In August 2003, the Director of Civil Works designated five national Planning Centers of Expertise to enhance the Corps' planning capability for inland navigation, deep draft navigation, ecosystem restoration, hurricane and storm damage reduction, flood damage reduction, and water supply and reallocation.  The Director also recognized the Northwestern Division as the acknowledged national hydropower Planning Center of Expertise, and acknowledged the excellent support of the National Nonstructural/Flood Proofing Committee across business line program areas.  The Centers are part of the Corps’ national initiative to improve the quality and effectiveness of water resources planning, referred to as the Planning Excellence Program. This program includes planner training and development, planner leadership development, quality assurance and quality control, the Centers of specialized planning expertise, and other national initiatives to improve planning effectiveness.

The role of the Planning Centers is to focus on plan formulation and the complex technical evaluation associated with formulation.  Each Planning Center is led by a team of experts specialized in plan formulation, environmental sciences, economics, and related technical disciplines.  Center Directors and Technical Points of Contact are:

National Center	Director	Technical Point of Contact
Inland Navigation	Great Lakes and Ohio River Division Cincinnati, Ohio	Huntington District Huntington, West Virginia and Great Lakes and Ohio River Division Cincinnati, Ohio
Deep Draft Navigation     Small Boat Harbors	South Atlantic Division Atlanta, Georgia	Mobile District Mobile, Alabama Alaska District, Anchorage, Pacific Ocean Division
Flood Risk Management	South Pacific Division San Francisco, California	South Pacific Division San Francisco, California
Coastal Storm Damage Reduction	North Atlantic Division New York, New York	North Atlantic Division New York, New York
Ecosystem Restoration	Mississippi Valley Division Vicksburg, Mississippi	Mississippi Valley Division Vicksburg, Mississippi
Water Management and Reallocation	Southwestern Division Dallas, Texas	Southwestern Division Dallas, Texas
2005 Planning Centers of Expertise Conference and 1st Annual Report