Future First Planning

Innovative planning and development ideas are helping the Air Combat Command better use its limited real estate assets and increase project delivery efficiency in the process.

What if you could increase your developable land by 13 percent without adding a single acre of new property? For military bases with land constraints and changing missions, this increase could be critical. And it was exactly what Brigadier General Patrick A. Burns, P.E., has been able to accomplish for the Air Combat Command (ACC) since he introduced Future First Planning (F2P) a little over a year ago.

When Burns took the job as head civil engineer for ACC in 2001, the command’s construction program was about $500 million a year. “Today it’s at $2.5 billion—a growth factor of five on the construction workload and activity on bases,” he recounts. Part of the growth is to support new missions like the F/A-22 Raptor, but an equal part is revitalization of existing facilities. Maximizing land use to meet ACC needs was critical.

“About a year and a half ago my staff at Langley [Air Force Base] asked me to take a look at a newly closed landfill. There were red and white signs surrounding it that said, ‘Capped landfill. Do not dig here. Call this number if questions.’ I went back to my staff and said, ‘Tell me what we should use this plot of land for because it’s not going to be off limits.’”

A solution emerged. Adjacent to a new $12-million gymnasium, the closed landfill site was perfect for a running track, grass ball fields, or a sorely needed parking lot. The new running track and football field were built, and out of that effort, F2P was born.

Fusing Cleanup with Planning

Historically within the DOD, and as illustrated in the original landfill closure activities at Langley, there had been a disconnect between environmental restoration and base development. Environmental projects were funded from a separate source of money and were initiated, scoped, and completed independently.

Burns figured that by fusing environmental cleanup with base development planning, the different pots of money could be combined to optimize land use. “The name ‘Future First Planning’ is important,” Burns stresses. “The needs of the future come first. Then you plan to those needs, with environmental cleanup of the past being a component of it.”

Introducing Integrated Planning

As F2P emerged, Burns was seeing a need for an overall, more efficient approach to base planning. “We had land use policies, and we had future use plans, but there weren’t a lot of teeth in them,” Burns says. “We wanted to put more planning and flexibility in place so that no matter what happens, we’re prepared.”

Burns introduced his bases to integrated planning. “The idea was to bring together the experts in real estate, environmental issues, Future First Planning, land use planning, community planning, flight line operations, and housing development. Then in one undertaking, assess the base’s plan, assess the programming and projects in place, and tie the two together. Then identify the top planning challenges they face and produce legacy products that keep the vision for the future.”

An outgrowth of integrated planning has been the introduction of formal zoning on Air Force bases. Previously, bases were just “gray blobs” on civic zoning maps. Now zoning just like local communities use assists commanders in siting facilities within the base and helps to define the level of environmental cleanup needed for F2P efforts. It also facilitates compatible development with communities outside of base boundaries.

The “Build Chain”

Integrated planning is one of the innovative strategies that Burns has incorporated into the F2P process, which Burns has dubbed the “Build Chain”. Eight primary components comprise the Build Chain: visualize,
conceptualize, plan, program, design, award, construct, and deliver. These are connected by “links” that facilitate the next step and give a higher
certainty of quality, timeliness, and cost to the overall project.

“Integrated planning is the link between visualizing and planning,” explains Burns. “3-D virtual modeling takes us from the concept stage to the planning stage. A customer concept document bridges the planning and design phases. This narrows the project scope so that we have an almost 33-percent design before we start the design phase. We use the same firm that does the customer concept document to do the design so we don’t have a learning curve issue.”

A “best value” approach is used in awarding contracts to better bridge the award–construct links. Quality, cost, and schedules are evaluated and
consideration is given to the ACC’s level of confidence that the proposing team can deliver the project as awarded.

To ensure projects under construction are completed in an efficient and effective manner, Burns has also instituted what he calls the “Red Zone”
strategy into the Build Chain. “It’s patterned after football, when you get down to the 20–yard line. That’s the most difficult place to move the ball and score,” he says. “In the last 60 to 90 days of a construction effort, we bring in the entire team to focus on closing the project out. We’re now closing projects out within a couple of months of when they’re completed instead of maybe a year later, and with a lot fewer changes.”

A Broader Perspective

Although focused on environmental cleanup sites, F2P is a concept that works for a much broader application. It synchronizes planning, engineering,
and construction to achieve the vision for future land use and does this both quickly and cost efficiently. “I think we ought to deliver the best possible facilities for people who are willing to risk their lives for the nation—and do that at a reasonable price,” says Burns. “Our military and our country are going to be better for it.”

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