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Report 1 on Tracking and Assessing Governance and Management Reform in the Nuclear Security Enterprise

Report 1 on Tracking and Assessing Governance and Management Reform in the Nuclear Security Enterprise

Full Title: Report 1 on Tracking and Assessing Governance and Management Reform in the Nuclear Security Enterprise
Author(s): The National Academies Press
Publisher(s):
Publication Date: April 1, 2017
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

The congressionally mandated report A New Foundation for the Nuclear Enterprise (the “Augustine-Mies” report), released in November 2014, concluded that “the existing governance structures and many of the practices of the [nuclear security] enterprise are inefficient and ineffective, thereby putting the entire enterprise at risk over the long term.” The report offered 19 recommendations, many with subcomponents, to improve the effectiveness of the enterprise. The recommendations that are within the control of the Department of Energy (DOE) and/or its National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) relate to challenges in the following areas:

  • Management structure and processes;
  • Decision-making practices;
  • Risk management;
  • Culture of performance, accountability, and credibility;
  • Best practices for shaping and building the enterprise workforce;
  • Cost analysis and resource management capabilities;
  • Budget and accounting structure;
  • Strategy and plan for meeting future needs, including deferred maintenance, infrastructure, and workforce;
  • Construction project management capabilities;
  • Interactions between management and operating (M&O) contractors and NNSA/DOE;
  • Wasteful and ineffective transactional oversight;
  • Government–federally funded research and development center relationship; and
  • Collaborations and trust with NNSA customers.

Similar issues were raised in another congressionally mandated report released in 2015, Securing America’s Future: Realizing the Potential of the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories (the “CRENEL” report),2 which examined all 17 of the DOE laboratories, including the 3 NNSA laboratories. Its 36 recommendations cover topics such as rebuilding trust, maintaining alignment and quality, managing effectiveness and efficiency, and ensuring lasting change.

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