Contract Management
The SC Site Office Manager serves as the DOE line manager accountable for the management of the M&O contract and oversight of the day-to-day activities at the Laboratory under their cognizance. The SC Site Office Manager also serves as DOE's principal point of contact to the M&O contractor management. The SC CO within the PSO has the legal contracting responsibility for contract administration. SC Staff in the SC Site Office, the SC ISC, and HQ carry out a variety of oversight activities that are prescribed by DOE regulations, DOE Directives (e.g., DOE Orders, DOE policy documents), and the contract between DOE and the M&O Contractor. This staff consists of, but is not limited to COs, contract specialists, safety and operations specialists, legal, project management, business, environmental, property, and finance individuals.
PSO staff administers the contract and facilitates the performance of the M&O Contractor through the following activities:
- Establishing formal requirements and expectations through the contract;
- Monitoring and evaluating contractor performance against those expectations;
- Providing feedback to the contractor through a variety of formal and informal mechanisms during the year, and;
- Holding the Contractor accountable for performance.
Managing contract requirements and expectations includes: (1) the creation of a Contract Management Plan; (2) the establishment of an annual Performance Evaluation and Measurement Plan under the SC Laboratory Performance Appraisal Process; (3) the management of changes to the contract requirements and/or expectations through contract modifications, and; (4) the processing of work authorizations, such as those required for DOE work and Strategic Partnership Projects, approval of subcontracts, and the approval of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development funding levels and individual projects.
At the same time, SC staff has many key Federal responsibilities and deliverables that are critical to the success of the Contractor. This includes activities such as: (1) signing permits as the facility owner; (2) reviewing and approving key operations documents; (3) approving work authorizations in a timely manner, and; (4) communicating with stakeholders to gain support for a program or to resolve issues with a regulatory agency.
Performance monitoring occurs through the evaluation and acceptance of contract deliverables, conducting performance reviews, preparing performance reports, daily monitoring of ongoing activities, and the use of contractor self-reporting. Examples of these activities include: (1) property administrator walk‑throughs; (2) SC Site Office Staff operational awareness activities; (3) program and project reviews that approve key contract milestones, and; (4) accepting completed projects for startup.
Performance feedback is provided to the Contractor through formal periodic performance reports, assessments and other feedback mechanisms, including informal mechanisms, so that deficiencies are understood and corrected. This process involves formal communication of performance results to the Contractor.
