Whitestone Hosts the 2011 Facility Cost Planning Workshop for Department of Energy Clients

The 7th annual Facility Cost Planning Workshop was held in San Francisco, California on May 23-25th. The two-day event included research briefings and discussions related to cost modeling and budgeting for Department of Energy clients.

Facility Cost Modeling; Examples from The U.S Experience. Senior Analyst Peter Lufkin discusses the evolution of facility cost modeling from the 1980's, describes recent extensions to traditional cost modeling--such as life cycle-based condition assessment, adjustments for levels of service, and quantifying disposal costs--and notes the need for increased statistical sophistication and the improvement of international cost data.

The Post Recession Economy and its Implications for Facility Costs. As the U.S. economy slowly recovers from the most severe contraction since the 1928 depression, the impact on facility relevant pricing becomes clear. Steep price declines in commodities and services evident through 2009 have changed directions, with prices returning to early 2008-levels.

OSF Cost Modeling. Structures other than buildings make up a large part of the DOE real property portfolio, yet life cycle cost models of these OSFs are rare. A study for Idaho National Laboratory is defining models for estimating replacement value and operating costs for 70 high value OSFs.

Tracking Price Inflation Using Scraped Data. Traditional survey-based price data usually has a substantial time delay and typically applies to only general bundles of goods and goods services. The "scraping" of actual price data from web-based catalogues produces real time price data that can be used for specialized indexes or focusing on individual product classes. This brief shows daily price movements for three types of products important to the facility industry.

Pluto: the Second Facility Cost Forecast Tool on the Web. A demonstration of the new browser-based Whitestone cost modeling platform. The first release in July will provide easy search for all Whitestone cost sources, an ad hoc project cost builder, and a wizard-driven forecast capability for individual facilities.

Simulating the Multiple Impacts of Deferred Maintenance. Simulation is a promising technique for presenting the dynamic and complex effects of alternative funding decisions. This demonstration by Ohio State's Anand Desai shows how deferred maintenance can affect a collection of non-financial metrics, using a simple NETLOGO-based application.

Operating Cost Benchmarks for Data Centers. Data centers have proliferated among U.S. federal agencies, with a corresponding increase in energy consumption and other operating costs. This study for a large U.S. agency estimates cost benchmarks four classes of data centers (Tier I - Tier IV).

Corporate Infrastructure Plans and the use of the NMI Model. The U.S. National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) requires short and long-term infrastructure planning from each of its eight laboratories. Among other things, these include the costs of operating maintaining and operating facility portfolios that change in composition and status over time. NNSA scientists have integrated facility life-cycle cost tools into a comprehensive enterprise model (NMI) that can provide time-phased operating costs of individual facilities, complete laboratories, or the entire NNSA portfolio.

For more information, please contact Doug Abate at (805) 884-9174 or dabate@whitestoneresearch.com.

For a list of presentations from 6th annual Whitestone Facility Cost Planning Workshop for the Department of Energy click here.

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Whitestone Hosts the 2011 Facility Cost Planning Workshop for Department of Energy Clients