AF releases new integrated priority list

  • Published
  • By Roger Gragg
  • Air Force Civil Engineer Center Public Affairs
The Air Force released its second comprehensive two-year integrated priority list (IPL) this month.

The IPL strategically orders requirements for facility sustainment, restoration, modernization, environmental, energy, dormitory and demolition projects across the Air Force.

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center builds the IPL based on requirements developed in the field. The list reflects an approach known as asset management and uses an objective scoring model to assess risk to Airmen and risk to mission, as well as incorporating cost-saving investments, to rank-order how the Air Force invests funds.

"The IPL is truly the end result of the hard work of the installation and (major command) commanders developing requirements we integrate to assist with future investments," said Lt. Col. Chad Bondurant, the AFCEC Comprehensive Program Development Branch chief.

Before the release of the August 2014 IPL, each centralized program followed its own scoring model, resulting in six separate lists and the inability to clearly prioritize requirements across all programs, Bondurant said.

"The comprehensive IPL unites individual lists and provides transparency in the process of how Air Force projects are funded. It gives Air Force senior leaders visibility of budget and funding across the entire portfolio," said Joe Sciabica, AFCEC director. "With the IPL, we have moved the asset management approach from theory into practical application."

The IPL plans for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 as a one-year execution tool for the first year, while including development and design funds for the following year.

Though the initial release of last year's IPL received positive feedback from senior leaders and MAJCOMs, AFCEC team members knew they needed to refine the process to improve the list.

"The feedback we received from our customers at the major commands was that, while they loved the transparency of the process, the August release was too late," Bondurant said. "They need more time for planning and developing execution strategies, so we started working right after the release of the initial list to get this one out six months prior to the next fiscal year."

In addition to revising the timeline of the release, the team also refined the process by incorporating Air Force activity managers earlier and more actively in the process. Activity managers are responsible for a subset of Air Force infrastructure.

"Through asset visibility, the activity managers have the expertise to more readily identify where we should be investing our money," said Paul Hughes, a member of the IPL development team. "The model creates an initial list, but the activity managers can go through it and tell us if it includes what we really need as an Air Force and an enterprise, thus re-introducing that human element."

Hughes cited the instance of a demolition project at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, that was not ranking well within the model. Having the activity managers with real-world information and understanding of the impact this project would have on other programs, such as the European Infrastructure Consolidation, allowed them to recommend elevating its priority, he said.

Subsets with activity manager input comprised more than $400 million, or one-third, of the entire list.

"As asset visibility becomes more of a concrete reality, we envision activity managers actually guiding the process of creating the IPL," Hughes said.

The Construction Tasking Order (CTO) is used in conjunction with the IPL and makes the list executable based on the proposed budget. The CTO is a mechanism developed by AFCEC, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, and the Air Force Financial Management and Comptroller to issue the authority to advertise for needed projects with the intent to enable smoother contract execution and higher quality work at a lower cost.

"The IPL is a prioritized list, but the authority to advertise and the CTO are what allow the work to get done," Bondurant said. "Since the list forecasts funding requirements two fiscal years in advance, it gives private industry contractors ample time to prepare their strategy and plans, which should result in cost savings to the government."

Bondurant said the process used to develop the comprehensive IPL is key, since it is a transparent and objective risk-based model that provides a level playing field for all projects to compete for funding.

"Air Force leaders now have a visibility they have never had before, because they can see the direct, short-term impacts of budgeting decisions and strategic shifts," Sciabica said. "We can see how decisions affect execution and the broader Air Force mission."