VISTA to Update Army Space Planning and Criteria Manual

VISTA, the leader in decision support analytics for government and business, has been selected to update the Army’s Space Planning and Criteria Manual (SPCM), a reference resource for installation master planners. This effort is being performed by VISTA as a subcontractor to John Gallup & Associates. When completed, both a Web-based solution and hard copy reference manual will be available across the Army installations management community.

“VISTA’s selection to update SPCM allows us to extend our decades of experience in real property decision support solution,” said Ray Summerell, VISTA’s Vice President of Corporate Development. “The SPCM will make it easier for master planners to make qualitative and quantitative decisions about managing their real property assets most effectively.”

Last updated a decade ago, SPCM is a comprehensive reference manual for facility planning, programming, allocation and management. SPCM users – typically, garrison-level planners, staff and managers – use the information in the SPCM to allocate, plan, program and manage facilities space. The manual also is used for better real property facility use reporting, to prepare auditable programming documents and to develop master planning documents and related databases.

Management responsibility for the SPCM update falls under the purview of the same VISTA team working to update and sustain the Army Real Property Planning Systems Support contract and the Real Property Planning and Analysis System (RPLANS).

RPLANS is a calculative solution that uses data modeling to correlate information about Army real property assets, requirements and use. It is a principal planning tool for thousands of users across the Army. VISTA has been involved in RPLANS since its inception, and most recently was awarded new work from the Army to Web-enable and substantively improve the RPLANS application.

“The various planning criteria and models contained in RPLANS have real utility not just at the headquarters level, but at the garrison level as well,” VISTA’s Summerell said. “The breadth of knowledge we gained as a result of our involvement in RPLANS will be critical in preparation of the SPCM. The work and solutions all tie together.”