NNSA received the FLC Midwest Region Interagency Partnership Award in October 2020 for its BUILDER Sustainment Management System for Government/Commercial Facility Management.
NNSA received the FLC Midwest Region Interagency Partnership Award in October 2020 for its BUILDER Sustainment Management System for Government/Commercial Facility Management.

Over the past five years, NNSA has focused on improving its decision-making process on infrastructure. As part of a Science-Based Infrastructure Stewardship approach, NNSA enlisted the help of BUILDER, a software program designed to improve NNSA’s ability to pinpoint and prioritize investments. BUILDER proactively responds to emerging infrastructure needs by recommending risk-based building component repairs and replacements at the most opportune time.

Earlier this year, NNSA received the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Midwest Regional Interagency Partnership Award alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The FLC Midwest Regional Interagency Partnership Award recognizes agency and laboratory employees from at least two different agencies within the region who have collaboratively accomplished outstanding work in transferring a technology.

“Traditionally, infrastructure management was done by looking in the rearview mirror. With our new strategy, we are turning that around, to look out the front windshield,” said Tyson Deschamp, Deputy Director of NNSA’s Office of Infrastructure Planning and Analysis. “Now we can see obstacles coming our way and proactively adjust to meet and overcome them.”

Developed by USACE, BUILDER has been recognized by the National Academies of Science as a best‐in‐class software for infrastructure management. The system provides NNSA with a single, structure-based approach to assess infrastructure and to inform infrastructure renewal decisions based on current and predicted system conditions, functionality, mission priorities, and acceptable risk tolerance levels. The NNSA Office of Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations uses it to track inventory condition within or associated with our assets, and to generate our annual Deferred Maintenance, Repair Needs, and Replacement Plant Value metrics.

For NNSA, BUILDER only includes real property and is meant to be a future forecasting and investment tool, not a daily maintenance program. The system is brilliantly designed to work in tandem with local Computer Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) which NNSA sites use to manage everyday maintenance work. This comprehensive software integration strategy seamlessly transmits data from one system to another significantly improving information accuracy and timeliness.

The team has also been nominated for the FLC national award.

Learn more about NNSA’s Office of Safety, Infrastructure and Operations.