Reinventing Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) Property
Management
When DOE awarded the
consolidated Management and Operating (M&O) contract at INEL, the
consolidation of property assets under one management system was recognized as a
critical element to successful performance. The term "reinventing" was used to
describe the actions taken by Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies to improve
compliance and change the system to a requirements driven system.
The
first key element is to develop an INEL Property Management System. The INEL
Property Management System is described as the policies, procedures, and tools
that people use to manage Government assets in compliance with contract
requirements. The INEL contract requires that the M&O contractor comply with
41 CFR requirements for asset management. Specific contract property management
requirements were identified and then requirements based processes were
developed. These processes were then documented in a company level Property
Management Requirements Manual and an organizational level Property Management
Procedures Manual. The 30 new procedures improved compliance and effectiveness
and eliminated approximately 70 existing procedures.
The second key
element is the baseline inventory of INEL accountable assets. This inventory is
being conducted as a "wall to wall" inventory of accountable assets; all assets
with existing property records are being accounted for; and a "found on site"
process is included to pick up any assets that should have accountable records.
The Physical Inventory Department is a functionally separate
organization with no records access. Three teams conduct the inventory process;
count teams physically locate and verify key data elements; and the
reconciliation team reconciles the asset information to existing records.
Inventory verification teams use statistical sampling techniques to validate the
inventory results, conduct second counts and oversee corrective actions.
The third key element is implementation of improved disposal processing.
Lockheed Martin developed streamlined processes that improve compliance and
provide significant productivity improvements. The new processes are designed
around a simple but effective information and control system. This dramatically
improves physical processing from receipt into the process through disposal.
Lockheed Martin's new disposal processes fully comply with the stringent
requirements of the DOE High Risk Property Guidelines.
The fourth key
element is implementation of the new property management system. Lockheed Martin
company management from the President through all levels is committed to
individual accountability and organizational responsibility. The implementation
of the system is underway and is planned for completion with the baseline
inventory in September 1996.
(Contact: Phil Sanders, (208)
526-3947)
Item Number
2
Advance Acquisition Planning
Mason and Hanger - Silas Mason Company, Inc., Pantex Plant, has
developed and implemented an advance acquisition planning system that: (1)
coordinates and integrates all plant functions involved in an acquisition; (2)
disseminates standard lead times for purchases of various types and dollar value
to be used in the planning process; (3) advises requisitioners of the essential
steps involved in the procurement cycle and the responsibilities of personnel
involved; (4) properly plans and schedules the initiation of procurement
activities in advance to meet program needs; (5) allows strategic consolidation
of known procurements of same or similar categories under a single contract; (6)
monitors procurement activities and provides a means for updating the scheduling
of procurement actions as changes in requirements occur; and (7) measures
procurement performance in comparison to planned activities.
The program
utilizes the Microsoft Project business project planning system. Microsoft
Project provides project management tools in the form of graphical screen
displays called views. These views have been customized to define the
procurement tasks and their relationships. In order to communicate the
procurement tasks, relationships, relative duration, and resources required to
support a task, Procurement Cycle Models (PCMs) were developed and presented in
a matrix format based on the type of requirement and the estimated cost of the
requirement. All personnel can access these models as "read-only;" however, the
plan can be downloaded into the overall project plan. These models are on the
local area network and have a designated icon on Desktop that associates it with
advance acquisition planning. These PCMs provide a planning tool for use by
requisitioners in planning all procurements from the initial planning stage to
contract award. The PCM is intended to help the requisitioner understand the
different elements of the procurement cycle during the processing of a
requisition. A task description is provided for each task that provides a
detailed definition and the description of the task and the applicable plant
standard(s) and/or internal operating procedure(s) which prescribe the
requirement.
For major procurements of supplies/services and those which
have economic or performance schedule impact on vital programs or projects, a
detailed Procurement Plan is developed by Procurement with the assistance and
coordination of the Project Representative. Once the Procurement Plan is devised
that specifies who will do what and when, a project number is assigned and
activities are tracked and monitored in Microsoft Project. The plan contains the
original set of start and finish dates calculated for each task so that
requisitioners and procurement personnel can monitor progress or slippage by
comparing the plan to the current schedule. As work or tasks are completed,
information showing what has actually occurred in the project is recorded by
Procurement. Access to the specific Procurement Plan in Microsoft Project allows
requisitioners to monitor their project once underway.
Features of the
Microsoft Project software and its application for advance acquisition planning
are: (1) Critical Path Method (CPM) which calculates the total duration of a
project based on individual task durations and dependencies, and identifies
which tasks are critical so that procurement strategies for reducing the
duration of the critical path can be implemented with the focus on task
duration; (2) Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) chart which shows the
relationships between tasks, one task at a time and displays only the immediate
predecessor and successor for the selected task; (3) Gantt Chart which provides
a graphic view of the project schedule consisting of a table that lists
information about each task and a bar chart displayed on a timescale to show
task durations and start and finish dates so that you can compare planned,
actual and scheduled start and finish dates and percentages of completion; and
(4) Task Sheet which displays information about each task in the project in a
series of columns and rows that provides a convenient format for entering,
modifying, sorting, or filtering task information.
The advance
acquisition planning program promotes: (1) communication between Procurement and
plant customers by developing an acquisition schedule early in the procurement
process; (2) higher quality procurements that will result in optimum choices of
sources; and (3) greater understanding of constraints and opportunities inherent
in each procurement. In addition, the PCMs provide a checklist for training of
new Procurement personnel.
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