Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Cost & Schedule Management & Tracking – Process, Systems, & People Approach

Like most water and sanitary sewer utilities around the nation, rehabilitation and/or replacement of aging sanitary sewer infrastructure is a top priority for the City of Virginia Beach, Department of Public Utilities (DPU). The City is currently mandated to be in compliance with the regional Consent Order and is also in the process of developing a mandatory, multi-year, rehabilitation implementation plan. As a result, limited capital improvement program (CIP) funds are available for other programs. With an industry “new-normal” of having to do more with less, prioritization and effective program/project management of all capital programs is critical and necessary.The objective of this initiative is to develop a robust change management process to efficiently plan for CIP project funding needs, track CIP project schedules, encumbrances and expenditures, and train Sewer Pump Station Project Managers with the adoption of the methodology.DPU's sanitary sewer system is comprised of more than 1,621 miles of gravity sewer lines, 190 miles sewer force main, and 406 sewer pump stations. Given that the typical useful life of a sewer pump station is approximately 50 years and in order to stay ahead of the pump station deterioration rate, it is DPU's intent to replace approximately 8-10 pump stations each year resulting in significant annual capital investments.Upgrades or rehabilitation of 406 sewer pump stations experiencing hydraulic, mechanical, safety, or structural problems and stations subjected to corrosion and odor problems falls under the purview of the Pump Station Modifications program, making it one of the largest and the most complex programs within DPU's annual CIP.The Process-Systems-People methodology has been adopted and is being actively implemented for the Pump Station Modifications program. The process has been established, necessary information management systems have been aligned, and all Sewer Pump Station Project Managers have been trained to successfully implement this methodology.This presentation will describe the methodology used by the City of Virginia Beach, DPU as part of a “process-systems-people” approach to program management of the Sewer Pump Stations Modifications Program by developing a standardized program/project management framework, leveraging existing technology, and training Sewer Pump Station Project Managers to manage the City-owned, operated, and maintained sewer pump stations. The change management approach that identifies the requirements, systems and resource dependencies of capital program management in order to depict critical program and project management Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and make them accessible to key stakeholders within DPU will also be presented.