Employee Recognition Awards program redesigned

In FY16 the Employee Recognition Awards (ERA) program was redesigned with three key principles in mind:

• To brand the ERA program with the focus on Sandia’s culture of national security and mission success.
• To ensure all who have made outstanding contributions to Sandia’s success are celebrated.
• To create an enjoyable and special celebration where award recipients feel engaged and honored.

As a result, for the first time ever, all winning individuals and team members were honored and celebrated in events held in Albuquerque and Livermore.  A team with members from Executive Protocol,  Creative Services, and HR/Total Rewards executed the events. (100, 3600, 3500)

Sandia’s Health Services Center obtained certification by NCQA (National Certification of Quality Assurance) as a Patient-Centered Connected Care facility. The program recognizes ambulatory care providers who communicate and connect with primary care providers as they deliver care to shared patients. To be recognized, Health Services demonstrated use of evidence-based guidelines for treating patients, coordination of care with primary care providers, improved outcomes and patient experiences through care coordination, improved trust among providers, and an impact on reducing healthcare waste. (3300)

 The Project Lead Training pilot provided strong benefits such as knowledge sharing, reducing the number of overcommitted and over-costed projects, and developing integrated approaches for customer commitments. The pilot, implemented in February 2016, received such remarkable feedback that the training will officially roll out in FY17 rather than going through a second pilot. Centers will partner with DS&A Mission Assurance throughout course implementation. (5000, 10600, 10000)

Virtual tour of Sandia

To motivate current talent development, attract intellectually curious recruits, and accelerate new employee orientation and engagement, Div. 3000 designed and developed Virtual Tours of Sandia’s high-impact facilities (e.g., MESA, Z machine, CINT, and Sandia/California). These tours offer clear depictions in a visually stunning manner of the rich opportunities at Sandia and unique one-of-a-kind technical capabilities Sandia offers the nation. Those tours, the result of a partnership between Centers 3600 and 3500 with mission technology input, are accessible on Sandia’s external website and recruiting pages as well as internal webpages. (3500)

The NW Workforce Planning Team was instrumental in the development and use of a new tool/capability (TLE Tool) that is informing Sandia decision makers regarding future staffing gaps (surpluses or shortages) by year, center, and program as the NW modernization programs fluctuate. Through multiple interactive web-based scenarios, decision makers and planners can anticipate the expected and extreme possibilities that may occur over the next five to seven years. (100, 200, 8100, 9500)

To proactively facilitate and execute Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) in support of Sandia’s technology transfer mission, a CRADA strategy was developed. Two new teams focused on economies of scale and provided the dynamics necessary to meet customer expectations. Efforts resulted in creating internal/external brochures and sample Statement of Work templates, significantly decreasing the amount of iteration on drafts. A Lean Six Sigma event reduced processing time by nearly 10 calendar days. All efforts were shared complex-wide and are collectively considered a best practice. (10500, 10000)

National Labs Career Day

National Labs Career Day was held Oct. 20 at the Atlanta University Consortium Center. Participating Historically Black Colleges and Universities included Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University. All 17 national laboratories attended, along with representatives from DOE, including the Honorable LaDoris “Dot” Harris, director of the Office of Economic Impact & Diversity, Dameone Ferguson from DOE’s Diversity and Inclusion Program, and Annie Whatley, the DOE deputy director of Minority Education and Community Development. More than 60 STEM students attended panel discussions and a career fair. (3500)

Sandia’s due diligence around Environmental Liabilities has been noted as a NW complex best practice. By teaming closely with technical Environmental Liabilities subject matter experts (SMEs) and technical/financial DOE/NNSA points of contact, Sandia accurately estimates and completely records all Environmental Liabilities while continuing to look for ways to improve the process. This best practice has been recognized for several years, and as a result, Sandia had input into the new complex-wide Active Facilities Data Collection System cost model. In FY 2016, Shelby Hansen, a Sandia SME, presented on the topic to the Contractor Financial Management Association conference in Washington, D.C. (10500)

 Staff supporting the B61-12 LEP planned, created, conducted, and archived for future use NW complex-wide project controller training throughout FY16 and FY17. Attending project controllers, project managers, financial staff, and Product Realization Team leads were trained on the project management principles and skills required to implement sound Earned Value and project management principles. This gained expertise will benefit all current and future NW-related programs and projects. (10600)

In conjunction with material owners, the Corporate Storage Legacy Project has physically inspected and assessed more than 90 percent of the material in corporate storage. This collaboration produced some exciting results:

• The corporate storage footprint was reduced by 12,479 cubic feet;
• More than 250 items were sent to the Nuclear Weapons Knowledge Preservation Program; and
• CRAY 1 and CRAY 2 supercomputers were located and saved. (10200, 10000)

Procurement and Facilities recently completed a strategic sourcing plan ensuring that Sandia construction projects are procured and executed as quickly and safely as possible. Through the recompetition, the Construction Partnership program team selected 17 construction partners, up from 10, to facilitate price competition to reduce customer costs and add more capacity to accommodate variable fiscal requirements. All partners are prequalified for safety, quality, and capability, and 15 partners are small businesses. (10200, 10000, 4000)

C. Everett Koop National Health Awards

Sandia received an honorable mention in the C. Everett Koop National Health Awards from the HERO foundation in recognition of outstanding worksite health promotion and improvement programs, including Sandia’s onsite health clinics, the Health Action Plan program, the Virgin Pulse program, Energy Hubs, and more. The Koop Awards are the most prestigious awards for health improvement programs, requiring strong documentation of both health improvement and cost savings. Sandia was one of only two awardees for 2016. (3300)