After 37 years of serving our Nation, Mr. Alvin Lee, Director of Civil Works, has decided to retire. Mr. Lee started his career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Fairbanks Resident Office in Fairbanks, Alaska followed by a stint at one of the research labs within the Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC). From there he served in various capacities at every level of the organization.

In this episode we say farewell to the Director of Civil Works, Mr. Alvin Lee. Listen to hear Mr. Lee's lessons learned, accomplishments and future direction.

Show notes:

0:25 Episode Introduction

1:33 Alvin Lee Career Background

3:31 Reflections from the past three years

10:15 USACE's current Budget

13:30 Revolutionize Performance Monitoring

18:34 Lessons Learned

26:03 Mr. Lee's proudest moment of his career

34:05 Final Thoughts

In this episode, Inside the Castle celebrates producing over 100 episodes with the Chief of Engineers, Lieutenant General Scott Spellmon.

Listen in as we reflect on our favorite episodes, hear about key actions the Corps is taking to become a "Winning" organization, and learn how the Corps is enhancing partnerships with the Chief's Command Partnering Philosophy and Construction Project Partnering Playbook.

Fifteen years ago the 35W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed just south of Lock and Dam 1 which is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District.

Listen in to hear about the collapse and how USACE staff assisted with the response and recovery mission.

After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico had significant infrastructure damage and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been working with locals to reduce flooding and ensure public health and safety for the citizens of Puerto Rico.

Funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and emergency supplemental acts have provided a unique opportunity to construct new projects and promote resilience in Puerto Rico.

Listen in to learn more about the Corps mission in Puerto Rico.

For more information, visit the Jacksonville District website at: https://www.saj.usace.army.mil/

In this episode, Dr. Nadia Mohandessi sits down with Chris Klein, USACE Temporary Housing and Critical Public Facilities Program Manager and Tony Hill, Emergency Support Function #3 (ESF #3) Permanent Cadre Member, to learn more about the Temporary Housing mission and the Critical Public Facility mission, and how the Corps has worked over the past several years to deliver these vital missions to disaster survivors.

The temporary housing mission, one of the many missions USACE can perform in support of FEMA under ESF #3 and the National Response Framework, involves overseeing the placement of temporary housing units at individual home sites, existing mobile home parks, or newly designed and constructed mobile home parks when an event has rendered existing homes

uninhabitable.

The Critical Public Facilities mission involves providing and/or constructing temporary critical public facilities such as government office space, police stations, fire stations, medical clinics, and school classrooms, when those permanent facilities have been rendered unusable after a disaster.

In this episode we close out our three part regulatory series talking with Tunis McElwain, Deputy Chief of Regulatory at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters.

Listen in and learn what Regulatory is doing to improve their processes and enhance capabilities to ensure USACE delivers the mission on time and within budget.

Need more information about the USACE Regulatory Program? Visit us on the web at https://www.usace.army.mil/missions/civil-works/regulatory-program-and-permits/

In this episode, Inside the Castle takes a closer look at project performance monitoring and learns about the innovative ways the Corps is working to ensure quality projects are delivered on time and within budget.

Listen as Rich Feibelman and Michele Rebmann talk about how they are working with teammates from across the Corps to revolutionize performance monitoring.

In this episode, Inside the Castle showcases the newly published USACE Construction Partnering Playbook with Sue Dyer, Founder of the International Partnering Institute; Sheryl Gatz, Military Programs Strategic Planner at USACE Headquarters; and Darrick Godfrey, Senior Construction Engineer at USACE Headquarters.

Published in April of 2022, the Partnering Playbook was developed in coordination with our industry partners and key practitioners in the field with first-hand construction project partnering knowledge and experience. It provides guidance, best practices, and scalable tools and processes that should be used to implement partnering on all USACE construction projects throughout the delivery life cycle.

A copy of the Playbook can be found at: https://www.usace.army.mil/Business-With-Us/Partnering/.

You can also find more information about partnering on the International Partnering Institute website at: https://partneringinstitute.org/.

In this episode, Inside the Castle talks about the USACE Small Business Program. The USACE Small Business Program assists firms doing business with the government to ensure small and disadvantaged businesses have the maximum opportunity to participate on contracts.

Listen in to learn more and then visit USACE Small Business at https://www.usace.army.mil/Business-With-Us/Small-Business/ for even more resources to help small and disadvantaged businesses.

In this episode, Inside the Castle showcases the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Supplemental Program which is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for USACE to deliver water resource infrastructure projects that will positively benefit our communities across the Nation.

Listen in to learn how the USACE is delivering the mission for the Nation by executing quality projects on time and within in budget, safely.