Building on the Conversation: IGE this Spring Across SAME

In March, over 650 SAME members and industry representatives gathered for an exclusive two-day conference in Bethesda, Md. Government professionals, members of the armed services, and industry executives met in person, networked, and participated in specialized sessions that illustrated the core mission of the Capital Week conference and of the Society as a whole: industry-government engagement that develops partnerships to deliver solutions.

Through discussions, seminars, and hands-on exercises as part of the second annual IGE Summit, attendees jumped into sessions that covered themes of managing risk, alternative delivery methods, and installation design. Attendees split into three different rooms to collaborate on their topic of choice. The first, Collaborative Delivery and Federal Projects featured an industry and government panel who picked up the conversation from last year focused on alternative delivery methods. Both USACE and NAVFAC are testing programs for alternative delivery methods and are taking lessons learned to improve their process and find ways to share, rather than assign risk.

A second discussion group, hosted by the JECO COI, discussed risk within the joint engineering contingency operations. The Joint Engineering Challenges and Solutions moderators and experts focused their attention on identifying risk, managing risk and the challenges around those initiatives. JECO’s Warfighter Seminar will continue the discussion and delve deeper into this topic at 2024 JETC in Orlando.

The third IGE Summit session looked “over the horizon” at what installation design needed to look like to meet the challenges of the future in Installations of the Future: George Jetson Meets Nuts and Bolts group. Taking into account evolving technologies, sea-level rise, climate change and many other variables, the panel considered what installations may need and how to plan for changing contingencies five to ten years in the future.

Building on the Conversation

If you were unable to make it to the IGE Summit as part of Capital Week, plans are underway to continue the conversation across JETC, taking place May 14-16 in Orlando, Fla. Four IGE Roundtable discussions will pick up and develop these important conversations from Capital Week as well as introduce new themes for discussion.

• IGE Roundtable: Planning through Design (Part 1)
• IGE Roundtable: Shared Risk, What Can We Do Differently?
• IGE Roundtable: Planning through Design (Part 2)
• IGE Roundtable: Installations of the Future…Lessons Learned from Tyndall, Guam…Way Forward 

Along with these opportunities, the Warfighter Seminar, FAM Forum, and GeoWERX will return to the conference as platforms for top industry and government leaders to discuss continuing and urgent industry issues.

Warfighter Seminar. This dynamic session, hosted by the JECO COI, brings together influential representatives from Combatant Commands and industry contractors and engineers to discuss pressing topics affecting national security. Issues discussed cover everything from long-term, evolving topics such as sea level rise, climate change and energy and sustainability, to more acute threats such as cybersecurity and the changing strategic threats facing INDOPACOM. The outcomes of the seminars often have real world impacts on strategies and policies. At JETC this year, there will be two seminars with break-out sessions over two days. Seminar 1 is Use of Existing Authorities to “Set the Theater” for Current and Future Conflicts, and Seminar 2 is Cyber/Physical Attack to an Operational Asset in a Forward  Deployed Location.

FAM Forum. SAME’s Facility Asset Management (FAM) COI presents the FAM Forum for its third year at JETC. The forum attracts asset management leaders and government stakeholders to discuss and solve the pressing issues facing the FAM community. Effective collaboration between government and industry is built on open communication channels in order to effectively address and solve complex challenges confronting government facilities around the world. Through panel discussions, working groups, and interactive demonstrations, attendees will tackle hurdles to asset management like climate change, sea level rise, geopolitics, aging assets, budgeting, and risk management. The FAM Forum at JETC presents two topics for its breakout sessions: Renovating BUILDER: What We Need SMS to do for DoD Facility Assets, and Instituting Higher Learning into DoD: Asset Management strategies from the Public/Private and Educational Institutions.

GeoWERX. The Geospatial Working Group (GWG) is a working group within the FAM COI formed to promote and raise awareness for the field of geospatial engineering. This critical, doctrinal function of the military engineer plays a pivotal role in all military engineering endeavors. The Geospatial Government Roundtable at JETC will bring together top professionals from government and the private sectors to address key challenges to the community, focusing heavily on rapidly changing technological advances, developments, and limitations. On the exhibit floor, attendees will have an opportunity to see geospatial capabilities put to use in a real world scenario with the GeoWERX IV demonstration. This hands-on demonstration showcases the capabilities and technologies of the geospatial community and allows attendees to view the new tech and participate in live demonstrations.

A Formula for Success

Capital Week and JETC are opportunities to highlight and build on the collaboration that SAME has encouraged and cultivated through its many events, conferences, and outreach initiatives scheduled throughout the year. Rounding out the season in November will be the Small Business Conference (SBC), the flagship event for the federal small business industry, where over 5,000 attendees from government agencies and the private sector will meet to network, learn, and grow their businesses.

Evolving political climates, global and regional unrest, climate change, technological advances, and natural disasters: on their own, each presents a sizeable challenge to our nation’s security. Combined, they can present an unparalleled threat to our very way of life. Throughout the years, engineers, architects, and builders from private firms and government branches have come together to solve some of the most serious and complex issues of our time. By providing a working platform for effectively sharing ideas and partnering to execute solutions, the SAME community and conferences like Capital Week, JETC, and SBC are critical in continuing the mission of safeguarding our national security today, and for years to come.