Improving Project Management in the Department of Energy (1999) / Chapter Skim
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1 Department of Energy Projects
1 Department of Energy Projects
Pages 10-22
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From page 10... ...
DOE's current diverse missions (energy systems, nuclear weapons stewardship, environmental restoration, and basic scientific and technological research) are supported by hundreds of projects, ranging from cleanups of hazardous waste at individual sites of the weapons complex, such as the Hanford Tank Waste Remediation System, to the construction of scientific facilities, such as the National Spallation Neutron Source.
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From page 11... ...
. Review and assess the processes used by DOE and its contractors to identify project requirements, develop scopes of work, execute and manage designs, prepare cost estimates, select contract types, and execute and manage environmental restoration, waste management, and construction activities.
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, and various energy-related programs of the Department of the Interior. DOE inherited from its predecessor agencies the nation's nuclear weapons program, five power marketing agencies, and a host of other activities, such as the functions of the Energy Information Agency and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
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From page 13... ...
Relationship between Headquarters and Field Offices DOE's organization includes 12 headquarters program offices, 10 major operations offices, and two large field offices with more than 50 major contractor-operated facilities. Most project activities are managed by the operations or field offices, which oversee the M&O contractors.
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(formerly the Office of Energy Research) is the third largest DOE office, with a budget in FY 1998 of approximately $2.5 billion, about 15 percent of DOE's appropriations (DOE, 1998b)
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The arrangement of government-funded facilities operated by nongovernment staff with the appropriate expertise (the GOCO system) became the model for the nuclear weapons laboratories, as well as for civilian atomic energy, science and engineering, and materials research and development laboratories, and for other DOE laboratories.
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89~. The weapons laboratories, at least in the past, were technology-driven, motivated and organized to pursue overriding national defense goals involving nuclear technology, such as advanced weapons design, development, production, and testing.
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Creation and Demotion of the Office of Field Management In 1994 the (then) secretary of energy reorganized the reporting relationships between the field offices and the headquarters programs by creating the position of associate deputy secretary for field operations, who was intended to be a senior career professional with management authority over most of the field offices, and especially the management of their projects.
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From page 19... ...
However, certain selected site offices, such as the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, report directly to the secretary of energy, while others continue to report through the program assistant secretaries. A similar lack of consistency and clarity of authority and responsibility was found to be a contributing cause of the problems of the superconducting super collider project, because oversight and accountability actually decreased under the ad hoc organizational structure set up specifically for this project (DOE, 1996~.
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From page 20... ...
Critical decision responsibility for major systems is delegated to the appropriate program secretarial officers, who sometimes delegate the responsibility for certain decisions to operations or field managers. Line item projects usually have a TPC of $5 million to $100 million, appear as single line items in the federal budget, and are typically intended to enhance existing operations and capabilities.
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From page 21... ...
ORGANIZATION OF THIS REPORT The succeeding chapters of this report assess DOE's performance and offer findings and recommendations for improving project management. Chapter 2 reviews DOE's track record in project performance, including the planning and budgeting process and the aspects of management and accountability that affect project performance.
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From page 22... ...
U.S. Department of Energy, Of lice of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Project Performance Study.
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