Inside the CPCX

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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Collaboration and Public Participation Center of Expertise Logo

CPCX is located at the Institute for Water Resources in Alexandria, Virginia.

Direct Services

As part of its goal to provide direct support to increase the success of collaborative processes, CPCX provides collaboration services to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Districts, MSCs, and HQ across all mission areas. Such services include assistance with public participation, stakeholder and partner engagement, risk communication, facilitation, conflict resolution, teambuilding, virtual collaboration, and collaborative technologies. CPCX staff directly support projects or enable access to experts from its broader network of internal and external experts. This network includes MSC Liaisons, District Public Involvement Specialists, facilitators, and external collaboration experts from other federal agencies or the private sector. Internal facilitators can be identified using the Find a Facilitator Database.

Examples of Direct Services Provided

Provided Sustained Technical Assistance to USACE Districts and Divisions & National Programs

  • Through the Grand Collaboration Challenge provided technical support to address difficult collaboration challenges for the Galveston, Portland, Los Angeles, Norfolk, and Baltimore Districts including support to Supplemental-funded studies.
  • Designed and executed Team-Building sessions for South Atlantic Division and for HQ-USACE.
  • Designed and delivered an interpersonal skills and teaming workshop for the Silver Jackets program for USACE and agency partners.
  • Supported North Atlantic Division in leading Shared Vision Planning activities for EU-sponsored river basin planning for the Tisza basin in Hungary.
  • Led four national Shared Vision Planning “Tool” workshops in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand for the Mekong River Commission in support of Pacific Ocean Division.
  • Supported Albuquerque District by facilitating after action meeting on Interagency after-fire actions.
  • Supported U.S. Government disaster recovery efforts through identifying lessons learned in risk communication and supporting multi-stakeholder visioning as part of Sandy recovery efforts.

Enabled Access to Facilitators and Other Resources

  • Provided USACE Districts access to USACE-wide agreement with NCECR that enables all Districts to directly access NCECR services.
  • Responded to District requests for facilitators or other resources by referring them to the "Find a Facilitator Database," local Public Involvement Specialists, or NCECR.
  • Provided pro-bono, on-call advice to Districts on virtual and in-person collaboration and interactive techniques.

What Customers Say About Us

"CPCX’s assistance through the GCC brought the stakeholder group to a place of open communication and made significant strides to trust between the parties. The feedback we received from the users will lead to a better, more thorough reallocation report, and lessen the likelihood of a lawsuit over the final study."

"CPCX was able to fill a roll that would have been very difficult to fill with someone internal to the District. They were able to bring an 'outsider' perspective with 'insider' knowledge."

"I greatly appreciate the support provided over the past year and am very thankful for the opportunity for free support granted by the GCC. The GCC is an excellent way to both get the CPCX’s foot in the door at the District level but also highlight the support that is available to us. Keep doing everything you can to get the word out across the nation. The support is invaluable!"

"The team executed its mission flawlessly; I have no critiques or recommendations with respect to the planning or execution of their consulting engagement with CP-18.  Of particular note is the ease, rapidity and professionalism with which the engagement was conducted."

"I would be extremely likely to recommend CPCX assistance to another colleague. I say this because of the team’s superior communication, patience and refined awareness in grasping the organizational challenges and most importantly their ability to keep us focused and on task."

"The facilitator suggested for the Lowell Creek charette was very experienced at facilitation and very resourceful with the limited technology available to us for the meeting. The meeting would not have been as well run without his involvement."