REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT ON AGENCY ADR ACTIVITIES

 

Pursuant to the President’s Memorandum on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), the Interagency ADR Working Group is required to report to the President on ADR programs in the executive branch.  The results of this survey will be reported to the President through the director of the Office of Management and Budget, as well as distributed to Congress and other interested parties.  Please email your responses to Jeffrey.M.Senger@usdoj.gov, or complete the survey on the Working Group website at www.financenet.gov/financenet/fed/iadrwg/adrsurvey.htm.  (If necessary, you may instead mail it, including a copy on diskette, to Jeff Senger, United States Department of Justice, Office of Dispute Resolution, 950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Room 5240, Washington, D.C., 20530.)  Thank you.

 

Agency name: Department of Transportation

 

Agency Dispute Resolution Specialist and other ADR points of contact:

            Name: Judith S. Kaleta                        

            Telephone: 202‑493‑0992                               

            Email: judy.kaleta@rspa.dot.gov                      

 

The Department’s Dispute Resolution Specialist serves as the Chair of the Department’s Dispute Resolution Council, which is comprised of the Deputy Dispute Resolution Specialists in the Department’s operating administrations and secretarial offices.  Those contacts are listed in Attachment 1 to this survey. 

 

Does your agency have an ADR policy statement?   Yes _x__      No ___

The Secretary has issued two declarations of his commitment to ADR.  One announcement was internal to the Department, addressed to heads of operating administrations and secretarial officers.  The other was in a press release announcing the appointment of the Dispute Resolution Specialist and the establishment of the Department’s Dispute Resolution Council.  In addition, the Department ’s acquisition regulations include a provision on alternative dispute resolution and the role of the Dispute Resolution Specialist. 48 C.F.R. § 1233.214.  The Department’s Board of Contracts Appeals rules of procedure provide two alternative dispute resolution methods to facilitate case settlement: settlement judges and mini‑trials.

 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced  commitment to the early and expeditious resolution of controversy in its Acquisition Management System.  In addition, for complaints of discrimination, the FAA established an alternative dispute resolution program.

 

In Commandant’s Instructions, the Coast Guard established a Solicitation Ombudsman Program to provide potential offerors an opportunity to resolve complaints and concerns in an informal manner and established a mediation program to resolve allegations of discrimination.

 

 

What is your agency’s ADR budget? $__________

If you do not have a budget, how are your ADR activities funded?

There is no centralized ADR budget within the Department.  ADR service and activities, including training, travel and mediators, are funded by the office requesting the service or by the office that employs the person involved in the dispute.  In addition, employees are taking advantage of no‑cost and low‑cost training activities of the Interagency ADR Working Group and bar associations.

 

How many FTE’s does your agency dedicate to ADR? ___9 ½______

If none, how are your ADR activities staffed?

The Department’s Dispute Resolution Specialist and 8 ½  positions within the Federal Aviation Administration are dedicated to ADR.  Sixteen employees serve on the Department’s Dispute Resolution Council.  There are collateral duty mediators who are involved in resolving EEO complaints.   These collateral duty mediators are located in headquarters and the regional offices.

 

 

What programs has your agency established during FY 1999 pursuant to the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act and the President’s directive to promote greater use of ADR?

The Department has undertaken a number of ADR initiatives in FY 1999. 

 

The Secretary has established a Dispute Resolution Council, consisting of representatives from each of the Department’s operating administrations and secretarial offices.  The council will examine how the department is currently using alternative means of dispute resolution, both at headquarters and in the regions, and will identify possible future uses.

 

The Department, under its ONE DOT initiative to encourage its administrations to work more closely together, has been developing a DOT‑wide mediation program to help resolve Equal Employment Opportunity complaints.  The department has trained employees to serve as neutral mediators to assist in the consensual resolution of those complaints. We have established a pilot DOT‑wide Sharing Neutrals Program for the mediation of discrimination complaints  in the Washington, DC area.  The U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also established mediation programs for discrimination complaints. 

 

The FAA also established two new programs at its William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., under which employees and management mediate workplace disputes.  One program includes the bargaining unit employees of the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 200.  The other involves the non‑bargaining unit employees.

 

The FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) established an ADR Working Group.  NATCA represents approximately 25,000 air traffic employees.  The ADR Working Group will explore the use of joint problem solving efforts, including the issues and processes appropriate for these efforts.

 

 

 

What ADR programs has your agency expanded or improved during FY 1999?

The Secretary of Transportation has appointed a full‑time Dispute Resolution Specialist.  Prior to this appointment, the functions of the Dispute Resolution Specialist were a collateral duty.

 

The Department’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a final rule which details the procedural requirements for the resolution of both bid protests and contract disputes. Its dispute resolution process emphasizes the use of ADR as the primary means to resolve disputes.  The Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisitions makes its Dispute Resolution Officers available as ADR neutrals with the concurrence of the parties.  In addition, it established a web site, which includes a guide to the conduct of protests and contract disputes and information about specific cases.

 

The Coast Guard is continuing to consider alternative means of dispute resolution in procurement matters.  To enhance employee awareness, the Coast Guard provided training to the chiefs of its contracting offices and its procurement attorneys.

 

 

What benefits has your agency received from these programs?

In general, ADR is working to resolve contracting and workplace disputes, resulting in less adversarial relationships and a better work environment.  Employees who have been made aware of ADR are routinely beginning to see it as a desirable alternative to traditional, more adversarial approaches and are considering whether ADR may be appropriate to resolve disputes.  The Coast Guard has experienced a drop in the number of contract protests.

 

More specifically, the informal procedures established the FAA’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisitions save the agency and outside parties time and money by forcing the parties to focus on the core dispute and by providing expedited time frames.  An analysis, provided as Attachment 2, illustrates the estimated savings in labor hours from using default adjudication procedures in lieu of a protest under General Accounting Office procedures or a case with Board of Contract Appeals.

 

Other Department‑wide initiatives are too new to assess at this time.  We are developing criteria to help us evaluate their benefits for FY 2000.

 

 

What ADR success stories does your agency have to share with the President?

Our successes fall within several areas: design success, implementation success, and success in resolving disputes.

 

Design Success  A team of employees from across the Department worked together to establish a Sharing Neutrals Program.  The neutrals will serve as collateral duty mediators to resolve discrimination complaints.  This approach allows us to use our resources in the most cost effective manner and instills within our workforce conflict management techniques.

 

Implementation Success  The Department’s Board of Contract Appeals used alternative means of dispute resolution, including mini‑trials and appointment of an independent neutral, in seven cases. Settlement was reached in six of the cases.  

 

For discrimination complaints, the Federal Aviation Administration mediated 123 disputes.  Mediation resulted in resolving 71 of the disputes, 58% of the cases.  This resolution rate is up from 43% in 1998.  With regard to other workplace issues, one office within the FAA has established an Early Resolution System and successfully resolved 16 out of 18 cases. 

 

Success in resolving a dispute One case that benefitted from the application of ADR involved a contract for the construction of a power supply upgrade at a Coast Guard facility.  Differing site positions were encountered and delays extended the contract almost one year beyond the original completion date.  The contractor filed a claim for approximately $224,000 for extended unabsorbed overhead expenses. The parties attempted to settle and failed.  Both parties presented arguments and evidence to a settlement judge from the Department’s Board of Contract Appeals.  The settlement judge made informal recommendations to the parties.  The claim was settled for $70,000. 

 

 

What are your agency’s ADR goals, including resources necessary for the future?

Our primary goal is to publish a notice in the Federal Register which details our commitment to ADR as part of the Department’s strategic plan.  Consistent with our human resources management strategy to foster a diverse, highly skilled workforce, we will develop a curricula to enhance awareness of opportunities to use ADR and we will establish a nation‑wide mediation program to resolve complaints of discrimination.  This latter undertaking also supports labor‑management partnerships.  Consistent with our customer service corporate management strategy, we will develop ADR program evaluation criteria.  In addition, to ensure that customers have access to timely and accurate information, we will develop an ADR web site.  As we undertake these and other ADR initiatives, under the leadership of the Department’s Dispute Resolution Council, we will ensure that fiscal resources are cost‑effectively allocated.