Each year, FEDCon® gives private-sector architects, engineers, contractors and manufacturers insight into the construction process of the different agencies of the U.S. federal government. The 2019 FEDCon® Keynote Breakfast, scheduled for Wednesday, January 9, 2019, from 8:00 am to 10:00 am, during Building Innovation 2019: The National Institute of Building Sciences Seventh Annual Conference & Expo, will spotlight the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Material Readiness, Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office and its work tackling the important and expensive problem of corrosion to improve Department of Defense (DOD) facilities for the long term.

The United States Code 10 U.S.C. § 2228 defines corrosion as "the deterioration of a material or its properties due to a reaction of that material with its chemical environment." Identifying corrosion risks and translating them into facilities design, construction and sustainment has significant impacts on life-cycle expectations and results.

DOD criteria incorporate both new technologies and corrosion prevention and control (CPC) focused language to ensure appropriate requirements are included in DOD contracts. The tools and criteria are available to help facilities professionals identify the general environmental severity classification at DOD installations. The DOD has funded numerous facilities corrosion technology projects, which ensures that CPC-related criteria requirements are current and will have a positive impact on the life cycle of facilities.

Steve Geusic, PE; Sherri McMillion, PE, CEM, ASQ LSSBB; and Richard A. Hays, who all support the DOD Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office, will talk about the criteria, provide examples applicable to private-sector facilities and highlight tools available through the Institute’s WBDG Whole Building Design Guide® CPC Resource pages. Their intent is to assist facilities designers, contractors and sustainers to meet life-cycle requirements and to optimize facilities for tomorrow through better decision making.

Geusic is a Senior Professional Engineer for Leidos, providing technical, programmatic and policy support for customers in the area of corrosion prevention and control for facilities. He has 34 years of engineering design and construction experience with the DOD, serving 9 years as the Director of Facilities Criteria for the Navy at the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic. McMillion is the Engineering Specifications Criteria Manager for NAVFAC in Norfolk, Virginia, and chairs the WBDG Advisory Council. She has 29 years of experience in facility design and construction for NAVFAC, the Air Force and DOD. She serves as a liaison to the DOD Corrosion Control Facilities team to incorporate the results of demonstration projects into facilities criteria. Hays is a Senior Corrosion Engineer for Excet, Inc., providing technical, programmatic and policy support for customers in the area of corrosion prevention and control for military equipment and facilities. For seven years, he served as the Deputy Director of Corrosion Policy and Oversight in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. The first 27 years of his career were spent as a manager and corrosion engineer for the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division.

Attend the FEDCon® Breakfast, sponsored by Master Painters Institute (MPI), Wednesday, January 9, 2019, and learn about the challenge of corrosion and the tools available to address it.
In addition to this FEDCon® Keynote, Building Innovation 2019 will include 18 different educational sessions featuring 60 presentations by 38 expert speakers. The Institute is a continuing education unit provider for the American Institute of Architects and a preferred provider for the International Code Council.