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Coordination and Oversight Group Charter 

Mission

The mission of the Coordination and Oversight Group (COG) is to support the Bureau of Reclamation’s leadership in implementing the business model for managing engineering and other technical services by assessing the business practices objectives on which the business model is predicated.  Those objectives are:

• Empowerment of the Regions
• Cost-effective services
• Transparency & accountability
• Predictability of workload
• Maintenance of core technical skills
• Strategic determination of outsourcing

Purpose

The purpose of the COG is to assist the Deputy Commissioner, Operations (DCO) in ensuring that Reclamation maintains the technical capability to fulfill all of its responsibilities for delivering water and power, while executing program and project requirements within scope, budget and schedule in a manner that fosters Reclamation-wide collaboration, coordination, and sharing of technical resources.

The COG will support business practices wherein program responsibility is retained by the Regions and program offices.  The COG will monitor technical work-assignment decisions to ensure they contribute to the maintenance of corporate technical capability and foster efficiency, transparency and accountability.  

Background

Reclamation’s decentralized organization delegates the responsibility for operating and maintaining project facilities to the five regions.  The regions have the latitude to decide how to staff for or otherwise obtain engineering and other technical services (e.g., design, construction, environmental compliance, planning, etc.). 

To ensure Reclamation maintains adequate expertise in mission essential engineering and other technical services, this decentralization and delegation of authority must be balanced with appropriate agency-wide workload planning and scheduling; assignment of responsibility for maintaining technical capability; and workflow processes for the efficient utilization and management of a dispersed workforce. 
Reclamation, as a whole, has recognized the need to follow the example of the Technical Service Center (TSC), by documenting business practices and accomplishments. The monitoring of this documentation by the COG and its reporting to the DCO will foster sound decisions for workload distribution and technical capability.  Reclamation’s in-house technical services, coupled with strategic outsourcing where appropriate, will enable the agency to provide cost-effective services to the programs in a sustainable manner.

Roles and Responsibilities

The role of the COG is to monitor Reclamation’s corporate and business processes by gathering data to track workload distribution, technical capability and project accomplishments.  Based on assessments of this tracking, appropriate reports will be prepared and recommendations will be made to the DCO concerning Reclamation’s cost effectiveness and maintenance of its technical capabilities.

The COG may seek assistance, input and support from all resources within Reclamation.  At the request of the DCO, the COG will produce data and documents for use in rating its effectiveness in meeting its roles and responsibilities in an efficient manner.

Structure and Membership 

The COG shall consist of eight members, including a chairman.  The primary characteristics for membership are having a corporate view and the ability to balance the needs of a decentralized organization with the need to sustain a corporate-level technical capability.  The COG membership should represent the diversity of Reclamation interests, roles and responsibilities which may include, but is not limited to, Regional Directors, Area Managers, Program Leads, Project Management Leads, Assistant/Deputy Directors, and leaders in technical fields such as design, construction, environmental compliance, planning, and geology.         

Each of the five regional directors, the Director, Technical Resources, and the DCO shall have one member and one alternate.  Membership shall be selected by the DCO from nominations of three to five candidates by each director in an effort to maximize a diversity of interdisciplinary and professional backgrounds.  The DCO shall select a member and alternate from within the staff of the Commissioner’s Office.  The member appointed by the DCO will serve as a liaison to the DCO.  The DCO will also request that the Deputy Commissioner, Policy, Administration and Budget appoint a member and alternate.  Directors shall make every effort to nominate candidates who possess the primary characteristics.

The commitment for serving as a COG member should be expected to cover two years and as much as three years to allow for continuity and transfer of knowledge. 
COG membership shall be a collateral duty.  The DCO will assign or approve support personnel to the COG as necessary.

A chairman shall be selected by the DCO, with concurrence by the Commissioner, and this chairmanship shall be for one year.     

Decision Making and Documentation

Information, findings or recommendations will be presented to the DCO with or without consensus.  Consensus is desirable, but the COG will realize the value of group dynamics and diverse opinions.  The COG will articulate these differences in majority and minority position papers that will be presented to the DCO.  The Chairman will ensure that COG findings and recommendations provided to the DCO are documented in writing. An annual report, as well as periodic updates, will be made available to Reclamation and its customers.  

Meetings

 It is anticipated that the COG will need to meet quarterly; however, the COG will schedule the frequency of its meetings to allow it to meet its roles and responsibilities.  Each directorate shall be represented by either the member or alternate at every meeting.  The times, dates and location of meetings shall be determined by the chairman, with agreement by a majority of the COG members.  Should any of the primary members be unavailable, his/her alternate shall participate with the full authority of the primary member.

Funding

The COG member expenses shall be funded from their respective directorate organizations in a manner allowing for collective accounting.  The Deputy Commissioner of Operations will provide funding for staffing costs associated with administrative activities for the COG. 

 

 

 

Last updated: 3/20/09