What does the Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers do, exactly?
Truth be told, I can hardly contain my enthusiasm as I launch into the Corps' storied history and explain how the men and women of our district continue the legacy of service to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation through programs that range from environmental restoration to military construction.
It's a mission so complex and diverse that there is no easy answer, no 30-second sound bite that ties it all into a neat little package. Yes, it's science and engineering, but it's also real estate and contracting and so much more ...
In formal settings such as civic group meetings and new employee orientation, the answer to the question came as a 45-minute slide presentation that often reduced our fascinating mission to bullets and images that left the audience stifling yawns. Even the most enthusiastic audience only has so much tolerance for slides, right?
So, we made a video.
Now, our story is told by real employees: the people who live and work in your communities, the people who execute these missions every day, the people I'm privileged to lead, the people who serve YOU.
They are the Norfolk District.
I invite you to take a look and leave feedback. You can find the HD version of "We Are Norfolk District" here.
Building Strong
COL Andy Backus
5 comments:
COL Backus:
I'm writing because I'm hearing rumors about the need to move CPAC and how this may seriously impact the wonderful employee and public resource we have in the District Library. So far, I've heard that the library is closing or, depending on who you believe, that the library will be cut in half so that the CPAC has a "private workspace with windows."
Honestly, the whole concept seems ludicrous and wasteful. For the years I've been here, I never heard CPAC complain about privacy. Until now. In fact, I've never, ever, had to deal with CPAC on an issue that required a closed door conversation. Those personnel matters are for EEO.
When will we stop trying to appease everyone? There are sufficient conference rooms and training rooms available in this building and all sections use those for "private meetings." Also, the CPAC chief and deputy both have private offices with just as much privacy (or more) than some other chiefs.
It seems to me that with some of the other CPAC drama lately that the driving factor behind this move is to get CPAC away from the scrutiny of other employees. Have you even asked employees if privacy is an issue when they use CPAC? Must we really spend even MORE money on interior renovations? How much will this cost the American taxpayer and why hasn't this been discussed openly? Where is the transparency?
Frankly, I'm frustrated and disheartened by how this is being handled by leadership. I believe others are too.
Please, SAVE OUR LIBRARY!
This comment has been moderated. The full text of the original comment has been forwarded to COL Backus for his review and reply.
Colonel Backus:
Please give us a chance at survival! By filling a necessary position, with an ineffective person you will in effect destroy existing functionality in your district office. Rotate this pre-selected position between all your qualified GS-12’s. Currently no one qualifies without the respect of boots on the ground experience in the current position. Are you aware that you have excellent potential in house? Maybe you fail to see the talent due the thick smear of debris. Today only 2 in house GS-12’s qualify on paper. One is not qualified the other has nicely declined. It is upsetting to see this manager still acting appropriately without correction. This manager will not respect this employees’ decision to stay in the current position. Check out the requested duties of the advertised supervisory position.
Have you or anyone ever seen a department mission statement, a department vision statement, goals, objectives, instructions to the employees on how to accomplish the mission? Let us know the benchmarks of measure. This duty is the responsibility of the district chief. If it is not being accomplished address the problem not the symptom.
Approves the full-range of personnel actions recommended by subordinate supervisors? Colonel this is another unnecessary level of management contributing stress, confusion, and disarray. How does this help you, does it help your employees? This duty is the responsibility of the district chief. If it is not being accomplished address the problem not the symptom.
Exactly what are the current supervisors’ responsibilities and duties? Colonel please get rid of them, they lack courage and are inept if they cannot handle this one with ease. Review the position descriptions to make sure they are correct!
Research and refer to the set up of existing USACE divisions. Don’t hurt us further, commission a senior team to review the existing operation. Give us a chance to compete for all positions fairly. This one has been preselected. You know it has. cf; Commanding General and Chief of Engineers CECG LTG Van Antwerp Brigadier General Peter A. (Duke) DeLuca, Commander and Division Engineer of the North Atlantic Division Directorate of Contracting, CECT, Kim D. Denver, Director
Dear Anonymous:
Great post and I appreciate your interest in this topic ... but, the "rumors" you cite are only partially correct. I welcome the chance to provide you accurate info in this forum.
At the beginning of this year, District leaders convened to conduct strategic planning for the year. One part of this annual exercise is to determine which areas of the district need leadership attention -- either to improve performance or to take advantage of opportunities.
This year, the feedback from this session overwhelmingly indicated that our Human Resource function needed improvement. So, we are attacking this area on a number of fronts (personnel, training, procedures etc.) in coordination with the leadership of the Civilian Human Resource Agency (CHRA). We already have seen pretty dramatic improvement -- moving from dead last in our region in personnel action responsiveness all the way to 2nd best. We continue to work because we want to get to #1!
One of the CHRA recommendations in this comprehensive review had to do with the facilities from which our HR section operates. CHRA feedback is essentially what you described in your post: the ideal scenario would include more privacy for employees to conduct their business with our HR staff.
This is just a recommendation and, quite frankly, the timing was terrible since we just completed our facility renovation and I am not enthused about spending any more money in this area.
Having said that, I asked our Mission Support Chief, Ava Benson, to take a look at some low cost Courses of Action (COAs) to see if there is an optimal solution to accommodate the CHRA recommendation. I also asked that she brief our District Executive Staff for a final decision ... that briefing has not happened yet.
I am aware that at least one COA she is looking at involves consolidating the legal library (the one in the hallway by Emergency Management) with the current District Library. I am not aware of any COA that eliminates the library -- there may be one, but it has not been fully vetted and briefed to me yet. I will certainly provide all information about any COA we select (if any), and the corresponding rationale, as we move forward.
COL B.
Thanks for your post. I take all hiring actions and personnel matters extremely seriously because, in my view, they are the most important foundational actions for our organization.
With respect to the new Deputy Contracting Chief/Business Oversight Branch (BOB) Chief, I look forward to filling this position permanently with the best qualified candidate in accordance with our merit based system. You might be interested to know that the BOBs are being implemented in all districts in our division as part of a comprehensive effort to improve our Acquisition function. This is an area in which we have been highly scrutinized in the recent past and filling this important oversight position is part of our strategy for improvement. Therefore, as much as I am an advocate of developmental/rotational assignments, in this case we want to get a permanent leader on board to drive improvement.
If you are applying for this position, I wish you the best and assure you that all candidates will be treated fairly and judged solely on their merit.
As always, I have an open door if you wish to discuss this matter or our strategy to improve our Acquisition function in person. I welcome the
opportunity to share my approach/ideas with anyone who has interest.
COL B.
Colonel,
I'm a contractor on one of the Norfolk District job sites. A question came up about the red USACE safety vests worn by USACE employees (when required). When it was casually mentioned to one of the regular on site USACE employees I was told it meets EM 385-1-1 (2008). I decided to research the question. Below are my finding;
From - EM 385-1-1
"05.F HIGH-VISIBILITY APPAREL
05.F.01 High-visibility apparel meeting, at minimum, ANSI/ISEA
07-2004 Performance Class 2 requirements, shall be worn by
workers (such as, but not limited to, signal persons, spotters,
survey crews and inspectors) whenever:
a. Workers are exposed to vehicular or equipment traffic at
speeds up to 45 mph (72.4 kph);
b. There is limited visibility of workers exposed to mobile/heavy
equipment operations, vehicles, load handling, or other
hazardous activities;
c. Reduced visibility conditions exist due to weather conditions,
illumination, or visually complex backgrounds where ambient
visibility is at least 50 ft (15.2 m); OR
d. Workers are involved in activities in close proximity to
vehicular traffic with no protective barriers."
When I researched ANSI/ISEA 07-2004 Performance Class 2 requirements I found;
-The retro tape on USACE vests measure 1" wide.
ANSI/ISEA 07-2004 Performance Class 2 requirements state the minimum width is 1.375" for class 2 vests.
-Reference also states the Minimum number of yards per retroreflective material length to be 4yds (using 1.375 width tape). The total length of retro on the USACE vests total 2 yards.
-I also question using the red color. While it does stand out I'm not sure it meets the standard which requires " fluorescent yellow-green, fluorescent orange-red and fluorescent red".
Could you look look into whether these vests meet ANSI/ISEA 07-2004 Performance Class 2 and post your results here? As a contractor, keeping ALL personnel that visit our job site is our number one priority! This includes Corps employees.
Thanks,
Bill
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