Infrastructure investment decisions: Setting facilities repair and rehabilitation priorities for the Department of the Interior

The Department of the Interior (DoI) manages a significant inventory of physical assets located in diverse regions of the country. During the 1980s the major land management bureaus-the Bureau of Labor Management, National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service-initiated efforts to develop more systematic and rational mechanisms to manage their asset inventories and to assist in priority setting between distinct and often distant mamagement units. However, the decision making process lacks consideration of economic benefits and costs, and often does not allow department wide priorities to be set. The key question facing DoI decision makers currently is how to improve asset management capabilities, in particular balancing construction repair and rehabilitation activities against operations funding in times of fiscal stress. These decisions have grown more complex over recent years as both the missions of Departmental bureaus and user demographics have expanded and changed. Several mechanisms are suggested to improve priority setting for future DoI capital investments.