Managing Construction and Infrastructure in the 21st Century Bureau of Reclamation

In the more than 100 years since its formation, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation of theDepartment of Interior (DOI), through its construction program, has brought water,electric power, and recreation facilities to millions of people in the Western UnitedStates. With major water and power systems in place, the Bureau's attention has nowturned to operation, maintenance, repair, and modernization of those facilities in anenvironmentally and economically sound manner. To help with this effort, DOI asked theNRC to advise the Bureau on 'appropriate organizational, management, and resourceconfigurations to meet its construction, maintenance, and infrastructure requirements forits missions of the 21st century.' This report presents an assessment of the requirementsfacing the Bureau in the 21st century, an analysis of good practices and techniques foraddressing those challenges, and a review of workforce and human resource needs. Thereport also provides alternative scenarios that describe possible future organizations for infrastructure management.