Practical Playbook for Adaptive Utility Capital Improvement Planning Under Deep Uncertainty (Request for Proposals)

Description: This project is funded by The Water Research Foundation (WRF) as part of WRF’s Research Priority Program. Project Objectives: Assess current utility practices for incorporating adaptive or flexible decision making into capital improvement planning (CIP) at the portfolio or programmatic level. Identify where deep uncertainty most affects CIP decision points, including investment areas prone to lock-in or points of no return. Document the institutional processes, frameworks, and governance structures that have enabled utilities to embed adaptive and flexible investment strategies. Quantify how adaptive capital strategies compare to traditional CIP approaches in terms of lifecycle costs, rate stability, financial risk exposure, and avoided or deferred capital investments across a range of plausible future conditions.