Seamless Synchronization and Strategic Planning: Aligning Data for Portfolio Management Success

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By John Capelli, AIA, M.SAME, Sabrina Golden Wolfersberger, Ph.D., P.E., and Ryan Bredahl

A large-scale effort to realign data across 32.2-million-ft2 of Defense Health Agency medical centers is setting facility managers and owners up for success with more streamlined facility condition assessments and informed strategies.

As federal agencies seek ways to increase efficiency and accuracy in allocating financial resources under pressure from competing sources, facility portfolio planning and decision-making is an emerging area of both focus and opportunity. More defensible and informed portfolio management strategies are being driven through collaborative efforts of government and industry, such as comprehensive market vision studies, facility condition assessments, and detailed cost analyses.

A hallmark of this undertaking begins with an accurate baseline of conditions, which is informed by the diligent maintenance of the facility database or by executing a facility management data reconciliation process. With an accurate baseline, decision-makers can more easily and accurately grasp the implications of various funding scenarios for their facility portfolio.

As an example of this in action, the U.S. Army Engineering & Support Center, Huntsville and the GoldenWolf-EwingCole JV, working with the Defense Health Agency (DHA), completed a joint data re-alignment and BUILDER update for DHA. In carrying out this project, the team leveraged best practices and the power of BUILDER so that facility managers and building owners can make informed decisions with respect to the recapitalization of their facilities within a constrained funding environment.

Overall, the joint venture team deployed this process to 888 medical facilities worldwide. Also included were Army Medical Research & Material Command and Army Public Health Command, totaling 39 medical activities and 197 Military Treatment Facilities. This included major medical buildings, dental clinics, laboratories, veterinary clinics, energy plants, utility buildings, lift stations, boiler plants, cooling towers, chillers, substations, and transformers. A full summary of deficiencies and corresponding corrective actions is provided for every facility within the portfolio. These actions include detailed cost estimates, service life expectancy, and remaining useful life for all building systems, alongside necessary upgrades and their associated implementation costs, particularly within operational medical facilities.

Building the Plan

BUILDER Sustainment Management System (SMS) is a software application, developed by the U.S. Army Engineer Research & Development Center’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, to help facility managers and building owners maintain their infrastructure and facilities in an efficient and informed manner. The scope of DHA’s data re-alignment and BUILDER update encompassed 32.2-million-ft² of medical facilities. The data refresh included a complete inventory and assessment of new assets not currently within BUILDER SMS as well as an update of existing asset status within the program.

For such a large-scale investigation, having a detailed execution plan and buy-in was critical. The joint venture project team and DHA’s BUILDER SMS program manager held a week-long workshop and training session. The entire assessment team, BUILDER subject matter experts, and project leadership confirmed the task order objectives, expectations, goals, multi-year execution schedule, and QA/QC process with the first on-site assessment. At the conclusion of the session, the group codified the agreed-upon procedures and communication protocols. This engendered a collaborative team spirit and set the work up for success.

Tools for Success

Following the training workshop, facility assessments were performed that utilized BUILDER to capture and forecast the required sustainment program based on the UNIFORMATT II structure. The team created scripts to analyze all inventory data to confirm that the data was complete and usable. The script ensured that systems and components normally associated with a building based on size, type, and special classifications are properly inventoried in the database. The team then put together facility sustainment work plans and reviewed these with facility staff to validate that the full scope of work items generated within BUILDER was representative of the actual conditions in the field. Additionally, the team created and implemented a functionality index for each building; this allows DHA to understand better if the building meets the function required by occupancy and type.

To enhance effectiveness, a proprietary tool developed by joint venture partner GoldenWolf, the Condition Assessment Requirement Validation Engine (CARVE), was implemented that can collect data while on site and ensures security, consistency, and quality control. CARVE user input fields mirror the requirements as outlined in the DHA BUILDER Reference Guide, which assures consistency in data collection across the enterprise, from assessor to assessor and from site to site. Quality is ensured by CARVEw (a secure web-based CARVE data portal) where area managers and the program manager can view data and implement most in-house developed quality control checks.

CARVE represents another technical tool that improves the accuracy of data collection while providing efficiencies in the field that allow for assessors to increase walk rates and cover more ground in a shorter amount of time. The time and cost savings are especially beneficial on a project as extensive as the DHA review.

Set up for Success

With work complete on this re-alignment project, several key achievements have been gained that underscore the advantages of collaboration between industry and government.

Large-Scale Data Update. In realigning all BUILDER SMS data under the DHA BUILDER Reference Guide, the project team has completed over 10,650,000 unique record changes in the BUILDER SMS database. This has given the government new standards with respect to the quality and reliability of the database.

Customer Training. Facility managers and staff have received robust training. This involved onsite and remote BUILDER consultation and reporting to ensure integration with other systems.

Program Management. The government now has a current annual work plan generation and work item remediation working with facility inventory, management, requirements, and work order execution systems. This allows facility managers to better understand how facility condition assessments correlate with working requirements and service ticket history and how the performance of their preventative maintenance program impacts the overall condition of their assets.

Future Road Map. Detailed deficiency analyses and strategic financial reporting templates provide a roadmap for funding renovation projects. This comprehensive plan addresses immediate maintenance needs and supports the long-term sustainability and modernization of DHA’s medical infrastructure, ensuring it remains operational and compliant with evolving standards.

Scalable Opportunity

The impact and success of this global assessment work for DHA emphasizes the benefits for military and federal agencies, particularly with regard to budget and schedule adherence.

By delivering a database of information that can be managed by the customer, along with the option to have a technical subject matter expert on call, facility and portfolio managers have a living document that sets themselves and their customers up for success.

John Capelli, AIA, M.SAME, is Principal, Director of Government Practice, EwingCole; jcapelli@ewingcole.com.

Sabrina Golden Wolfersberger, Ph.D., P.E., is President, Owner, and Founder, and Ryan Bredahl, is Chief Executive Officer & Owner, GoldenWolf. They can be reached at sabrina@goldenwolf.com; and ryan@goldenwolf.com.

Published in the May-June 2025 issue of The Military Engineer