Effective risk management is essential for the success of large projects built and operated by the Department of Energy (DOE), particularly for the one-of-a-kind projects that characterize much of its mission. To enhance DOE s risk management efforts, the department asked the NRC to prepare a summary of the most effective practices used by leading owner organizations. The study s primary objective was to provide DOE project managers with a basic understanding of both the project owner s risk management role and effective oversight of those risk management activities delegated to contractors.

Facilities now owned by the Federal Government are valued at over $300 billion. It also spends over $25 billion per year for acquisition, renovation, and upkeep. Despite the size of these sums, there is a growing litany of problems with federal facilities that continues to put a drain on the federal budget and compromise the effectiveness of federal services. To examine ways to address these problems, the sponsoring agencies of the Federal Facilities Council (FFC) asked the National Research Council (NRC) to develop guidelines for making improved decisions about investment in and renewal, maintenance, and replacement of federal facilities. This report provides the result of that assessment. It presents a review of both public and private practices used to support such decision making and identifies appropriate objectives, practices, and performance measures. The report presents a series of recommendations designed to assist federal agencies and departments improve management of and investment decision making for their facilities.

The report that accompanied the House-approved Energy and Water Development Appropriations for FY2003 (H.Rept. 107-112) directed the National Research Council to evaluate the steps being taken by DOE to improve its facility and infrastructure management. Specifically, the NRC was to assess DOE s facilities and infrastructure management practices; identify or develop best practice tools for DOE property management; develop guidelines for deciding when to repair, renovate, or replace facilities; and define performance metrics. This interim letter report presents the NRC s preliminary assessment of DOE facility management policies and procedures and its current renewal activities. Seven broad-based attributes that characterize the quality of an organization s facility management policies and practices were applied by the study committee in developing this assessment.

In 1997, Congress, in the conference report, H.R. 105-271, to the FY1998 Energy and Water Development Appropriation Bill, directed the NRC to carry out a series of assessments of project management at the Department of Energy (DOE). This report, the 2003 Assessment, is the final one in that series. It presents an examination of DOE's progress in improving program management over the past three years including the Department's response to the recommendations of the previous assessments in this series. In addition to assessing DOE s progress, the report also describes opportunities for further improvement and gives a prognosis for future developments.