. "Appendix A EXCERPT FROM HOUSE REPORT 105-271 ." Assessing the Need for Independent Project Reviews in the Department of Energy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1998.
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ASSESSING THE NEED FOR INDEPENDENT PROJECT REVIEWS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Appendix A
EXCERPT FROM HOUSE REPORT 105-271
Independent Assessment of DOE Projects
The conference agreement provides $35,000,000 as proposed by the House to provide for external reviews of the Department's individual construction and privatization projects, and an external review of the Department's facility acquisition management process. The immediate concern of the conferees is a review of all Department of Energy construction projects initiated in fiscal year 1998, construction projects currently in the conceptual design phase, ongoing projects if recommended by the initial assessment required below, and projects proposed by the Department for privatization. These evaluations should include a review and assessment of the quality of the technical scopes, cost estimates, schedules, and supporting data regarding these construction projects, and should make recommendations on the validity of the proposed costs, scopes, and schedules.
While the House bill directed that these reviews be conducted by the Corps of Engineers, the conferees acknowledge that there may be other qualified, unbiased external organizations that could conduct this type of assessment. Therefore, prior to obligating any funds provided for review of these construction and privatization projects, the conferees expect the Department to contract with an impartial independent organization with expertise in the evaluation of government management and administrative functions, for a detailed analysis of the proposed independent assessment of construction projects. This contract should produce a report to be submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations not later than December 31, 1997. The report should address the need for conducting independent assessments of the Department's proposed and ongoing construction projects and projects proposed for privatization, assess the proposed content of these reviews as outlined above, as well as recommend the appropriate entity(ies) (including, but not limited to, the Corps of Engineers) to conduct these reviews. The conferees expect this contract to be entered into as soon as possible, and expect the Department to consult with the Appropriations Committees regarding the selection of an independent organization to produce this report. In addition to the report on the need for an independent assessment of the Department 's construction projects, the conferees direct that the Department 's overall management structure and process for identifying, managing, designing and constructing facilities also be reviewed by an impartial independent organization with expertise in the evaluation of government management and administrative
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APPENDIX A 45
Appendix A
EXCERPT FROM HOUSE REPORT 105-271
Independent Assessment of DOE Projects
The conference agreement provides $35,000,000 as proposed by the House to provide for external reviews
of the Department's individual construction and privatization projects, and an external review of the
Department's facility acquisition management process. The immediate concern of the conferees is a review of all
Department of Energy construction projects initiated in fiscal year 1998, construction projects currently in the
conceptual design phase, ongoing projects if recommended by the initial assessment required below, and projects
proposed by the Department for privatization. These evaluations should include a review and assessment of the
quality of the technical scopes, cost estimates, schedules, and supporting data regarding these construction
projects, and should make recommendations on the validity of the proposed costs, scopes, and schedules.
While the House bill directed that these reviews be conducted by the Corps of Engineers, the conferees
acknowledge that there may be other qualified, unbiased external organizations that could conduct this type of
assessment. Therefore, prior to obligating any funds provided for review of these construction and privatization
projects, the conferees expect the Department to contract with an impartial independent organization with
expertise in the evaluation of government management and administrative functions, for a detailed analysis of
the proposed independent assessment of construction projects. This contract should produce a report to be
submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations not later than December 31, 1997. The report
should address the need for conducting independent assessments of the Department's proposed and ongoing
construction projects and projects proposed for privatization, assess the proposed content of these reviews as
outlined above, as well as recommend the appropriate entity(ies) (including, but not limited to, the Corps of
Engineers) to conduct these reviews. The conferees expect this contract to be entered into as soon as possible,
and expect the Department to consult with the Appropriations Committees regarding the selection of an
independent organization to produce this report. In addition to the report on the need for an independent
assessment of the Department's construction projects, the conferees direct that the Department's overall
management structure and process for identifying, managing, designing and constructing facilities also be
reviewed by an impartial independent organization with expertise in the evaluation of government management
use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution.
and administrative
OCR for page 46
About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the original work has been recomposed from XML files created from the original paper book, not from the original typesetting files. Page breaks are true
to the original; line lengths, word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific formatting, however, cannot be retained, and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please
APPENDIX A 46
functions. The report should be provided to the Committees on Appropriations by June 30, 1998. The process
used by the Department and its contractors to identify project requirements, develop scopes of work, execute and
manage design, prepare cost estimates, select contract types, and execute and manage construction must be
examined. The review should assess the level of oversight and experience of field and headquarters Federal
personnel involved in this process. The recommendations of the report should include an analysis of the
effectiveness of this process, advantages, disadvantages, and recommended improvements with the ultimate goal
of establishing an overall departmental process that has more control of the projects and reduces project cost
growth and schedule slippages. This study should also include a review of large operating projects such as
environmental projects which may or may not involve much construction, but should clearly be managed with
the same principles and guidelines.
use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution.
