Army Civil Works unveils 'Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork' initiative to 'prioritize resources on core missions that serve the national interest'

The Office of Army Civil Works has announced a new initiative for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) titled "Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork,’ which aims to modernize and maximize the Army branch’s "ability to deliver national infrastructure, cut red tape with a focus on efficiency, increase transparency and accountability, and strategically prioritize resources on core missions that serve the national interest."

"Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork" includes 27 change initiatives grouped under five efforts: "maximizing the ability to deliver national infrastructure," "cutting red tape," "focus on efficiency," "transparency and accountability," and "prioritization." 

Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle said in a statement, "The US Army’s Civil Works program has been an invaluable cornerstone since our Nation’s founding. ‘Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork’ will return USACE to a focus on its core missions and ensure the enterprise continues to be the most trusted national resource delivering water resources solutions. This is only possible with President Trump’s leadership that has enabled our team to maximize our ability to deliver national infrastructure and cut red tape for the American people."

He added, "Our ‘Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork’ initiative will ensure available resources are allocated to the most critical water resources projects that will deliver the greatest benefits to our country. Aligned with President Trump’s vision of American excellence, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will accelerate project delivery with smarter contracting, higher design standards, and a reformed partnership pipeline to build the infrastructure America needs, faster." 

He said the initiative will enable USACE "to deliver critical projects and programs for the nation more efficiently, sooner, and at less cost than the current ways of doing business. This will eliminate bureaucratic delays and provide fast, clear decisions needed to save lives and empower our economy." He added, "With the Trump Administration hyper-focused on cutting red tape and delivering transparency and accountability, the Army Civil Works’ ‘Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork" initiative will aggressively attack waste and inefficiency through a fundamental overhaul of our program, which will instill a new culture of discipline and operational excellence for the US Army Corps of Engineers."

Among the things the initiative aims to do are "Accelerate project delivery with smarter contracting, higher design standards, and a reformed partnership pipeline;" "Overhaul the entire regulatory and permitting process to eliminate bureaucratic delays and provide fast, clear decisions needed to permit activities and get projects built;" "Make the organization leaner and more effective by optimizing our assets, overhauling internal business practices, and enforcing message discipline;" "Attack waste and inefficiency through a fundamental overhaul of financial and operational practices;" and "Impose strategic discipline by focusing all resources on core missions that serve the national interest, while terminating legacy efforts that divert focus and waste money."

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said, "Continuous Army transformation is about rapidly delivering war-winning capabilities to the Army today, not years in the future. But that’s not all; we’re also transforming at home, too. I’m incredibly proud of the ‘Building Infrastructure, Not Paperwork’ (BINP) transformation initiative the Army Civil Works and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers teams recently unveiled. BINP will build and strengthen American infrastructure across our nation, increasing resiliency and providing tangible, long-lasting value for the American people."