ACE Team Activities

• Expand ECES to allow to use as a cost management tool and to develop links with financial management and budgeting systems.
• Promote ECES to become an American Society for Testing and Material standard
• Annual update of the ECES to include Long-Term Stewardship and Waste Management activities, new technologies, and other modifications.
• Complete the development and initiate the use of historical cost data compilation and analysis system known as Environmental Cost Analysis System.
• Update "CostRisk" software to analyze contingency, based on risk, for environmental management projects and to provide training.
• Continue to train project/program managers in cost estimating and other cost engineering areas.
• Development of DOE specific area cost factors for environmental work.
• Develop cost estimating models, where the cost estimating software (such as RACER) is lacking in DOE needs along with area cost factors for EM sites.
• Updating of cost estimating software summary sheet which provides information on current cost estimating software and tools that can be used by EM to develop estimates.
• Provide Cost Control tools to the complex. EM Project Managers across the complex need a methodology for establishing what a project should cost, and determining if the contractor's costs stay within reasonable costs.
• Establish the Team as a cooperative resource and communication point to pool resources, assist Field organizations with specific cost engineering tasks, develop cost account/work breakdown structures, and share environmental management actual and estimated costs.
• Develop a web site that consolidates and centrally locates data and information useful for EM cost estimators and project/program managers.
• Provide other cost engineering assistance to and coordination with other International, Federal, DOE, and EM Teams, Offices, and Organizations.

Target activities were determined through a complex-wide survey of project managers and staff. Many of these earlier targets have already been attained. Examples of these successes are:

• Completed review, modification and updating of the Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Work Breakdown Structure (HTRW WBS), now renamed the ECES, to include waste management activities, additional technologies, and life-cycles phases of an environmental projects.
• Completed annual update of the ECES.
• Adoption of ECES and HTRW WBS by DOE sites performing environmental work.
• The development of the Practical Cost Estimating and Validations Lessons Learned Workshop and Workshop manual which are use to train project/program managers in cost estimating and other cost engineering areas. Workshops have been conducted at Oakland, Richland Operations Office, Savannah River Site, Ohio Field Office, and at Headquarters.
• Development five of Decontamination and Decommissioning cost estimating models in Remedial Action Cost Estimating and Requirement (RACER) System.
• Training of RACER cost estimating tool at several DOE sites (Albuquerque, Idaho, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Oakland, Oak Ridge, Richland, Savannah River Site, and Headquarters).
• Purchase of Crystal Ball for Field Offices needing the software to calculate risks and contingencies.
• Coordinated the development of models and modifications to RACER Software with other Federal Agencies
• Assisted with development of EM Project Management Guide, specifically, issues regarding contingency and programmatic risk
• Assisted with drafting the DOE Order 413.3, drafted by OECM.
• Compilation of available cost estimating software or tools that may be used by EM in developing estimates.
• Development of general environmental cost factors for environmental work versus commercial construction.
• Assisted with identifying issues and making recommendations for innovative technology costing and collection of the cost data.