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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 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
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.
