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Updated March 28, 2017
Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines (PR&G) for
Federal Investments in Water Resources
The Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines (PR&G) for
federal water resource investments largely replaced the
Principles and Guidelines (P&G) for federal water project
evaluations on June 15, 2015. The PR&G direct how
federal agencies plan and evaluate federal water resource
investments, including studies of both new projects and
reinvestment in existing facilities and grant and funding
programs. The PR&G are not regulations; they are guidance
internal to the executive branch. The PR&G do not
supersede requirements established in law. At issue is
whether the PR&G reflect how Congress wants agencies to
develop and evaluate federal water resource investments.
To date, the Trump Administration has not weighed in on
the PR&G. The Administration's position on evaluating
federal water investments may become known as broad
infrastructure investment efforts and efforts to expand the
use of public-private partnerships, including for water
resources projects, evolve.
0rq4,iof P~ R&C
Congress and the Administration guide federal water
resource investments. Congressional direction often is
related to specific agencies or projects. One exception was
the Water Resources Planning Act of 1965 (P.L. 89-80),
which attempted coordinated planning of water resources
activities. The act created a Water Resources Council
(WRC) tasked with establishing principles, standards, and
procedures for evaluations of federal water resource
projects (42 U.S.C. § 1962a-2). After a controversial effort
to have the WRC's initial guidance (known as the 1973
Principles and Standards) become enforceable rules, the
WRC under the Reagan Administration issued the P&G in
1983 as nonbinding guidelines.
From 1983 until 2014, the P&G provided the framework for
evaluating federal water resource projects. Congress in the
Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA 2007;
P.L. 110-114) directed an update of the 1983 P&G for use
by the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). WRDA 2007
required that the update address advancements in economic
and analytic techniques; public safety; low-income
communities; nonstructural solutions; and integrated,
adaptive, and watershed approaches.
Table 1 summarizes the update process, which spanned the
George W. Bush and Obama Administrations. In 2009, the
Obama Administration announced that it was updating the
P&G government-wide, rather than only for the Corps.
During the PR&G development, the focus shifted from
federal water project studies to federal water investments.
Eight Cabinet secretaries were convened as the WRC
(which has been without appropriations since 1983) for the
purpose of approving PR&G documents.
Table 2 compares the PR&G and the 1983 P&G. A
significant difference is the PR&G's application to a wider
set of federal agencies and actions. The PR&G also
provides more flexibility to agencies to develop, and to
decisionmakers to select, alternatives with trade-offs among
economic, environmental, and social goals.
Public comments on the PR&G varied. Traditional
beneficiaries of federal projects often were critical, whereas
environmental groups and supporters of broader social
considerations generally favored the PR&G. Favorable
comments included support for the combined economic and
environmental federal objective; more holistic and flexible
federal agency responses; consideration of nonmonetary
costs and benefits; and greater attention to local priorities
and nonstructural or green alternatives. Common critical
comments were overreach in the inclusion of additional
federal entities (e.g., Federal Emergency Management
Agency [FEMA], Department of Commerce [DOC]) and
activities (e.g., programs, plans, operations); concerns with
the clarity of the federal investment selection criteria;
impact of the broadened selection discretion on
decisionmaking and project timelines; and dilution of
federal funds through selection of alternatives less focused
on economic development and infrastructure investment.
Table I. Milestones in PR&G Development
Date
Milestone
09/I12/08 Federal Register (FR) notice of Corps draft
Principles
07/01/09 FR notice that the Obama Administration was
considering government-wide planning standards
12/09/09 FR notice of the draft Principles and Standards
FR publication of the reframed and final
03/27/13 Principles and Requirements for federal
investments and draft Interagency Guidelines
12/24/14 FR publication of final Interagency Guidelines
Source: CRS.
Agencies subject to the PR&G (see Table 2) are
responsible for developing agency-specific procedures for
implementation and documenting whether existing
processes are equivalent pathways to the PR&G.
Agencies are to consult with the Office of Management and
Budget and the Council on Environmental Quality
regarding their procedures and alternative pathways.
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