[SOE LETTERHEAD]
January 8, 2003
The Honorable John T. Conway
Chairman
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
625 Indiana Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
Dear Mr. Chairman:
On October 3, 2002, the Defense Nuclear
Facilities Safety Board (Board) issued recommendation 2002-2, Weapons
Laboratory Support of the Defense Nuclear Complex. The Department agrees that providing the
defense nuclear complex with appropriate support is an essential priority. We also recognize that “one-size-fits-all”
organizational structures and systems are not appropriate for our weapons
laboratories.
The Department accepts recommendation 2002-2
and will develop an implementation plan to accomplish the following:
·
We will
re-emphasize the policy that the nuclear weapons program is the top priority
among all activities at the weapons laboratories.
·
Each weapons
laboratory will review its existing processes for assigning individuals as the
senior point of contact for each weapons system and ensure that selection
criteria, training and mentoring, and succession planning are in place. Personnel management is an internal process
of the weapons laboratories and should not be prescribed by the
Department. However, the Department
will ensure that the end result is that senior technically competent
individuals are assigned as the point of contact for each weapons system. A list of senior individuals assigned as the
point of contact of each weapon system will be provided.
·
Each weapons
laboratory will review its existing management system and demonstrate that
through the appropriate alignment of a combination of internal organizational
structure, programs, and procedures that the roles and responsibilities of each
weapons point of contact are clearly defined.
The point of contact for each weapon will be empowered to direct
appropriate resources to ensure the safety of operations in the nuclear weapons
complex within his/her assigned weapon system or have direct access to the
management authority to acquire the necessary support.
·
The Department
will establish and staff a Federal function at each site office managing a
weapons laboratory contract to ensure that the laboratory support requirements
related to safety of operations of the defense nuclear weapons complex are
being tracked and met. For this
function, the National Nuclear Security Administration reengineering will
clarify the roles and responsibilities and the contractual lines of authority
for providing direction and resolving competing requirements for resources.
I have designated Ms. Karen Boardman as the
responsible manager for developing the Department’s implementation plan for
this recommendation. Ms. Boardman may
be reached at (505) 845-6039.
Sincerely,