The Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) Sustainment Management System (SMS) Team led the way for innovation in software technology transfer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC). The SMS Team developed and transferred a platform technology that delivers mission-critical software to support the Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal agencies. The SMS suite of web-based software applications help property asset management stakeholders maintain existing infrastructure efficiently to cut costs and protect resources for government and commercial users. 

Lance Marrano and Matthew Walters, who consecutively led the interdisciplinary SMS Team of engineers and software engineers who developed and maintain SMS, redefined the software commercialization process. Though the ownership of SMS software remained in-house at CERL, Marrano and Walters saw value in leveraging several technology transfer mechanisms to improve the accessibility of the software for external partners.  

SMS Team researchers developed the BUILDER® tool as part of its SMS suite and patented its processes in 2006. BUILDER® helps improve long-term evaluation and maintenance of building infrastructure by using data to assess and project the life expectancy of the facilities, providing a schedule for facility repairs and investment. To transfer the BUILDER® technology to users, the SMS Team used technology transfer mechanisms such as cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs), patent license agreements and interagency partnerships. Additionally, the team developed informal alliances with groups including the National Academy of Sciences and hosted user summits to showcase BUILDER®’s capabilities. These technology transfer activities resulted in five CRADAs and over a dozen licenses with nine commercial licensing partners.  

At the time of publication, users at the DoD, Coast Guard, Department of State, Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Agriculture have used BUILDER® to assess nearly 2.3 billion square feet of federal facilities. The tool has proved so valuable that the DoD required its facility managers to use the tool for all facility conditions assessments, and in 2019, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget called BUILDER® vital to federal budgeting plans. 

Private industry also benefits from the SMS Team’s technology transfer efforts. Colorado-based Digon Systems and Maryland’s Golden Wolf established CRADAs with CERL to improve and refine BUILDER’s capabilities in the areas of condition assessments, asset management and portfolio capital investment planning. AECOM, CardnoTEC, Tetra Tech and others licensed BUILDER® to provide asset management services to their clients.  

What began as an essential tool for the military to assess facility needs while keeping assessment costs down and maintaining military readiness is making facility management more efficient for everyone.  

“We’re fortunate to develop innovations based on information technology, which allows us to disseminate them widely,” Marrano said. “We can take what we have learned about facilities and asset management and provide maximum reach for this capability for the DoD and other federal agencies and make it available to municipalities, universities and other users.”