1. Purpose. 

· 5· DEPARTMENT OF THE 

OFFICE OF SURFACE MINING 

RECLAMATION AND ENFORCEMENT 

: l!F -1 ;;3 ;;;;;:--i 

1993 

The purpose of this Directive is to provide policy and 

procedural guidance for all Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 

and Enforcement (OSM) activities concerned with the expenditure 

of fUnds for Information Resources Management (IRM), This 

includes both hardware and software. To accomplish this 

objective, the IRM Review Council will ensure that: 

a. Approved proposals are consistent with the Bureau's 

5-Year OSM Information Resources Management Strategic Plan. 

b. Approved proposals are carried out in the context of 

the Department's Life Cycle Management (LCM) guidance. 

c. Approved proposals for IRM reflect quality and costbenefit to the agency. 

d. Approved proposals fer IRM are reflected in bureauwide program priorities, policies and resource allocations. 

e. Approved proposals fully meet guidelines imposed by 

external agencies, e.g., Congress, Office of Management and Budget, General Services Administration, etc. 

f. Approved proposals fully fit in with core software, 

and OSM's standard hardware configuration, unless the 

request is to pilot non-standard hardware or non-core 

software. 

2. Summary 

IRM represents a significant expenditure within OSM. It is an 

expenditure over which the agency needs to exercise vigorous 

management control. In addition, Departmental guidelines.require that each Bureau have in place a mechanism of overseeing IRM 

expenditures to ensure that such resources are used in the most 

effective manner possible. As a result of the need to control these 

expenditures and maintain compliance with Departmental guidelines, the IRM Review Council is established. 
3. Definitions 

a. 

to 

' 

- A five member council established 

direction for OSM's IRM 

b. Core Software - Microcomputer software that will be 

considered the standard software to be used in the 

following application categories: word processing; travel 

management; spreadsheets; database management; telecommunications and local area networks. core 

designation includes both the name and version {release) of 

the software. Different software versions (releases) of 

the same name will not be designated as core software. 

o. 

not 

of core software, 

- Any microcomputer software that i~ 

of OSM core software. (For list 

reference INF-11) 

d. Microcqmputers - Any IBM-PC compatible computer 

running on DOS, Apple, Unix or OS/2 operating system. 

e, Peripheral - All ADP hardware except the monitor, 

Central Processing Unit and Keyboard when purchased as a 

unit. 

4. Policy/Procedures 

a. Responsibilities. 

Assistant Directors are responsible for providing 

proposals to the IRM Review Council for their respective 

directorates. Assistant Directors are further responsible 

for ensuring that the proposals are accurate, in the 

correct format and contain all of the information requested 

in this Directive. 

Field Office Directors are responsible for providing 

proposals to the Assistant Director, Field Operations. The 

Assistant Director, Field Operations is responsible for 

ensuring that the proposals are accurate, in the correct 

format, contain all information requested in this Directive 

and for providing proposals to the IRM Review council. 

b. Polic;y 

- The 

operations and Technical 

Director, Administration; 

and Accounting; Assistant 

Systems Management; and 

IRM Review Council is a five 

of the Deputy Director, 

the Assistant 

Director, Finance 

Information 

Director, Field 
' 

Operations. The Deputy Director will serve as 

Chairperson and the Assistant Director, Information 

Systems Management will serve as the E~ecutive 

Secretary. At various points in time, other persons 

may be invited to attend meetings as experts to 

clarify technical issues, dependent upon the matter 

under consideration by the council. 

Council will meet on an ad hoc basis. 

>:~:~;,~~=~Secretary is responsible for ensuring that ~ are scheduled and that Council members 

receive appropriate dOCumentation before the meeting. 

The purpose of the meetings will be to consider all 

requests received, assess their relative merits, 

ensure that the requests are consistent with the 5-

Year IRM Strategic Plan, and produce a prioritized 

list for the Director's consideration, 

c. Procedures 

Proposals may be submitted to the Council at any time. 

However, there are three especially critical times for 

making submissions, They are: (1) during formulation 

of out-year budgets, (2) prior to formulation of 

operating allocations and (3) prior to the mid-year 

budget review. Conceptually, this should work as 

follows: 

(1) In the spring of each year when the out-year budget submission is being formulated, Assistant 

Directors should identify anticipated IRM 

expenditures for inclusion in the budget 

submission. These will be reviewed by-the Council and, if recommended to the Director and 

he concurs, included in the submission to the 

Department. 

(2) In the summer of each year when the 

operating allocations are being made for the 

fiscal year beginning October 1, each Assistant 

Director should identify anticipated IRM 

expenditures in their submission to the Budget Office. In addition, a separate memorandum 

should be forwarded to the IRM Review Council 

delineating in summary form what was included in 

the budget submission of their respective 

offices. All submissions should provide sufficient information to allow the Council to 

understand it, be able to discern the relative 

cost/benefits, and determine its relationship to 

other IRM initiatives, if applicable. The 
4 

Council will review all the requests, prioritize them, meet with the Director and recommend which 

ones should be funcled first. This "master list" 

will be retained by the Executive Secretary of 

the council and will be updated as necessary 

throughout the year. As additional money becomes 

available, projects will be funded in accordance 

with the priority assigned by the Director. 

(3) In late winter in anticipation of the midyear budget review, any new requests for IRM (not 

identified previously in the operating 

allocation) or any requests to "rechannel" 

approved but uncommitted ADP expenditures, should 

be identified and forwarded to the Council. 

These new requests will be reviewed and factored 

into the "master list" as described above. 

After approval by the Director and consulation and 

review by the Budget Officer all proposals exceeding 

the thresholds outlined below will be documented to 

the council as outlined in this Directive. At any 

time, Assistant Directors may make submissions to the 

Council to cover unforeseen circumstances. In all 

appropriate cases, Assistant Directors will ensure 

that their requests are consistent with the OSM 

Information Resource Management Strategic Plan and 

have been subjected to the Department's systems 

development life cycle methodology, as appropriate. 

Thresholds. Once an IRM request has been approved by 

the council and has met the other criteria specified 

above, the Assistant Director needs no further 

approval to spend the allocated funds pursuant to the 

approval granted by the Council and consistent with 

the appropriate IRM policies, and procurement rules 

and regulations. (NOTE~ These thresholds and 

procedures are being established to afford individual 

managers maximum flexibility within the constraints of 

Departmental guidelines. The Council is delegating to 

each office authority to act within these guidelines 

without further Council approval. (This is a system of trust and it should be noted that violations could 

result in an individual office losing its IRM 

procurement authority.) Specific thresholds are as 

follows: 

will exceed 

approval of 
' 

For replacement of individual microcomputers due 

to obsolescence (i.e., no longer supports the 

required function) or breakdown, Council approval 

is not required. Any such replacements will be 

at the current bureau standard. 

Format. For all projects recommended by the Council 

and approved by the Director, a detailed request 

should be prepared in the form of a memorandum 

addressed to the Chairperson, IRM Review Council, and 

should contain as a minimum the following information, 

as appropriate. 

Explain what has given rise to 

request. 

(2) Goal/Purpose/Obiectjve. Explain exactly 

what you are trying to accomplish with this 

particular request. 

(3) Assumptions. Explain any assumptions 

pertaining to the request. 

(4) Request, EXplain the specific request you 

are making. 

(5) Cost/Benefit, Explain in summary terms the 

projected cost/benefits of the proposal. 

(6) Suggested source of funding, Explain what 

tradeoffs, if any, are available to fund the 

pr_oject. 

(7) Relationships, 

this request to any 

Explain the relationship 

related IRM initiatives, 

of 

(S) General plan, Outline your overall plan for 

accomplishing the proposal. 

(9) Approval line, Designate an approval line 

for the Chairperson to sign. 
• 

6 

After action by the Council, the request will be 

returned with a cover memorandum outlining any terms 

or conditions pertaining to the request. In addition, 

copies will be provided to each member of the Council 

and to the Budget Office. 

5, Reporting Requirements. 

As spelled out in this directive. 

6. Effect on Other pocuments. 

None 

7. References. 

Information Resource Management Policy and Procedures 

Manual, INF-11, March 1992 

OSM Information Resource Management Strategic Plan, July 1992 

nor Departmental Manual, Application Systems Life Cycle 

Management (376 OM 10), August 1985 

a. Effective pate. 

Upon issuance 

9. Contact. 

Assistant Director, Information Systems Management 

1951 Constitution Avenue, N. w., Room 142 SIB 

Washington, D. c. 20240 

{202) 208-291.6 

l.O. Kevwords. 

None 

l.l.. APPendices. 

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