Volpe Center Year in Review 2008
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Organizational Excellence
The Volpe Center cannot achieve its strategic goals without vision, leadership, and a culture of teamwork, collaboration, and continuous improvement. The Volpe Center is committed to pursuing best practices and achieving results that benefit taxpayers and the Nation. Organizational Excellence activities range from improving internal controls; continuous human capital development, and innovative contracting and acquisition processes, to project management, important greening initiatives, and volunteer efforts.
Improving Internal Controls of Business Processes
The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) government-wide call for Federal agencies to strengthen internal controls over financial reporting continued to be a major departmental initiative in 2008. Volpe Center staff participated in a DOT-wide Internal Control Working Group to ensure that OMB internal control responsibilities were performed, documented, and assessed. Major activities comprised a self-assessment and documentation of controls for four key Volpe Center business processes and associated subprocesses: procure-to-pay, credit card management, cash management, and travel management.
The Volpe Center also completed an entity-wide Internal Control Self-Assessment (ICSA) consisting of the five components for internal control established by the Government Accountability Office: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring. The ICSA focus area in FY 2008 was control environment, which warranted a full assessment and review of Volpe Center responses and submittals by U.S. DOT's Office of Financial Management. The remaining four components will be focus areas in FYs 2009 and 2010. The Office of Financial Management found sufficient documentation to support the Volpe Center's self-assessment ratings and deemed controls to have been effective. Of the 15 Operating Administrations tested in FY 2008, six had no findings, including the Volpe Center.
Customer Satisfaction
As a fee-for-service organization with a vast array of customers, the Volpe Center has sought customer feedback on product delivery and services since 1995 and is now conducting formal customer feedback evaluations on a biennial basis. In FY 2008, the Center conducted its fourth round of customer satisfaction surveying. An independent contractor interviewed active customers, primarily face to face, at both the project and senior levels of their organizations. Both groups were asked about their overall satisfaction and their perceived value of the Volpe Center's project work. Project-level customers were also asked about their satisfaction with staff performance and the value of project work.
Round IV of the Volpe Center's customer-satisfaction monitoring, which comprised 176 interviews—105 at the project level and 71 at the senior level—yielded a 45 percent response rate. The Volpe Center improved in 8 out of 9 rating areas compared with those in Round III, and attained an improved overall mean rating of 8.4 for overall customer satisfaction (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 indicating "extremely satisfied").
Round IV provided an independent and credible assessment of customer satisfaction for all customers and stakeholders, actionable data for the Volpe Center's project teams, and important customer-trend data, a key performance metric.
Hiring Tools to Promote Organizational Growth
In recognition of the continual need for acquiring new talent and for deploying it strategically, the Volpe Center has enhanced its hiring tools. Some of the tools that have been utilized extensively this fiscal year are described below.
Federal Career Internship Program (FCIP)
The Federal Career Internship Program (FCIP) is designed to attract, develop, and retain personnel by means of providing developmental opportunities to improve performance in present job assignments and to prepare for future assignments. The goal is to noncompetitively convert high-quality interns to career or career-conditional positions. In FY 08, the Volpe Center employed eight employees under FCIP.
Student Conversions
The Volpe Center continued its proud tradition of hiring students through the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) and noncompetitively converting them to permanent or two-year-term positions upon graduation. Student trainees must have completed at least 640 hours of work prior to graduation. In FY 2008, the Volpe Center made nine student trainee conversions across multiple disciplines and grade levels.
Volpe Center Career Day Open House
In May 2008, the Volpe Center hosted a Career Day Open House, targeting recruitment of undergraduate and graduate students for the SCEP and FCIP programs. Technical Division managers and employees talked directly with attendees and explained their technical portfolio. The event attracted job-seekers and six school/organizational representatives and led to the hiring of two engineering students.
Leadership Development Program (LDP)
LDP is a critical component of the Volpe Center's Leadership Succession Plan. In December 2007, the first class of the Volpe Center's LDP graduated. The class consisted of 11 employees at grades 12 and 13 who spent 18 months learning and practicing six leadership competencies: teamwork, adaptability/flexibility, interpersonal skills, leadership, communication skills, and global/strategic thinking. In 2008, a second, 14-member class began the program, which offered mentor matching and training and a one-day training entitled "Leadership Competencies and Teambuilding."
Professional Development Training
In support of the U.S. DOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration's (RITA) goal that every employee obtain 40 hours of training and professional development each fiscal year (or 80 hours over two fiscal years), the Volpe Center increased the FY 2008 training budget by approximately 45 percent over the FY 2007 level of funding. Nearly half of all training funds were decentralized to the Directorate level and, in some cases, the Division level, with the aim of increasing the amount of specific technical training available to employees.
To help employees achieve the training goal, the Human Resources (HR) Division, in collaboration with managers, made a wide variety of training and professional development activities available to employees, including conferences, individual courses and virtual opportunities, offered through the electronic Learning Management System. The Center also revised supervisory and employee performance plans to incorporate incentives for achieving training goals. These training efforts put the Volpe Center well on track to fulfilling the Administrator's training goal.
Reducing Project Risk and the Cost of Doing Business through Better Project Management
The Volpe Center is working to improve the performance of its project managers. Implementation of project management standards and training on best practices increases customer satisfaction, reduces project risk and the cost of doing business across the Center, and strengthens the Volpe Center's contributions to achieving the Nation's transportation goals. The Volpe Center also provides high-level oversight and guidance to Volpe Center management to meet its project portfolio information requirements and compliance with project management-related directives. Project management efforts to date have improved and simplified Volpe Center business processes to fully support the project manager.
There has been a strong effort to provide training and support to increase the numbers of certified Project Management Professionals across the Center. The Volpe Center has trained over 220 Volpe Center staff members in Microsoft Enterprise Project Management; 33 staff members have received their project management certification.
Collaboration between National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) and Management
The Volpe Center believes that a key component of Organizational Excellence is robust collaboration between labor and management. In 2008, this collaborative effort produced significant results. The Center's Labor/Management Team developed a template for nonsupervisory GS-12/13/14 performance appraisal plans as well as a template for GS-15 technical experts. Both templates are in alignment with the U.S.DOT's Organizational Excellence goal and contain measurable performance standards. Additionally, the Labor/Management Team, in response to employee feedback, developed a workable draft Telework Order, which was adopted by the Volpe Center's parent agency, RITA, as its telecommuting policy. Volpe Center management also worked collaboratively with the NAGE Local R1-195, revising the NAGE collective bargaining agreement to include compressed work schedules. This recruitment-and-retention tool expands the options available to employees, enabling them to select from more than one work-schedule option. Employees can now choose from three types of flexi-time, either alone or in conjunction with telework. All employees were briefed on the changes to the collective bargaining agreement.
Volpe Center Lunch Buddies Reading Program
In 2008, the Volpe Center Lunch Buddies Program celebrated its tenth anniversary. Lunch Buddies is a collaborative reading program between the Volpe Center and the neighboring Kennedy-Longfellow Elementary School. Volpe Center employees volunteer their lunch breaks to read to second- and third-graders every two weeks during the school year. Since its inception, Lunch Buddies has attracted 296 Volpe Center volunteers. The program enhances children's interest in reading, advances the school's commitment to early literacy, and provides Volpe Center staff with an opportunity to give back to the community.
Lunch Buddies has been the recipient of many awards, including those bestowed by the Volpe Center Director, the RITA Administrator, the U.S. DOT Secretary, the City of Cambridge, and the Cambridge School Volunteers (CSV). At its 2008 annual Awards Program, CSV recognized the Volpe Center's long-term commitment to the children of Cambridge with a certificate of appreciation "on the 10th anniversary of its participation in the Lunch Buddies program at the Kennedy-Longfellow School." Also at the ceremony, the nine Volpe Center volunteers who have been Lunch Buddies for all 10 years were recognized for their dedication to the program.
Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Campaign
During fiscal year 2008, the Volpe Center engaged in an internal marketing campaign encouraging the use of Service Disabled Veteran-Owned (SDVO) small businesses. The purpose of the campaign was to educate the Volpe community and increase awareness of the program and to ultimately ensure the Volpe Center met its SDVO goal. The result was a dramatic increase in obligations to SDVO small businesses. In FY07, the Volpe Center obligated $1.9 million or 1.4 percent of total obligations to SDVO small businesses. In FY08, the Volpe Center obligated $4.4 million or 2.9 percent of total obligations to SDVO small businesses.
Due to the success of this innovative and creative campaign, the U.S. DOT's Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) requested Volpe Center's campaign information and planning documents to share with all of DOT's Operating Administrations. Additionally, members of the Department of Defense Northeast Regional Council for Small Business Education and Advocacy have requested permission to duplicate this campaign in other Federal agencies in the New England area.
Volpe Center Awards Operations Research and Analysis (ORA) Multiple Award Contracts to Small Business Development Program 8(a) Companies
On October 2, 2008, three contracts were awarded to 8(a) companies in the Transportation Operations Research Analysis (ORA) and Communications Services functional areas. The Small Business Administration's (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program provides critical business development assistance to companies owned by socially and economically disadvantaged businesses. These are multiple award task order contracts with a total estimated value of $90 million. The period of performance will be five years from the date of award. This award helped to fulfill a RITA initiative to establish more multiple award contracts for services previously acquired through a single award. The Volpe Center expects to use this multiple award vehicle to primarily fulfill on-site requirements.
Volpe Center Awards Operations Research and Analysis (ORA) Multiple Award Contracts Under Full and Open Competition
On December 22, 2008, five contracts were awarded under the ORA Services Full and Open Procurement. These are multiple award task order contracts with a total estimated value of $40 million. The period of performance is five years from the date of award. This award completed another major element to the Administrator's initiative to establish more multiple award contracts providing these services. The Volpe Center expects to use this multiple award vehicle to primarily fulfill off-site requirements.
Volpe Center Greening Initiatives
The Volpe Center achieved a number of "greening" initiatives in 2008, particularly in energy efficiency and recycling. The Volpe Center is also pursuing a rigorous environmental performance improvement process through the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
Energy Efficiency
The Volpe Center has received previous recognitions for its energy conservation efforts. Earlier in the year, NSTAR sponsored an energy audit to identify additional opportunities for savings. The audit team determined that the Volpe Center's performance in regard to energy consumption is better than that of 75 percent of contemporary buildings. The Center is adopting a number of recommendations from the audit report, including the "delamping" of selected hallways, upgrading of fluorescent lights, installation of energyconserving devices on vending machines, and the addition of more occupancy sensors.
The IT and Facilities divisions have partnered to begin studying the ramifications of a data center consolidation. This effort will reduce electricity consumption and associated cooling costs. The Center has also issued directives and guidance to remove inefficient appliances from individual offices and common areas.
Recycling
In the last year, the Volpe Center's recycling rate has increased from about 2 percent to approximately 42 percent. This represents a significant increase in the tonnage of paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum that is recycled. Through recycling informational campaigns, installation of recycling receptacles in hallways, conference rooms, common areas, and a campus-wide clean-up event in May 2008, the Volpe Center "Green Team" fostered a culture of recycling and reuse. Participation was very high and the event was a success. There was also a competition with multiple award categories to incentivize recycling. Many items were donated to local nonprofit charities.
In recent months, the Center has started a program to compost yard waste and recycle "hard-to-recycle" items, such as recordable media and computer peripherals. The Volpe Center is also conducting a comprehensive waste audit to identify additional waste-reduction opportunities and provide tailored training to facilities staff and contractors. Prior to spring 2007, recycling was limited to printer paper and computers; it has since been expanded to include all types of paper, cardboard, and metal/glass/hard plastic.
Comprehensive Greening Plan
In February 2008, the Volpe Center registered for certification in USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for excellence in operations and maintenance. LEED certification requirements help the Volpe Center to meet and exceed Federal facility requirements stipulated in Executive Order (EO) 13148, Environmental Management Systems, and EO 13423, Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management. LEED requirements include attaining an ENERGY STAR building/campus rating of 65, reducing potable water consumption by 20 percent, and recycling at least 50 percent of consumable materials. Before the Center can apply for certification, it must revise a number of operating guidelines to incorporate "green" best practices for energy efficiency, water conservation, transportation, landscaping, indoor air quality, cleaning, waste management, lighting, ventilation, access to daylight, and environmentally beneficial procurement. Full implementation is expected between the fall of 2010 and the summer of 2011, well ahead of the 2015 deadline mandated by the Executive Order.
Support to Transportation Vision for 2030 and Strategic Planning
In Fiscal Year 2008, the Volpe Center was called upon to rapidly draft two high-profile strategic documents, Transportation Vision for 2030, signed by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of RITA, and RITA's first-ever Strategic Plan, approved by the Office of the Secretary. Transportation Vision for 2030 was designed to guide the Department's research, technology and investment decisions in order to improve safety and system performance and find 21st-century solutions to the challenges facing the Nation's intermodal transportation system. The vision document details current challenges in passenger and freight transportation, such as record-level gridlock at our Nation's airports and seaports and on our highways. It points out flaws in the current system of transportation financing and the need to improve the use of technology. The document then outlines the Department's "pathway" to addressing these challenges, such as safety-oriented technology programs, congestion-reducing technologies and pricing models, increased energy efficiency and alternative fuels, and public-private partnerships. The Volpe Center also led efforts to quickly develop RITA's first actionable strategic plan. The document lays out a vision and strategy for the agency for 2008-2012.