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When we needed to engage with more than two dozen active military and government personnel over several days to plan for multiple long-term projects at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA), not being able to travel for a face-to-face programming charrette at first seemed a sizable challenge. Without in-person discussions, which have been impossible in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, on-time completion of the DD Form 1391s and associated programming charrette reports (PCR) was beginning to become a concern. The DD Form 1391 is used to submit funding requests for construction projects on military installations.

Under a Pond-Woolpert Joint Venture (PWJV) task order with the U.S. Army Engineering Support Center, Huntsville, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CEHNC USACE), Woolpert was tasked with conducting a programming charrette for three bridges, four stormwater culvert replacements, and roadway improvements to replace aging structures and mitigate the effects of flooding on JBSA’s missions. It was apparent that in order to keep the schedule moving forward while travel is restricted, a virtual charrette was the only option.

Choosing the Right Platform
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual meetings now come in all shapes and sizes. In addition to the standard video conferencing and collaboration features found in applications such as Zoom, GoToMeeting and WebEx, the Woolpert team needed a platform that was not only readily available to the public, but also easily accessible to the government stakeholders working behind a .mil firewall.

After researching several virtual options, Defense Collaborative Services (DCS) was ultimately chosen for its ubiquitous availability to government personnel, ability to share content and presentations, and its audio and video collaboration tools—including offering recording and playback capabilities within a secure environment. Having extensively used the free DCS a few years ago for task orders with a different U.S. Air Force (USAF) customer, we knew the tools had improved since then; however, even with those improvements, a few challenges and concerns on our end remained.

As soon as the virtual charrette was scheduled for the week of 18 May 2020, testing and training of the virtual charrette platform began. Our goal was to try to replicate, as close as possible, the collaboration and results we get with typical face-to-face charrettes. We were confident in the video and content sharing functionality of DCS but found during testing that the audio quality seemed to vary.

Having recently moved to Microsoft Teams for telephone-system communication at Woolpert, we decided a combined platform of DCS and a Microsoft Teams call-in number assured stakeholders and presenters consistent viewing and sound quality, ensuring we could see and hear each other’s input. PWJV members were not the only ones testing this DCS and Teams mix; USACE and JBSA participants graciously helped us work out the bugs and track audio and visual quality and consistency in a series of virtual meetings.

Conducting the Virtual Charrette
It was important to ensure that all JBSA and USACE stakeholders were represented in the virtual charrette. Besides the JBSA project proponents led by 802 Civil Engineer Squadron (CES), we also required input from multiple stakeholders, including security forces, fire and emergency services, environmental and utilities personnel, 341 Training Squadron, programming, as well as the liaison between JBSA and the city of San Antonio.

To maximize participation, we scheduled the virtual charrette meetings and interviews in time blocks—much like we would do if we were conducting a charrette on-site at JBSA. We also developed basic virtual charrette ground rules, expectations and protocols, such as muting audio when not speaking, using the DCS hand-raising feature when a person had something to say and, when able, having a presenter turn on his or her webcam.

JBSA stakeholders joined for the inbrief, approved their meeting times and were available during their dedicated interview times as expected. We kept the Microsoft Teams phone line and DCS web session open throughout the week to take additional calls and allow new stakeholders to participate—again, much like we would have done had we been there in person.

Woolpert Program Director Joe Zumwald and I, serving as the project manager, moderated and facilitated the meetings, controlling slide presentations and keeping track of who was joining the sessions via the combination of Microsoft Teams and DCS. Woolpert Bridge and Structural Engineer Tom Less led the discussions and provided the technical details of what was needed to reach consensus on the bridge, culvert and roadway improvement projects.

Takeaways and Lessons Learned
As a result of the planning, trials and testing, this DCS-based programming charrette successfully accomplished 13 virtual meetings over a period of four days. Key takeaways from the virtual charrette included:

• Test virtual platform with a variety of users and conduct dry runs prior to conducting the charrette;
• Provide slides and other presentation materials to participants prior to the charrette in case of access or technical issues;
• Establish ground rules and share platform basics up to help ensure a smoother experience, such as reminding people to announce who they are before speaking, muting a mic when not speaking, providing a brief technical tutorial on how to use the system, etc.;
• Virtual charrettes can work well if the team has already been on a site visit and is familiar with the installation, staff and project;
• The combination of using DCS with a separate Microsoft Teams call-in number worked well, but using one single reliable platform instead of two would be easier; and
• Support and coordination from local proponents are imperative.

While this virtual charrette was successful, the intangible benefits of face-to-face meetings also became very clear. The planning team was fortunate that we’d already traveled to JBSA for a data collection trip and in-person meetings before travel restrictions were imposed. Having previously met JBSA staff and walked these project sites, we could all put names with faces and better express ideas over maps and graphics even though we were not all huddled together in a conference room.

Delaying this programming charrette until travel restrictions were lifted was not a viable option if we were to keep the project on schedule. Thanks to the exceptional organization and coordination from the JBSA 802 CES community planner, along with support from other JBSA stakeholders, CEHNC and the Fort Worth District Regional Planning and Environmental Center (RPEC), applying this combined DCS and Microsoft Teams virtual charrette solution proved highly beneficial. We have been encouraged by the positive feedback we received from all participants and realized that virtual charrettes can be a viable option to keep projects moving forward and on track during these unique times.

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