Project Management Gaps in Disaster Recovery: A Common Operating Picture Framework for Recovery Governance

Abstract

Disaster recovery is often treated as a policy, funding, or reconstruction issue, yet it also functions as a complex project management environment involving uncertain scopes of work, multiple stakeholders, funding requirements, procurement controls, contractor coordination, infrastructure dependencies, risk escalation, and performance accountability. This article uses a qualitative document based conceptual analysis to examine project management gaps in disaster recovery and develop a Recovery Project Common Operating Picture (COP) Framework for recovery governance. The analysis synthesizes disaster recovery doctrine, project management principles, public assistance and disaster recovery funding systems, infrastructure interdependency research, situational awareness theory, emergency information systems literature, and public sector oversight reports from the United States and Australia. The findings show that recovery delays are not caused only by disaster severity or funding limitations. They are also shaped by weak project visibility, fragmented stakeholder coordination, unclear responsibilities, delayed approvals, procurement bottlenecks, unmanaged dependencies, poor risk escalation, and limited performance monitoring. The article develops a nine-component framework that integrates scope definition, stakeholder responsibility mapping, schedule and milestone tracking, cost and funding visibility, procurement and contractor coordination, infrastructure dependency monitoring, risk and issue control, community impact tracking, and performance reporting. The article contributes to disaster recovery and project management scholarship by positioning the COP as a recovery governance and decision support mechanism that can strengthen shared visibility, accountability, coordination, and project performance in complex post-disaster environments.