WASHINGTON (February 28, 2008) – The Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) has been working since December to address comments and concerns released today by the National Research Council (NRC) in their latest review of IPET work performed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 

Today’s NRC report specifically addresses the interim draft IPET Volume VIII – The Engineering and Operational Risk and Reliability Analysis, on risk related to future hurricanes in southeast Louisiana.

“We appreciate the NRC’s expert feedback,” said Dr. Ed Link, IPET director.  “Their comments are a perfect example of the strength of using independent, national experts to peer review complex technical work.  Throughout this study they provided a strategic perspective that greatly enhanced the quality and future use of the results.”
 
The NRC panel includes some of the nation’s top scientists and engineers, and has helped validate IPET findings and results while also pointing out areas needing more attention.  Their report released today can be accessed at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12167.

IPET publicly released the interim draft version of Volume VIII, the initial technical information of their risk work, on Nov. 7, 2007.  The work was not complete at that time, nor was the documentation.  IPET briefed the interim draft volume to the National Research Council in New Orleans on Dec. 3.
 
“The volume that the National Research Council panel reviewed was an interim draft; it was not a finished document,” said Link.  “We agreed with the panel in December that the volume needed greater clarity and better explanation of the analysis.  The documentation of the IPET risk work must be both comprehensive and understandable.  This work is setting the mark for future risk analyses in Louisiana and elsewhere.”

IPET started addressing the issues raised by the National Research Council immediately following the December meeting.   IPET is significantly upgrading the technical, engineering and scientific aspects of the risk volume.  There will be better overviews and interpretation of results and the uncertainty analysis, major data bases will have improved documentation, and the computational process will have examples to clarify the process. 

The National Research Council in their report also asked that the information in Volume VIII be presented both as a technical document that will be useful to planners and engineers while also being easily understood by the public.  Since such an all-encompassing document would have limitations for both audiences, IPET is designating the final draft of the risk volume (Volume VIII) as the technical reference.  Risk information will also be provided in a non-technical version for the public in the final version of the IPET Executive Summary and Overview, IPET Volume I.

The final drafts of the IPET risk volume and the executive summary will be completed by late April.  The final risk volume will stand as an engineering document of record for use as a technical guide for future risk efforts.

The Corps of Engineers has provided almost $250,000 to complete the additional work suggested by the National Research Council. 

Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, then commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, commissioned IPET shortly after Hurricane Katrina to conduct forensic investigations into how levees, floodwalls and other structures in the greater New Orleans area performed during the storm.  The Corps has continuously incorporated engineering and scientific lessons learned from IPET’s analysis into its work to restore and improve the greater New Orleans’ hurricane and storm damage reduction system since Katrina, and in its planning to reduce future risk to the region.

The Corps also engaged two teams of national experts to perform independent peer review of all IPET products as part of the post-Katrina analysis.  Experts from the American Society of Civil Engineers have provided continuous review, direction and validation of IPET’s work.  The National Academies – National Research Council Committee on New Orleans Regional Hurricane Protection Projects has peer reviewed both the IPET’s and ASCE’s findings at major milestones. 

IPET comprised more than 150 nationally recognized experts from more than 50 different organizations (eight federal, state and local government agencies; 25 universities and 23 private firms), including risk professionals.

IPET was specifically tasked with gathering and analyzing data to answer five basic questions:

• The System (what was the status of the protection system on August 29, 2005),
• The Storm (what exact forces did Katrina put on the system),
• The Performance (how did the system respond),
• The Consequences (understanding the flooding and the losses – both economic and loss of life), and
• The Risk (what is the risk and reliability of the protection system).

The IPET risk results were initially released in map form on June 20, 2007, to expedite easily understood risk information to the public and decision makers for pre-Katrina conditions and conditions as of June 2007.  The maps are available at http://NOLArisk.usace.army.mil. 

The Interim Draft of the IPET Volume VIII, along with more than 4,300 related documents, can be accessed at the IPET Web site, https://IPET.wes.army.mil.