In my view, the issue before you is not better management of projects, it is better management of contractors . People with the requisite experience and skills to satisfy those expectations. Among those expectations must be those relative to protection of the public, workers and the environment. It is this aspect that I wish to stress in my remarks to you today. It is a fact of life today that even the government cannot undertake to build new facilities or undertake major activities involving hazardous materials without commitment to protection of the public, workers and the environment.
Statutory requirements make such attention mandatory.
Further, DOE has been required to commit to bringing existing facilities and activities into compliance with environmental protection laws. Compliance Agreements have been put in place at all major DOE sites. Existing contracts of the principal DOE site contractors have been modified to include provisions of recently enacted acquisition regulations calling for ISM programs. If not, I urge you to do so, for adherence to its tenets and principles will be a central feature for any DOE project involving hazardous materials and activities. Integrated Safety Management let me provide a little description and background.