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Environmental restoration projects are relatively new to project scheduling. They have typical design and construction segments, but they also have phases that have not routinely been included in critical path method (CPM) scheduling. In developing a plan to integrate these phases, traditional scheduling methods have been used, with consideration for the differences in environmental restoration products, to create a total system with enough flexibility to respond to the varying needs of different customers.
The purpose of the environmental restoration program is to remediate contaminated sites to the point where levels of contaminates are below concentrations that pose an unacceptable risk to humans, wildlife, or the surrounding environment. The scope of the program discussed in this article includes five US Department of Energy (DOE) installations located in three states. Governing requirements of the program are covered in two federal acts, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation, and Liability Act (CER-CLA). The DOE is the primary customer providing both funding and direction, but reporting requirements exist for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the corresponding state environmental regulators. Lockheed Martin Energy Systems is the integrating contractor for the DOE and is responsible for the oversight and management of the entire program, but a number of other contractors (prime contractors) have direct contracts with the DOE to perform selected phases of the work.
The overall plan to develop the scheduling system follows a traditional approach, but because of the affect of regulatory and statutory requirements, refinements within some of the steps are necessary. After the program scope is defined the next step is to develop a program-level work breakdown structure (WBS). In addition to the typical design and construction products, environmental restoration projects require many reports, studies, and plans as products. These products should be reflected in the development of the WBS. The schedules are developed using a three-tier approach that includes a program-level schedule, project-level schedules, and participant-level schedules for prime contractors that allow for different levels of detail and control, but still have the capability of integrating into the next-higher level. Activities required to produce the products are determined with DOE funding applied as the limiting resource. Updating methods and procedures are defined with project monitoring in mind to...