Bob Kuckuck, currently LLNL deputy director for Operations, went to work in the UC Office of the President in 1992 to establish the Laboratory Administration Office and initiate the performance-based management process. We adapted these proven tools to our lab environments. Our goal was to bring administrative and operations management up to the levels of excellence seen in our science. Livermore's procurement system and Los Alamos' property system were cited by Van Ness as examples of dramatic improvements since the implementation of performance-based management. Los Alamos was similarly able to improve in many areas.
Items go into the suspense account when there is an error.
These errors must be resolved, causing delays in reports and diminishing the accuracy of the reports. Livermore has been able to reinvest institutional indirect resources, that is those that previously went to administrative and operations, into scientific programs and maintenance of the infrastructure needed for those programs to succeed, Van Ness said. Performance-based management has also allowed the three labs to reduce the number of environmental findings and violations. We need to continue to build on our success of the last six years. In the coming year we will continue to emphasize environmental, safety and health issues and place even greater emphasis on safeguards and security, and project management.