Air Force Facilities Investment Plan Overview

Earth Tech prepared a facilities investment plan (FIP) for the US Air Force, Installations and Logistics, Civil Engineer Programs Division (USAF/ILEP). The plan is a comprehensive facilities plan that spans all Air Force major commands and installations. The objectives of the plan were to evaluate the Air Force current facilities planning processes and develop a system of planning methods and metrics for measuring success. This plan integrated industry standards and best practices with the Air Force’s current practices, recommending modifications to provide for consistent approaches across all installations.

A key aspect of the 10-year FIP is life cycle planning. Hundreds of facility types were included, such as runways, airplane maintenance, administration, research, training and operations, and even missile launching facilities. Earth Tech identified the best methods to assess daily operations and maintenance costs for these facilities in addition to the capital renewal costs required to keep the facilities in good operating condition over their useful lives. These costs can be used to drive budgets for facilities maintenance throughout the Air Force.

In addition to identifying models and metrics, Earth Tech developed an understanding of Air Force funding sources and processes so that credible recommendations could be made, taking into consideration the unique budgeting and management aspects of the Air Force. To develop this understanding, Earth Tech visited several installations that host the major commands, and held meetings to gain insight on the facilities management processes at each level of the planning process. This information was factored into the final report along with USAF/ILEP corporate objectives in conjunction with the DOD facilities planning guidelines.