USAG HUMPHREYS, South Korea – The U.S. Corps of Engineers – Far East District hosted its first ever Engineering Symposium Nov. 13-14 at the Morning Calm Center on Camp Humphreys, South Korea.
The event included multiple district leaders presenting ways to enhance quality and effectiveness to FED’s construction projects. Additionally, external participants were invited to share their ideas about defining quality and share best practices to create strong engineer community relationships.
“By bringing together our team, installation representatives, and other stakeholders, we’re looking to foster stronger cooperation and a shared commitment to design excellence,” said Sarah Woo, USACE FED Chief of Engineering.
Architect-Engineer (AE) firms were also invited to share their perspective.
Fostering Stronger Relationships
The symposium provided a space to discuss avenues to continue to refine the quality of FED’s projects. Sister districts within USACE previously held similar symposiums, which convinced Woo and Karl Hatala, USACE FED Deputy Chief of Engineering, to coordinate this event.
“The symposium aimed to enhance the quality of our designs through collaboration and partnership,” she said.
The event provided an open dialogue about industry standards, addressed challenges and found creative ways to be more effective in project feedback. It also encouraged face-to-face interaction with all stakeholders involved in these projects.
USACE FED is “a relationship building business,” remarked Col. Jeremiah Willis, commander, as he described why events like this matter.
What is Quality?
“Quality is what remains even after we are out of these positions,” said David Chai, Deputy District Engineer.
The primary objective for the first day of the symposium was determining how is quality measured from internal and external stakeholders’ perspectives factoring in the experience of all parties involved in a project.
“What are our experiences like?” asked Hatala, the main coordinator for the symposium. “Does that say something about our work?”
The USACE Project Delivery Business Process (PDBP) defines quality as “the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to meet the stated or implied needs and expectations of the customer as well as address applicable laws, regulations, and professional standards,” in the Engineer Regulation 1110-3-12 in 2021 Military Engineering and Design Quality Management.
During a presentation, the FED team proposed quality be “understood as an objective characteristic that can be measured, managed and improved.”
A good measure of quality equates a good, trusting relationship. During the symposium, many defined measuring the quality of a design with the number of comments or feedback received, comparing those comments with similar projects in scope and size, and if it is an accurate measurement.
“What do you want the design to tell you?” Hatala asked.
The Design is in the Details
Participants provided diverse feedback on methods to enhance the project’s quality.
To illustrate, USACE FED staff–like other overseas federal agencies–have a limited term appointment of three-years but can extend to five-years.
“The person who wrote the contract in 2024 might not be here the next year,” Quincy McNeil, USACE FED Contracting Officer, stated when addressing the challenges with turnover.
With the retention rate, a new contracting officer will need to learn all aspects of the design. To address concerns early, McNeil suggested engaging in early conversations with stakeholders about their desires for the characteristics, funding and functionality of the design. While it can be difficult to engage in these conversations because the design is not finalized, it can provide a transparent outlook. This helps with relationship cohesion.
AEs and FED engineers emphasized the need to provide more descriptive and effective comments at earlier milestones of the design process. They encouraged more evidence proving the comments have been addressed and closed to enhance the readability of the information in the future.
Participants also discussed the impact of transparency, timeliness and accuracy on quality.
“How do we better utilize the design quality control plan (DQCP) and design reviews to improve project quality?” asked Jennifer Yoon, USACE FED Supervisory Civil Engineer. “We are all working on quality. We are all working on deliverables for our customers.”
The Future is What Remains
“Put yourself in the mindset of ‘great customer service is providing a great product,’” said Chai during opening remarks the second day.
As he was walking around the room, Chai invited the audience to think about “how do we deliver quality projects.”
By the conclusion of the event, participants agreed it created an open channel for direct communication with all stakeholders involved.
Representatives from the AEs remarked on the benefit of direct interactions with other participants.
In closing comments, Woo described a structure built in 1952 located on a small island off the coast of Busan, South Korea. The facility was used for orphans and is still standing. The building was used right after the Korean War but is nonfunctional today. Woo indicated the structure was built by U.S. engineers–not related to USACE FED. However, her anecdote illustrated that even as FED employees change, their works are their legacy.
“The most important thing is to remember what mission we have here,” Woo stated.
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