WFL RESEARCH 2021(1), Risk Based Asset Management

The Western Federal Lands Highway Division (WFLHD) of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is contracting to develop guidance for Accelerating Risk-Based Transportation Asset Management at Federal Lands Management Agencies (FLMAs). These Agencies responsible for transportation assets regularly face deferred maintenance backlogs and challenges in optimizing the use of limited resources to address these backlogs. Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMAs) are particularly strained in this regard, as deferred maintenance backlogs and resource constraints (including financial resources, but also staffing, expertise, and data) are significant, and ever-present. In FY2018, Congressional Research Service estimated that there was $19.38 billion in deferred maintenance between the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management. Even after passage of Great American Outdoor Act in 2020, a significant funding challenge still exists. FLMAs are also challenged with the task of managing remote assets in expansive and dispersed geographic areas, where asset data including their condition are limited. Further, many assets are culturally or historically significant, which provides another set of management considerations and challenges. Because of these challenges, FLMAs are seeking to identify efficient ways to invest limited resources and optimize transportation system performance while also furthering the aims of agency missions and strategic long-range goals. Risk-based asset management is an approach that transportation agencies and industry worldwide are using to address similar challenges. Asset management is a strategic approach to managing assets in delivering organizational objectives and outcomes. The approach is founded on balancing lifecycle cost, risk, and performance at an individual asset, system, and portfolio scale. Because risk-based asset management practices provide such high value, State departments of transportation are now required through 23 CFR Part 515 to develop risk-based asset management plans. Additionally, transit agencies are required by the transit asset management (TAM) rule (49 CFR part 625) to adopt several asset management practices. FLMAs are primed to benefit from accelerating their adoption and practice of asset management principals. As FLMAs are unique organizations, however, the use of risk-based asset management must be cognizant of an agency's existing level of asset management maturity. That is, FLMAs are diverse, and may be starting from a range of different levels of existing asset management, risk assessment, and risk-based asset management capabilities. Meaningful FLMA-focused asset management solutions and recommendations would reflect this diversity, and offer varied roadmaps for obtaining value through asset management. The following tasks are required to complete this work successfully. A. Research Study Phase Task 1.0 Project Administration and Coordination This task will include coordination with staff from FHWA, Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMA), Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), and stakeholders. The consultant will work with COR to define a coordination strategy to be implemented throughout the life-cycle of this project. The contractor is required to: - Manage the scope, schedule, budget, staffing, and progress for the work. - Maintain regular contact with FHWA COR - Conduct conference calls with the COR and TAC at decision points - Coordinate with the project stakeholders Deliverables for Task 1.0 1. Monthly progress reports detailing activities and accomplishments with monthly invoices Task 2.0 Literature Review and Workplan Development FMLAs are increasingly looking to risk-based asset management principles and practices to guide transportation investment decisions. While the body of knowledge for FLMA-specific risk-based asset management is emerging rapidly; state, federal, and international practices provide valuable research, frameworks, and lessons learn from which FLMAs can benefit. Currently, FMLAs employ several asset management practices that are guided by agency guidance, goals, and missions. FLMA asset management guidance takes many forms. For example, Department of Interior (DOI) 2019 Budget Guidance Memo Attachment G guides DOI bureaus in developing five-year deferred maintenance and capital improvement plans. The guidance helps bureaus analyze, prioritize, and select capital investment projects that best support DOI FLMAs missions and goals by examining the criticality of assets against asset conditions. Individual FLMAs develop and communicate these strategic decisions in documents like capital investment strategies and long-range transportation plans. Through these efforts, asset investment strategies are reexamined and fine-tuned to align agency goals and objectives with investment needs. Examples of ongoing efforts to improve the management and investment in transportation assets includes NPS's "revAMP" process which is currently reexamining key aspects of the agency's facility management practices. At both the asset-level and individual park, refuge, forest, etc.-level ("unit-level"), FLMAs are advancing pilot projects and the body of knowledge for improved risk-based management by identifying risks and reconsidering transportation investment strategies holistically across an entire unit. Risk identification includes identifying critical assets at-risk of failure due to flooding, coastal storms, permafrost melt, geohazards and unstable slopes, and climate change. This research will build on the growing body of knowledge about best practices in risk-based asset management from across the country. In 2017, FHWA published Guidance on Incorporating Risk Management into Transportation Asset Management Plans to support risk-based asset transportation asset management plan (TAMP) development. Since that time, FHWA continues to develop TAMP guidance and publish pilot project results and studies. By June 30, 2019, all 50 states submitted their TAMPs, and in turn, FHWA is actively investigating ways to improve the next series of plans. NCHRP is also funding a study on risk assessment techniques for transportation asset management, expected to be complete in June 2021. Well established international asset management bodies of knowledge provide useful insights that are directly relevant to federal land management agencies. International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed global standards and approaches for asset management that provide relevant background for this research. This includes ISO 55000, which provides an overview of asset management subject and establishes standard terms and definitions; ISO 55001 which specifies the requirements for an integrated, effective asset management system; and ISO 55002, which provides guidance for the implementation of such management systems. These documents are applicable to all types of asset and by all types and sizes of organizations including FLMAs. The contractor will perform a detailed literature review of scientific publications and technical documents and create literature review report to define current best management practices for risk-bases asset management. Based on this document, the contractor will work with COR to create a detailed workplan to accomplish remaining tasks in this project. Deliverables for Task 2.0 1. Literature Review Report 2. Work Plan Task 3.0 Assessment of FLMAs Maturity with respect to Risk-Based Asset Management The contractor will work with FLMAs to Outline a framework for assessing the maturity of FLMA risk-based asset management. For example, the maturity assessment could include: 1. Context of the agency (e.g., mission, stakeholders, asset scope, asset management systems, etc.) 2. Leadership (e.g., policy, organizational, leadership attitudes towards asset management, etc.) 3. Planning (e.g., risk identification, roadmaps to meet objectives, etc.) 4. Support (e.g., resources, competence, awareness, communication, information requirements, documentation, etc.) 5. Operation (e.g., operation planning, outsourcing, change, etc.) 6. Performance evaluation (monitoring, measurement, analysis, evaluation, etc.) 7. Improvement (e.g., corrective and preventative actions, continuous improvements, etc.) The contractor will work with Technical Advisory Committee and other stakeholders to vet maturity analysis framework, and improve as needed. Deliverables for Task 3.0 1. Maturity Capability Model Task 4.0 Perform Gap Analysis for FLMAs Capabilities The contractor shall use the information compiled in Task 2 and Task 3 to identify gaps in FLMA risk-based asset management practices. The contractor should analyze the important constraints that explain those gaps or might prevent FLMAs from addressing them. The gap analysis should clearly identify the current state of practice, the ideal future state of practice and the likely limitations that will prevent the FLMAs to deploy ideal future state of practice. The contractor will summarize this in a gap analysis report. Deliverables for Task 4.0 1. Gap Analysis Report Task 5.0 Identify Emerging Practices Applicable for Risk-Based Management for FLMAs The contractor will explore ways in which the emerging practices can be applied to FLMAs to successfully incorporate risk-based asset management. The identified emerging practice should incorporate the results from task 2 and 3 and identify strengths and weaknesses. The contractor will assemble this information into a structured spreadsheet or similar format for future reference and/or use by relevant stakeholders. This task should include coordination with FLMAs to help calibrate the analysis and make sure that findings are realistic and relevant. The spreadsheet should be accompanied by a brief explanatory memorandum. Deliverables for Task 5.0 1. Emerging Practices Report Task 6.0 Develop Guidance for Risk Based Asset Management The contractor will develop a guidance documenting findings from the research and provide practical recommendations to help FLMAs implement risk-based asset management. The COR and TAC will review the draft, and the contractor will address any feedback into the final report. The primary audience for this report includes FLMA staff, FHWA staff, State DOT staff, and other transportation agency staff. Deliverables for Task 6.0 1. Draft Guidance Report Task 7.0 Develop and Deploy Implementation Plan The contractor will develop an implementation plan report for outreach to transportation agencies managing low-volume roads. The purpose of this implementation plan is to provide how to deploy results from this study. The implementation plan will include: - Outreach to federal land management agencies and local agencies to explain the additional tools and guidance. - Identify barriers and provide solutions for successful implementation of this research. - Ways to deploy this implementation plan The implementation plan will be developed with feedback from COR and TAC. After the implementation plan is approved, the contractor will undertake the deployment actions identified in the implementation plan. Deliverables for Task 7.0 1. Implementation Plan Report 2. Implementation Plan Deployment Task 8.0 Draft and Final Report The contractor will develop a draft report to document all the results from the previous task and comments from project stakeholders. The COR and TAC will review the draft, and the contractor will address any feedback into the final report. The final report must be delivered in a file format ready for publication in electronic format. The contractor must provide a high-resolution and low-resolution pdf files of the report in electronic format. There shall be no references to the contractor-- including contractor logos--on any of the materials except on form DOT F1700.7, the technical report documentation page. The primary audience for this report includes FLMA staff, FHWA staff, State DOT staff, and other transportation agency staff. Deliverables for Task 8.0 1. Draft Report 2. Final Report