A worker suppresses dust during the demolition of Building 21-5, which was part of the DP West site. The last of 14 buildings at the historic DP West site at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Technical Area 21 (TA-21) was demolished, reducing the Lab’s footprint by more than 100,000 square feet.
EM CAPITAL PORTFOLIO
EM is tasked with solving the large scale, technically challenging risks and hazardous conditions posed by the world’s largest nuclear cleanup. The EM portfolio of programs, projects, and activities is the largest and most diverse when compared with other DOE organizations with major contracts and projects. These nuclear cleanup activities are located at 21 sites covering more than two million acres in 13 states, and employing more than 30,000 Federal and contractor employees, including scientists, engineers, and hazardous waste technician
As of fiscal year 2012, EM has completed 70 cleanup and construction projects at 25 different sites across the United States. The total cost of these projects was budgeted at $16.315 billion; however EM was able to complete them at a total cost of only $15.441 billion. EM saved the majority of this cost at the Rocky Flats Closure Site, where the project budgeted for $7.5 billion was completed for $6.7 billion. EM has also achieved great successes with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Of the 70 completed capital asset projects, 31 were funded by ARRA. These 31 projects were budgeted to cost $1.17 billion and were completed costing only $901 million, allowing over $200 million to accomplish additional cleanup across the EM portfolio.
Click for a map of where EM has been or is currently responsible for cleaning up sites across the United States: Sites/Locations
EM CAPITAL ASSET PROJECTS
EM capital asset projects are managed in accordance with the priorities of DOE Order 413.3B , Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets. The purpose of this Order is to:
- Provide the Department of Energy (DOE) Elements with program and project management direction for the acquisition of capital assets with the goal of delivering projects within the original performance baseline (PB), cost and schedule, and fully capable of meeting mission performance, safeguards and security, and environmental, safety, and health requirements unless impacted by a directed change; and,
- Implement Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars to include: OMB Capital Programming Guide, which prescribes new requirements and leading practices for project and acquisition management; A-123, Management’s Responsibility for Internal Control, which defines management’s responsibility for internal control in Federal agencies; and A-131, Value Engineering, which requires that all Federal agencies use Value Engineering (VE) as a management tool.
Click for the list of current EM capital asset projects. Capital assets are land, structures, or major equipment, which are used by the Federal Government and have an estimated useful life of two years or more. A capital asset project is defined as a project with start and end points required in the acquisition of capital assets. Capital asset projects include the environmental remediation of land to make it useful. They exclude activities such as repair, maintenance and surveillance, or minor alterations that are part of routine operations and maintenance functions. Built on interdependent activities that are planned to meet a common objective, a capital asset project focuses on attaining or completing a deliverable within a predetermined cost, schedule and technical scope baseline.
The EM capital asset projects fall into the following two categories:
- Line-Item Construction Projects: This category includes construction projects being executed as line items specifically funded in the Congressional Appropriations.
- Cleanup Projects: This category includes capital asset projects greater than $10 million being executed for site cleanup with operating expense funding. This includes the capital phase of environmental restoration (i.e., soil and water remediation) and facility decommissioning and demolition.
As of Fiscal Year 2012, EM’s portfolio consists of 4 line-item construction projects and 37 clean-up projects which have a rough order-of-magnitude cost (high end) of $55.85 Billion.
The capital asset projects are managed through various Critical Decision (CD) Stages:
| Active Capital Asset Projects at Each CD Stage (as of June 12, 2012) | ||
| CD Stage | Name of CD Stage | # |
| CD-0 | Approve Mission Need | 6 |
| CD-1 | Approve Alternative Selection and Cost Range | 13 |
| CD-2 | Approve Performance Baseline | 0 |
| CD-3 | Approve Start of Construction or Execution | 23 |
The EM program considers the following attributes for capital asset projects prior to establishing performance baselines (at CD-2):
- Time Horizon: Minimize the time horizon and risk to the maximum extent possible. Ideally, execution should take no more than four (4) years starting from CD-3.
- Funding Profile: Develop each project’s funding profile to support the optimum project schedule; fully fund when appropriate, and deliver projects quickly.
- Segregate by Building or Group Similar Types of Facilities: Segregate nuclear from non-nuclear work; utility systems/buildings from general use facilities; fixed price work from cost reimbursable work.
- Phase Projects: Execute well-defined, lower-risk, complete and usable projects first, allowing additional time to advance designs on more complex and/or technical projects. Project phases should not impede one another.
- Span of Control: Ensure that the planned scope and pace of work is matched to the capacity and capabilities of the management team.
- Segregate Projects by Geographic Area: Occasionally, projects involve separate geographic locations with different site conditions, construction workforce environments, and regulatory and political pressures.
- Workforce Phasing: Phase construction and environmental remediation projects within the program to take advantage of “leap-frogging” trades (i.e., concrete workers moving from one project to the next).