The Risk Management Center (RMC) is a center of expertise under the Institute for Water Resources (IWR) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). It was established in 2009 to improve management controls over infrastructure decisions, serve as an independent advisor to senior leadership, maintain and develop risk competencies, and ensure consistency in processes, application of criteria, and decision-making.
The mission of the RMC is to support Civil Works by managing and assessing risks for dams and levee systems across USACE, to support dam and levee safety activities throughout USACE, and to develop policies, methods, tools, and systems to enhance those activities.
The RMC serves as a USACE-wide resource for risk-related tools, assessments, knowledge and methods. It is intended to offer a national perspective as well as support routine District and Major Subordinate Command (MSC) dam and levee safety activities. The RMC offers services to support dam safety; levee safety; and the Modeling, Mapping, and Consequence (MMC) Production Center. Read more in an informative slide show.
Goals
The goals of the Risk Management Center are to:
- Ensure that risks are managed corporately and reduced in the most efficient matter practicable;
- Lead efforts to support consistent risk-informed dam and levee decisions across USACE;
- Ensure that consistent processes, policies, and methods are used across USACE to evaluate risks; and
- Lead strategic planning efforts for risk management.
Roles
Roles of the Risk Management Center include:
- Serve as a USACE-wide resource for risk-related tools, assessments, knowledge, and methods;
- Serve as a technical center of expertise for infrastructure risk management and dam and levee engineering;
- Provide a national perspective while working with Communities of Practice (CoPs) and Districts;
- Support routine District and MSC dam safety activities and support technical activities relating to dam and levee safety;
- For dam and levee safety activities, support and integrate the relevant CoP;
- Serve as a USACE-wide resource to interpret dam safety and levee safety policies;
- Enhance professionalism and technical competency by leading dam and levee training functions for HQ, MSC, and District forces;
- Coordinate and participate in independent peer reviews of district dam and levee safety activities;
- Ensure research and development objectives are consistent with future needs of the RMC;
- Integrate Asset Management, Dam Safety, and Levee Safety into comparable risk-informed processes across business lines; and
- Ensure dam and levee data is managed centrally.
Center and Directory of Expertise
On November 20, 2008 the IWR was directed to establish the Risk Management Center as a USACE National Center of Expertise (CX) and Directory of Expertise (DX). Read more in the designation letter.