williams can be an extremely tough and demanding manager," says another former associate. "He also gets more results than anyone else I’ve ever worked for."
Contractors agree. "He is a tough cookie," claims Paul Miles, president of Morrison International Construction Inc., Kennewick, Wash., which partnered on an office annex for the Albania embassy. "If he says 20 months, he means 20 months. He is relentless. When you make a commitment to OBO, you make a personal commitment to the general. He is watching you like a hawk. And that is not a bad thing."
FEDERAL BUILDINGS
State Learns that Embassies Can Be Cheaper by the Dozen
Management skill of new director is credited with transforming program to upgrade security
5/23/2005
By Janice L. Tuchman and Sherie Winston
Marching Orders. Williams formed a team to work "quicker, better, more responsively." (Photo by Janice L. Tuchman for ENR)
How do you open 15 embassies and consulates in four years, start construction on 39 more and have 13 ready to bid? Two words: "Discipline and accountability," says Charles E. Williams, director and COO of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations at the U.S. State Dept.
"Accountability is a word Williams uses every day," says P.K. Bagchi, OBO’s project director for the new U.S. Embassy complex under construction in Beijing. "He doesn’t micromanage, and his door is open so you can discuss problems on the horizon. But he has truly implemented performance measures."
Williams was hand-picked for the job in December 2000 by then Secretary of State designate Colin Powell as the newly elected Bush administration prepared to enter the White House. He recalls that Powell charged him with what Williams calls an "awesome task," to turn around the existing, slow-moving program and rapidly increase security.
Upgrading embassy security around the world became a top State Dept. priority after the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The department found major deficiencies at 195 of its 264 embassies and consulates, real estate worth $12 billion. Some were functionally obsolete as well. But the standard design-bid-build process used then, along with limited resources, meant only one or two facilities a year could be built. The old program, under the Office of Foreign Buildings Operations, suffered because it did not have a plan. Says one critic: FBO "had a lousy reputation on Capitol Hill and within State."
But Williams, who retired as a major general after 29 years with the Army Corps of Engineers, had a mandate straight from Powell. Williams shows visitors the reference in the book, The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell: "Do whatever is needed to overhaul the capital planning procedures and operations of your office....Go ahead and push the envelope...ignore traditions that don’t work any more–and whatever you do, don’t bother asking for permission."
Williams indeed pushed the envelope. After Powell raised the office to the more senior bureau status within the State Dept., Williams asserted his unique management style to turn the program around. His first term was an unqualified success. Four years into his tenure, there were 54 embassy compounds under construction or completed. Not only did he dramatically accelerate the pace of construction, he started saving money by implementing Standard Embassy Designs (SED) and design-build project delivery. These techniques reduced the duration of a project by as much as a third. Officials saved $63 million on fiscal 2002 projects, for example, allowing OBO to plan an additional facility.
SED allows contractors "to take more consistent design criteria to delivery more rapidly," allowing construction to begin sooner, explains Mike Gwyn, a government group vice president with Fluor Corp., now responsible for the operation of J.A. Jones International. Williams works regularly with industry to refine SED, adds Gwyn.
Williams also shifted the program away from a traditional government approach, employing some of the management skills he used in the military and in the private sector to achieve performance-based results. His first task, he says, was to sprinkle private-sector talent within the staff. "We had to do things quicker, better and more responsively," Williams says.
He also instituted a land acquisition strategy where U.S. officials select 10-acre sites for future compounds that meet environmental, security and other criteria. Preselecting the land makes it easier to go to Congress and ask for money to build the compound, Williams explains. It also frees the design-build team from worrying about issues in the host country such as zoning or night work.
Frequent Flyer.
Williams has visited 122 countries, often for ceremonies such as groundbreakings in Berlin (above) and Managua, Nicaragua. (Photos courtesy of Department of State)
Four years ago OBO was managing $700 million worth of work. Today, that portfolio exceeds $4 billion. Williams has visited 122 posts during his tenure, including numerous groundbreakings and opening ceremonies such as the one at the $75-million embassy in Yerevan, Armenia, on May 6 (see cover).
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget "rated our new construction management as 97% effective for execution. We have 15 to 20 large reliable American contractors working for us now, versus two or three in years past." Williams says. The plan now stretches out over 14 years with a total cost of $17.5 billion. To stretch those resources further, the White House is phasing in a cost-sharing program among the many agencies that will share space in new embassy compounds. When fully matured in four years it will add $1.4 billion each year to the funding stream.
Leadership Secrets
Observers credit Williams’ managerial skill as a key to his success. Larry D. Walker, group vice president for global infrastructure of Louis Berger Group, says one can’t divorce Williams’ style from the magnitude of the program. Williams "had to implement a strong organizational model," Walker contends. "He is a strong disciplinarian and this is what this organization needs."
Louis Berger currently is assisting OBO with conceptual design for the new embassy compound in Baghdad. "It’s the upfront work," explains Walker. Designers take the concept to a point where the design-build teams can bid on it–generally 15 to 25% complete. Click here to view Who's Who in State Dept. Design-Build
Along with management strength, Williams needed the support of senior leaders at the State Dept., considered extremely political even by Washington standards, as well as Capitol Hill. "He was brilliant in understanding Congress and OMB," which ...was key to securing the financial resources to grow the program, says one former associate. "This wasn’t just lip service, he was leading it and making it happen," says the associate.
Such leaders generally find opposition within the organization they are trying to change, and Williams was no exception. "Some people don’t like change [and Williams] represents change," says a source. The primary opposition came from architects who initially opposed the standard design concept. But while SED standardizes space parameters, perimeter facilities, utilities, building mass and structural grid, it still leaves room for architectural creativity.
...
Achieving Buy-In
Williams also achieved buy-in from industry by launching an Industry Advisory Panel. The panel has nine members representing a wide variety of industry associations. Beijing Project Director Bagchi says the panel gives Williams a "sanity check" on how new ideas will impact construction.
At the panel’s April meeting, for example, Williams asked for ideas to keep designers and construction managers on the same page. Ida Brooker, manager of construction contracts for The Boeing Co., Seattle, said, "It doesn’t matter if the two...are on the same page, if it’s the wrong page." She recommended starting a project with a work group that combines users, designers and contractors.
Panel member Tod Rittenhouse, principal of Weidlinger Associates, New York City, added that designers sometimes feel they are brought in to give the client "something different." He recommended a "project confirmation meeting," which clarifies objectives and says "this is the area where you can play, this is the area where you cannot play."
Williams has strived to bring new players into the embassy construction program which historically handed out work to the same few firms. Now, Industry Day lays out program plans to potential participants. It drew 450 attendees in 2003, almost 700 in 2004 and expects up to 900 at a meeting on Nov. 2.
One new player, HNTB, is drawn to the work largely because of the size of the market, estimated between $1 billion and $1.5 billion annually over the next 10 years. Embassy work is one of six focus sectors of HNTB Federal Services, says Kevin McDonald, president of the unit.
But traditional players also have stayed on board. Kirby Caddell, CEO of Caddell Construction Co. Inc., Birmingham, Ala., says his firm has been building embassies since the early 1990s. It is now working on the U.S. embassy compound in Beijing as well as seven other projects, including four in West Africa. Working in poor countries, requires enormous planning, Caddell says. "If we want a crane, an air compressor or a dump truck, we have to bring it in. We also have to bring in skilled workers."
Customs. Openings, such as this one in Sofia, Bulgaria, and designs involve local customs and materials. (Photo courtesy of Department of State)
Success is defined by results, tracked by Williams’ monthly reviews. They are exhausting, participants claim. This discipline causes "all the people in the management chain to be accountable," says one. "Williams can be an extremely tough and demanding manager," says another former associate. "He also gets more results than anyone else I’ve ever worked for."
Contractors agree. "He is a tough cookie," claims Paul Miles, president of Morrison International Construction Inc., Kennewick, Wash., which partnered on an office annex for the Albania embassy. "If he says 20 months, he means 20 months. He is relentless. When you make a commitment to OBO, you make a personal commitment to the general. He is watching you like a hawk. And that is not a bad thing."