Memorandum

To:                  Family Farm Alliance members & interested parties 

From:              Dan Keppen, Executive Director (541-850-9007)

Subject:        Managing for Excellence

Date:             August 15, 2007

Yesterday, I participated in a conference call with Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) officials that featured an update of “Managing for Excellence” (M4E) Team 12 activities. Bill McDonald, Pacific Northwest Regional Director, led the discussion and steps that will be taken prior to Reclamation’s upcoming workshop in Portland (OREGON). The following has been prepared to summarize recent M4E developments.

Overview

Reclamation’s Managing for Excellence Project will identify and address the specific 21st Century challenges Reclamation must meet to fulfill its mission to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. This process provides an important opportunity for Western water users – many of whom are customers that help pay for Reclamation services - to find further ways to improve transparency in Reclamation decision-making, provide improved accountability, and make the organization as efficient as possible.

Family Farm Alliance Involvement

The Family Farm Alliance has spent considerable time and resources in the past two years working with a National Research Council Committee (“Committee”) and Reclamation as the Committee developed Managing Construction and Infrastructure in the 21^st Century – Bureau of Reclamation, which was finalized in 2006. In June 2005, the Alliance completed its own collection of case studies, and presented its final report to the Committee. The Alliance has testified twice in the past two years before Congressional committees on this issue and has engaged in the previous public workshops hosted by Reclamation.

Team 12 Focus

 “Team 12” is spearheading a process that will enable Reclamation to determine the size and composition of the engineering and technical services staff that it needs in order to carry out its mission. Team 12 has been moving forward with a review of business practices and how engineering and technical workflow is managed throughout the organization.  Reclamation customers have voiced concerns regarding costs, the cost-effectiveness of Reclamation’s engineering and technical services and level of customer service.  Other aspects of that concern include cost accounting and the transparency of the sources of costs; overall Reclamation service to customers; the customers’ uniform desire for Reclamation to maintain its engineering expertise; and communications and planning. 

Customers have expressed a desire to have collaborative processes that involve them in the early stages of identifying, planning, and scheduling the engineering and construction management work for which they will have a financing or repayment obligation.  Collaboration with, and input from, customers should be available to all, but there should also be flexibility in the breadth and detail of the collaborative process to tailor individual projects.

Most customers involved with the M4E process have expressed that they would like to see Reclamation use existing “best practices” as models like those already in place with power customers in several regions. In general, customers believe Reclamation should not reorganize without assurance it will address their concerns and not have adverse consequences.  

When Reclamation oversight of engineering and construction work by customers is required, the extent and cost of such oversight is of concern to the stakeholders.  Some stakeholders believe that if Reclamation sets clear standards and criteria for projects the districts perform, oversight functions and costs will be reduced. 

Recent Team 12 Developments

Bill McDonald reported that Team 12 is putting together an “interim” report that will try to reflect the “blending” of recent public workshop discussions and proposals. This document will provide a description of a preferred organizational structure and start working towards a final deliverable: policy revisions that will enhance the customer’s ability to participate in Reclamation decision-making processes. Issues such as outsourcing, changes and improvements to existing business practices, accountability, and reorganization scenarios are all addressed in the interim report. At this point, it appears that customers and Reclamation leadership believe that process improvements are possible without a major restructuring of Reclamation’s current organization.  According to Bill McDonald, most customers like the role of regional and area offices as opposed to a more centralized Reclamation construct. The current organizational structure is supported primarily because of the degree of responsibility and latitude given to Reclamation area and program offices to “get the job done”.

In general, it appears the Reclamation is not looking at instituting any higher degree of centralization, except in a few, selective instances. For example, Team 12 has determined that construction management services cannot be maintained in all five regions. The Pacific Northwest Region will soon be consolidating its construction management duties with those of the Mid-Pacific Region. Team 12 is apparently seeking to identify a workforce in size and expertise that matches the workload Reclamation expects to encounter on a day-to-day basis.

The Team 12 interim report will also identify the kind of business practices that will provide improved transparency so that customers can better understand how work load demands, scheduling and needed expertise are determined, and how that work gets contracted out. The interim report will propose changes relative to what is currently done in an effort to improve customer relations, etc.

Next Steps

Based on the guidance of the Reclamation Leadership Team, this will be refined and revised and then shared with Reclamation employees and customers, who will then have an opportunity to comment, likely in mid-to-late September.  The next public meeting of Managing for Excellence is scheduled for September 25-26 in Portland (OREGON). The interim report prepared by Team 12 will be the primary focus of the Portland meeting. Deputy Commissioner Larry Todd will also brief stakeholders present in Portland on how the recommendations already completed by 32 other M4E teams will actually be implemented.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at:

Holiday Inn Portland Airport

8439 Columbia Blvd.

Portland , Oregon   97220

An informal announcement will be posted in the Federal Register.  Online registration for the Portland Public Workshop is now available at http://www.usbr.gov/excellence/portlandpw.html 

Hotel reservations are available by calling 1-888-465-4329, or at www.holidayinn.com/portland-i205 (Under Check Availability in the lower left, enter dates of stay, enter "BOR" in the Group Code box, then click the Check Availability button.)  To receive a room rate of $98.00, inform the hotel you are attending the Bureau of Reclamation Conference.

The cutoff date is September 10, 2007 .

The Family Farm Alliance will organize planning and briefing teleconferences and meetings for its interested members and other customer organizations prior to, and during, the Portland public meeting.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about this matter.