Reclamation's Technical Resources Facilitation Service Office, which offers creative problem solving that follows a value method study plan. When to work with a Value Program study and what type of value study would be best for your project depends on your project--how complex it is, the number of stakeholders, and how much your project will cost.
Effective facilitation (non-required) includes Group Objectives and Logistics (GOAL) meetings to help determine the study objectives and Project Alternative Solutions Studies to help determine and refine alternatives.
Value Method studies (which may be required) have two forms: the Value Planning study uses the formal value method to optimize alternatives, and the Value Engineering study uses the formal value method to optimize implementing the selected alternative.
Effective Facilitation: (GOAL and PASS)
The GOAL and PASS Technical Teams are designed to work together to keep alternative solutions on target and avoid “scope-creep”. This process results in viable solutions to address a broad range of administrative, process, or engineering projects.
Effective Solutions: Value Planning and Value Engineering
These studies provide a creative problem solving process for a construction or O&M project. These studies attack problems from many angles to simplify solutions without sacrificing key functions. For both of these studies, a five to seven member Value Study Team follows a systematic Job Plan that meets Department of the Interior (DOI) requirements.
The team develops proposals and cost estimates that support informed decision making for projects ranging from construction to administration. The team generates and develops solutions that fulfill the necessary functions while improving performance.
A Value Engineering study is required for every federally funded project over $1 million, and an additional Value Planning study for every federally funded project over $10 million. The Value Planning and Value Engineering studies may be required for your project under Federal, Interior, and Reclamation laws, policies, and directives. Check your requirements.
But more than that--it's a good idea as these studies save millions of dollars.
Value Planning
A Value Planning study is performed before a preferred alternative has been selected (or even thought of) usually concentrates on identifying project objectives and developing functional components and general approaches to meet project objectives.. Value planning studies are appropriate for most projects, programs, or activities at a very early stage of design or development.
Value Engineering
A Value Engineering study is performed for a construction or O&M project after design alternatives have been developed (and maybe a preferred alternative selected) will typically focus its time and use many techniques to quantify and compare alternatives for selected project components. Because more is known about a project as the design process advances, the level of detail reached in engineering studies is greater than in planning studies.
Value Management
Value studies of administrative procedures, organizational structures, management systems, or similar activities are normally termed value analysis or value management studies. These studies use the same job plan and similar or the same techniques as the value engineering and value planning studies.