The Chemistry specialty area promotes the implementation of good chemistry practices, quality systems, and project planning to enhance the acquisition of quality data for sound decision making for Air Force projects. For more information, visit the Chemistry page.

The Hydrogeology specialty area supports the enhancement of an installations' critical natural resources infrastructural knowledge, maximizes operational land use and minimizes Air Force environmental liabilities through experienced technical leadership and guidance. For more information, visit the Hydrogeology page.

Mission - The Environmental Restoration Technical Support Branch provides technical expertise in surveillance for the Air Force Environmental Directorate performance-based remediation contracts. The branch focuses scientific and engineering expertise on contaminated sites with high complexity, cost and risk, while providing technical guidance across the Air Force for remediation strategies, program planning, and contract solicitation and execution.

Overview - The Restoration Technical Support Branch technical surveillance activities address a broad range of technical and scientific matters affecting environmental restoration. Activities are designed to assure restoration decisions and strategies are consistent across the enterprise and based on sound scientific and engineering principles. The branch evaluates response actions throughout the remedy lifecycle including ability to reduce or eliminate long-term Air Force environmental liabilities. A summary of surveillance activities and additional descriptions of these activities are highlighted below.

Surveillance Activities: Support performance-based remediation, or PBR, contract acquisitions by developing technical rationales for performance objectives, assessing baseline performance of current exit strategies, and evaluating technical proposals submitted by contractors. Surveillance during PBR contract execution evaluates technical quality of contractor work through technical review of work plans and reports, and performance evaluations of chemical laboratories.

Assessments of PBR contractor performance in meeting remediation objectives is provided through review of work plans, data interpretation and performance monitoring of optimized exit strategies, as well as independent verification and validation activities called Critical Process Analyses and Complex Site Initiatives.

Lab Performance Evaluation: Acquisition policy for government quality assurance of performance-based remediation, or PBR, contracts requires surveillance of environmental testing and analysis services. The branch performance evaluation activities provide external assessments of laboratory quality control and capabilities by including blind proficiency testing samples with field samples, and analyzing split samples at independent reference laboratories.

Selection criteria for performance evaluation, or PE, activities are determined by the Air Force PBR management team during PBR surveillance planning. Criteria include site selection based on priority, cost, risk and schedule; selection of key matrix type and analytics; and use of an individual laboratory across the entire PBR contract portfolio. Additional description of the PE activity is provided on the branch Chemistry specialty area webpage.

Technical Document Review: Evaluates compliance with four fundamental goals for acceptable quality: compliance with contract requirements and Air Force policy; regulatory approval or concurrence; demonstration of progress toward performance objectives; and assurance activities do not adversely affect site conditions or life-cycle costs. The branch provides detailed technical reviews of documents at high complexity, cost and risk sites, while providing technical review guidance for all Air Force sites. As an aid to technical reviewers, the branch developed reviewer checklists for specific technical restoration topics, reports and work plans.

Critical Process Analysis: CPA event provides performance-based remediation, or PBR, surveillance of remedial performance at high complexity, cost and risk, or CCR, sites. The comprehensive independent assessments are used to evaluate site-specific environmental remediation systems to address operation and effectiveness.

A CPA brings environmental remediation experts together to assess raw data and determine if:

• Reported conclusions are accurate;
• The remedial system is operating as intended; and
• The remedial system is likely to meet the PBR objectives for the specific CCR site.

The CPA assessments exceed the level of surveillance possible during a routine technical report review and are timed to identify remedy performance problems as early as feasible and to allow time for a contractor to implement corrective action.

Reoccurring findings/conclusions associated with remedial activities not meeting PBR objectives often become Broad Agency Announcement statements of need.

Optimized Exit Strategies: OES is a technical strategy for achieving site cleanup goals that maximizes remedy effectiveness and efficiency while minimizing life-cycle costs and long-term liability. An OES identifies a series of actions, some of which may extend beyond a performance-based remediation, or PBR, contract, and includes a performance model describing how remediation is expected to progress.

The branch provides expertise in OES development and performance monitoring during both PBR contract acquisition and execution. During contract scoping, experts assess baseline performance of current exit strategies for high complexity, cost and risk, or CCR, sites, and provide technical rationale for minimum performance objectives. At high CCR sites, technical rationale often is based on remedial strategies, performance models and performance monitoring designs developed through Complex Site Initiative, or CSI, activities.

During PBR contract execution, OES performance is assessed by technical review of contract deliverables, as well as surveillance activities such as Critical Process Analyses and CSIs.

The Restoration Systems and Strategies specialty area provides technical expertise to the Air Force in selection, design, implementation and optimization of restoration systems and strategies. The specialty area promotes efficient and effective restoration of contaminated sites throughout the remedy lifecycle and helps solve challenging remediation problems using sound science and engineering. For more information, visit the Restoration Systems and Strategies page.

Mission: The purpose of the Emerging Contaminants program is to understand emerging contaminants and their environmental behavior, define the best execution strategies to address them, and deliver consistent solutions through Restoration contracts to protect human health and the environment.  

Vision: To deliver consistent, efficient and coordinated emerging contaminant solutions across the enterprise - driving alignment accountability and excellence from strategy through execution. 

Overview: The EC Program proactively identifies and responds to EC’s environmental   impacts attributable to Air Force activities at CONUS installations. The EC Program operates in coordination with, and complements, the DoD approach for identifying and responding to emerging environmental contaminants DoD Chemical and Material Risk Management Program. The EC Program serves to support the Defense Environmental Restoration Account (DERA) Program as well as providing technical expertise to other related organizations such as BRAC and ANG. The EC Program furnishes various products designed to provide information and guidance to Air Force stakeholders at various levels of the organization. Lastly, the EC Program identifies needs for the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, and AFCEC Broad Agency Announcement.

Personnel: Emerging Issues/Contaminants (EI/EC) Program team consists of AFCEC DERA employees with reach back to experts in their respective fields (e.g. toxicology, risk assessment, chemistry and environmental statistics and modeling) that stay abreast of state-of-the-science methods and information through professional publications, partnerships, and involvement with top-tiered scientific organizations. AFCEC experts provide support for technical assessments and reviews conducted by DoD, including subject matter expertise as part of the Materials of Emerging Regulatory Interest Team Phase I/II Impact Assessments; briefings on AF restoration activities and interests; and review of federal and state agency toxicity assessments and documents related to ECs.

Emerging Contaminant (EC): An environmental Emerging Contaminant is a contaminant that: entered the environment; presents a potential unacceptable human health or environmental risk; and does not have regulatory standards based on peer-reviewed science, or the regulatory standards are evolving due to new science, detection capabilities, or pathways (DoDI 4715.18). The EC Program addresses contaminants that are specifically relevant to environmental cleanup under the AF DERA.

EI/EC Quick Links:

EPA Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office
SERDP/ESTCP
Air Force Response to PFCs

Remediation Tools:

Screening Matrix

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, the U.S. Air Force or the Department of Defense, of the external website, or the information, products or services contained therein.

The Technology Transfer, or T2, program promotes the efficient transfer of environmental information to the widest audiences possible.

The T2 process consists of three steps:

• Step 1: Assess needs identified via restoration program efforts including technical surveillance findings.
• Step 2: Demonstrate and validate technologies via Environmental Restoration Innovative Technology Projects, or ITPs, and partnerships.
• Step 3: Communicate scientific knowledge to assist environmental programs.

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center Environmental Remediation ITP seeks to fund better, faster and more sustainable environmental solutions for the Air Force. For more information, visit the Technology Transfer page.