Project Specifics

A major international organization is undertaking design and construction of a new major nuclear materials facility that will become the backbone of their research and development infrastructure and deliver nuclear science and technology programs. The facility is also important to the organization’s ambition to penetrate new international markets and add capabilities to better meet the needs of their federal and commercial customers.

The federal owner of the facility had become concerned about the project delivery approach and the project’s key performance indicators (KPIs), which had been trending down over three consecutive quarters. As a result, the client engaged L&A, a Geosyntec Company, to conduct an independent review of the project’s position on quality management, health and safety, and cost and schedule.

Geosyntec Scope of Services

We assembled a qualified and experienced team to review the three aspects of the project: quality management, health and safety, and cost and schedule. Each area necessitated a slightly different approach and focus:

• Quality Management: Our team focused on non-conformance reporting and senior management response to implementing corrective actions and examining the effectiveness of actions taken. We reviewed documentation to assess the effectiveness of the proposed recovery plans, lessons learned and lessons applied, how effectively the organization was following recommendations, and whether the project was generally in good standing from a quality perspective.
• Health and Safety: Our team compared the self-reporting of hazardous conditions supplied by the project through behavioral performance observations, including monthly project reports and metrics, with those being recorded as part of the organization’s occupational health and safety program.
• Cost and Schedule: We assessed whether the overall schedule was fit-for-purpose, how it was integrated down to subcontractors (especially those on point for critical-path items), and whether the logic ties were appropriate and consistent. Our review also included an analysis of the updated risk management/risk register and mitigation plans, schedule and resource information, and the earned value management system (EVMS), as well as an analysis of the baseline integrated master schedule and of the use of Acumen Fuse to identify problem areas.

Notable Accomplishments

We made observations and recommendations to the client, including potential areas of improvement, as follows:

Quality Management

• Use an integrated risk-informed oversight and performance monitoring and management strategy that includes timely KPI-driven actions.
• Develop and execute an effective risk-informed audit and surveillance plan.
• Develop quality audits and corrective action plans with an appropriate level of rigor.
• Establish appropriate roles and responsibilities related to project quality.
• Use a comprehensive approach to uncover root and contributing causes of events, as well as to identify, implement, and assess effective corrective actions.
• Develop and implement a training program to establish and maintain the skills and knowledge to execute the project in a way that is consistent with quality and safety requirements.

Health and Safety

• Improve the matching of incident reports with the relevancy of incidents.
• Improve trending among multiple data sets to identify broader issues on the project.
• Follow through on training directives and closure and assurance of competence.
• Maintain a competent and successful training program through careful management of outstanding training items.
• Include supporting evidence (like witness statements and photographs) and details (including how an incident happened and what actions were planned or undertaken to prevent a recurrence) on safety event reports.
• Expand the use of field observations during the conduct of work to support appropriate choice and implementation of practices, behaviors, and tools.

Cost and Schedule

• Perform a more up-to-date study of completed nuclear facility construction to add credibility to the cost estimate.
• Implement self-assessments of cost and schedule development using checklists developed by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO)
• Update the project execution plan to include the estimated cost of the project, budget commitments, key milestones and project duration, and quantifiable KPIs
• Use a range of estimates at completion (EACs)—best case, most likely, and worst case—rather than a single point of EAC
• Closely monitor the construction and progress of critical structures in the new facility
• Where construction is ongoing before design completion, pay special attention to the potential impacts of changes in design and their knock-on effects to construction.
• Regularly update the risk register and conduct further Monte Carlo analyses over time to adequately estimate the remaining risk exposure to the project

What is a Quick Qual?