Project Management Oversight

The Office of Integrated Safety and Program Assurance (NE-43) serves as focal point and central resource for Project Management policy and organizational support for the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE).

NE manages their projects primarily in accordance with DOE Orders 413.3, Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets. Project management activities are conducted in liaison with the Office of Engineering and Construction Management (OECM). Along with OECM, NE-43 provides assistance in carrying out policy, conducting project reviews, and in providing assistance to NE personnel in achieving Project Management certification.

Recently, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) became the lead laboratory for nuclear energy research. With this change, most of NE's activities, and likewise NE-43's activities, are focused on the Idaho site. NE is the Program Secretarial Officer for INL, and most of NE's projects are located there. NE-43 works with all NE Federal Project Directors (FPD) to obtain project status on a regular basis, to arrange and conduct Energy Systems Acquisition Advisory Board meetings for Critical Decision milestones, and to organize and conduct Quarterly Project Performance Reviews (See table below). NE-43 also works with the Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID) to ensure that NE FPDs are working toward Project Management certification through the OECM Project Management Career Development Program (PMCDP).

NE Quarterly Project Performance Review (QPPR Schedule)
Quarter	Approximate QPPR Date	Time Period Covered
1st Quarter	January 28	October, November, December
2nd Quarter	April 28	January, February, March
3rd Quarter	July 28	April, May, June
4th Quarter	October 28	July, August, September
According to DOE Order 413.3, Chapter VI, for all projects, the appropriate Acquisition Executive (AE)(or his delegate) conducts QPPR with the Federal Project Manager and staff. The goal of these reviews is to assure the AE that all DOE Order 413.3 projects are managed in accordance with the Departmental requirements and that progress on each applicable project is reviewed at least on a quarterly basis.

At Headquarters, NE-43 supports the NE-HQ staff by providing general Project Management guidance, in addition to support in achieving their PMCDP goals. They provide independent project management oversight of NE projects. NE-43 accomplishes this through assessments of NE strategic plans and vision statements to ensure all proposed and future projects are appropriately planned from a budget, environmental, and project management perspective. They analyze/assess project status on a monthly basis utilizing information from resources such as the OECM Project Assessment and Reporting System in order to produce a report for NE senior management.

As needed, NE-43 will support project managers by participating as subject matter experts for Energy Systems Acquisition Advisory Board (ESAAB) and other project reviews, serve on Integrated Project Teams, and participate in Independent Project Reviews.