New travel agency
Sandia successfully changed its designated travel agency, capitalizing on an existing parent-company agreement. The agency was carefully selected and can handle Sandia’s travel volume. The agreement reduces costs and improves user experience by incorporating single sign-on and live chat functions. Adopting the new tool and platform resulted in 95% of travel booked through the tool instead of agents. (10000)
Integrated Assessments Working Group
The Integrated Assessments Working Group was launched to provide a Labswide forum for sharing information and best practices among assessment professionals. The forum will enable assessment groups to focus on the Labs’ highest risk areas, reducing the assessment burden and driving continuous improvement. (10000)
Assurance system improvements
The Labs conducted benchmarking activities with Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories to improve the sharing of lessons learned and metrics for better management of issues and risks. Sandia collected feedback and identified opportunities to simplify and improve assurance-related technology modules and associated business processes. Sandia developed and deployed an effective causal procedure, generated plans for multiple functional areas and updated the technology modules to reflect policy changes. (10000)
DOE recognizes small-business program
The DOE Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization recognized Sandia’s small-business program manager and team. The team leads supplier diversity efforts and ensures that small businesses have equitable opportunities to support the Labs. Sandia exceeded all of its small-business goals, increased nationwide small-business spending and met all requirements of its DOE management and operating contract. Sandia’s small-business program manager was named Facilities Management Contractor Small Business Program Manager of the Year, and Sandia’s Supplier Diversity Mentor-Protégé Program received DOE’s Mentor of the Year award. (10000)
Savings through property management
Property Management and Reapplication and its customers earn or save taxpayers significant costs through reuse, transfer, donation and sales programs. Savings and cost avoidance this year of nearly $17.4 million were due to transfers to and from Sandia and other agencies, $13.6 million; sales and recycling, $566,000; trade-in and exchanges, $586,000; donations and gifts, $338,000; and K-12 school donations, $2.3 million. About 10,400 visitors to Reapplication benefited from these initiatives. (10000)
Interagency agreements process
Sandia completed a multiparty structured improvement activity with NNSA’s Sandia Field Office, Management and Budget organization and Acquisition and Project Management office to define the end-to-end process for interagency agreements funding and lay a foundation for enhanced process performance and improved customer experience. The process resulted in a standardized workflow with a target cycle time of 108 days, compared to the previous cycle time of more than 360 days. NNSA asked the Labs to share the process with other management and operating contractors, and it was implemented across organizations. (10000)
Streamlining shipping
WebShipper 3.0 was released to ensure the shipping process remains efficient and to make it easier to use. The application has a new look and feel with a streamlined approach that speeds up shipper submissions, reviews and approvals. Improvements to the shipping process resulted in faster processing times and more customizable approaches for reviews. Since its release, shipments have increased 16% over the pre-pandemic volume. This year, the team executed a record 12,600 shipments and moved more than 15,000 packages. (10000)
Improving assurance processes
Sandia applied management operating system concepts Labswide to improve assurance processes, making connections between concepts and performance monitoring and improving automation of operational metrics. Sandia created a more streamlined design for its main reporting site, Tier 5, and connected components of the site to capture and track actions and communicate issues to lower tiers. (10000)
Record procurement spending
Sandia spent a record of more than $1.8 billion in procurement. Over the last five years, Sandia increased procurement spending by about $500 million and small-business spending by about $400 million. (10000)