Staff Augmentation for Program and Construction Management: Ramping up your Workforce Without Breaking your Budget

Any time a community gets the green light to build new school facilities, improve vital infrastructure, or upgrade utilities is a major win. But for the agency in charge, managing large and complex infrastructure and construction projects is a full-time job. More than likely, the agency and its internal teams are already operating at capacity. They have two options: do the work themselves while putting other critical work aside or spend a lot of time and money hiring and training new staff.

Luckily, there is one other very important – and cost-effective – alternative: staff augmentation. Staff augmentation means bringing on experienced people to handle work the team is already doing but does not have the capacity to handle in the timeframe needed. The staff works for only the duration needed. And unlike outsourcing, the in-house team manages the additional staff directly and maintains complete control of the work product.

Whether your organization is planning for a large-scale construction project across several job sites or executing a disaster preparedness strategy for the future, having a plan that gives you access to trained and experienced staff on your terms is key. Here’s why:

Hiring Full-Time Staff for a Short-Term Need is Cost-Prohibitive

Within the lifecycle of a large-scale infrastructure or construction project, staffing needs fluctuate. Some projects require hundreds of people to execute specific tasks but only at certain stages. For example, if the project requires a contact center to process application questions or claims, hiring trained people on a short-term basis to handle only those tasks is far more cost-effective than investing in full-time employees. With staff augmentation, you pay for only what you need and maintain the flexibility to ramp up and down quickly without major interruption to your operations.

Flexible Staffing Avoids Delays

The length of a major school or facility project can vary widely. At the earliest planning phases, you may not yet know how many schools, healthcare facilities, or roads will be constructed. But when you assess your internal capacity against your desired project outcome, you can get a good sense of your resource gaps and start outlining your resource plan. A resource plan is your best estimate of the type of staffing you think is necessary, the length of time you think each team is needed, and the costs associated with bringing them on. Especially for projects likely to require 50 or more team members, the resource plan is your best defense against unforeseen staffing needs or budgeting mistakes that can otherwise cause costly delays later when the project is already underway.

Someone Else Handles the Recruiting

A key element of your resource plan is vetting and securing a staff augmentation provider experienced in infrastructure and construction program management. The right provider knows the fast pace of a major project and is equipped to provide full teams of experienced and trained people within a matter of days. That’s because they spend all their time recruiting and establishing relationships within specific talent pools across the country. The provider will work with you to forecast your needs for inspectors, project managers, case managers, schedulers, and more based on your needs. Depending on the nature of the program, you can also augment your staff to include subject matter experts specializing in grant funding.  

You Keep the Work In-House

A common misperception in staff augmentation is that you won’t maintain control of your teams and their work product. But unlike outsourcing a project to an outside team, staff augmentation enables you to integrate any new team members with your existing management and staff. It is meant to be a clean and seamless transition process that allows you full control to manage productivity according to your organizational protocols and standards.

About Plexos Group

Plexos Group supports SLTT governments across the country in managing federal funding programs including the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, FEMA, HUD, and other funding programs as well as implementing large-scale, complex infrastructure projects made possible through public and private funding.

Contact Us to learn more about how we can help your organization maximize federal funding programs, limit risk, maintain compliance with federal laws, and leverage Projexis™ technology to expedite your next project.