The Laboratory's new Prime Contract Office (PCO) is providing institutional focus and oversight for issues related to the Department of Energy Prime Contract for Laboratory operations.
Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos and Associate Director for Administration (ADA) Rich Marquez formally established the PCO during a recent signing ceremony. Bill Wadt leads the new office; the Quality Improvement Office has been closed out and personnel affiliated with QIO are transitioning into the new roles to improve management of the prime contract.
The transformation from QIO to PCO is more than a mere name change, Wadt said.
"Creation of PCO is fulfilling a Laboratory business objective under Laboratory Strategic Goal I: 'Employ those business practices that best serve (the institution's) trusted, competitive scientific solutions,' " he said. "We will be building upon processes already in place under appendices E, F and G of the Prime Contract and continue to build upon the momentum that already has been established by previous successful institutional improvement efforts."
Wadt said the PCO will apply best practices to contract administration in order to engender better business relationships with Laboratory customers by assisting Laboratory managers to reduce unfunded programmatic or operational commitments or requirements, and better align institutional resources with Laboratory commitments and plans. Specifically, under its charter, PCO's functions include
"PCO will play a vital role in the Laboratory's future," said Wadt. "Right now, the current lack of formality and executive processes related to the prime contract has resulted in a legacy of unfunded or under-funded programmatic and operational requirements; inadequate alignment and focus of institutional resources; and miscommunication and misunderstandings with customers and stakeholders regarding the contract. We will turn that legacy around."
Planning for the PCO occurred over the last year. Planners used simple benchmarks of selected DOE laboratory and facility management and operations contractors to decide upon a basic organizational approach. Next, the planners agreed upon several design principles: leverage existing Laboratory processes and evolving improvements; use a process management approach to develop and operate the PCO; enable fact-based contract decisions by senior management; and work in partnership with Laboratory managers. In January, more than 60 managers and subject matter experts from across the Laboratory participated in four workshops that helped define the key PCO processes, their basic requirements, and critical interfaces and partnerships that must be established and maintained.
PCO intends to maintain communications as the transformation process continues. Additional information related to the office can be found at http://pco.lanl.gov/ online.
--James E. Rickman