ML20045E047
| ML20045E047 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/18/1993 |
| From: | Selin I, The Chairman NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | Rebecca Stone NATIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW TASK FORCE |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9307010030 | |
| Download: ML20045E047 (19) | |
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UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION o
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WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555
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June 18, 1993 CHAtRMAN Mr. Robert Stone, Project Director National Performance Review l
l 750 17th Street, NW, Suite 200 l
Washington, D.C.
20006
Dear Mr. Stone:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is pleased to participate in the Clinton Admin':stration's initiative to bring about greater efficiency and lower cost to government. As iequested in Vice President Gore's letter i
of May 5,1993, I have design * -d Mr. James L. Blaha, Assistant for Operations, Office of the Executive Director for Operations,.as the Comnission's National Performance Review Liaison. Mr. Blaha can be reathed by telephone at (301) 504-1703.
Mr. Blaha and other NRC staff members have already met with representatives of the National Performance Review Task Force. Our i
reinvention team consists of senior managers in each major office who have met to discuss and identify initiatives which support the NPR theme. describes ten initiatives that NRC is undertaking or has under consideration to achieve greater efficiency and to reduce cost.s.
Three of these areas will be designated as' laboratories for reinventing government.
In Enclosure 2, we have suggested two ideas with potential government-wide application for the Task Force's consideration.
The Commission appreciates the opportunity to join Vice President Gore and cther Federal agencies in the National Performance Review Task Force.
Sincerely, Ivan Selin
Enclosures:
1.
Initiatives Internal'to NRC 2.
Government-wide Initiatives 3307010030 930618 iN COMMS NRCC
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uM'RESPONDENCE PDR
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U.S.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION INITIATIVES CONSIDERED INTERNAL TO NRC 1.
Streamlining NRC Regulations 2.
Inspection Program Assessment 3.
Recentralization of the Operator Licensing Function 4.
Conduct an Independent Audit of NRC's Medical Use Program 5.
Conduct Business Process Reengineering of Materials l
Licensing and Inspection Process Reinventing the Procurement System 6.
Initiate Fast Payment of Commercial Invoices 7.
8.
Improving NRC Commercial Acquisition Process Through the Use of Business Process Reengineering Alternative Approach to Small FIP Resource Acquisition 9.
10.
Consolidation of Regions IV and V Consideration is being given to establishing "Reinvention Laboratory" for these.
ENCLOSURE 1
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY' COMMISSION t
Issue
Title:
, Streamlining NRC Regulations
Background
1 The NRC is looki.ng at ways to reduce the regulatory burden on: licensees' while maintaining adequate public. health and safety.
The' NRC believes.
that by streamlining its regulations, improved safety and lower. costs can i
i be achieved. The following are areas being reviewed:
1.
High Cost / Low Safety Significant Licensing Issues NRC prioritizes its reviews of proposed license changes based on
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their safety significance.
Consequently, proposed changes with low safety significance-may not receive timely review'even though the cost to utilities may be high, NRC is considering options to expedite review of these proposed changes so that unnecessary costs-do not adversely affect other safety programs. The primary benefit:-
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will be that licensees will be able to make cost-effecti.ve changes to their operations more rapidly with an expected net' increase in safety.~
2.
Credit for Licens'ee Self Assessment A pilot program is underway to allow good performing licensees-to perform self-as assments in lieu of-some NRC inspections. The' degree-of NRC overview effort'and' independent inspectionLeffort will be a.
function of NRC's perception of the licensee's past performance and the quality of the licensee 'self-assessment, The.NRC' inspection-resources to overview a licensee self-assessment would be- -
approximately 25% of the effort for a normal NRC. area of; emphasis-inspection, based upon a reduction of both the team inspection size' and duration of the normal NRC inspection. This.will resultiin a significant reduction of licensee resources to support the NRC-inspection, and allow licensees to redirect such resources-to.
potential safety issues.
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Review Operating Nuclear Power Plant Regulations andlRegulatoryf Processes' to Eliminate Unnecessary Barriers to the Implementation of.-.
Cost-Effective Practices by Utilities The task is to identify those regulations and practice's where changes would provide more flexibility for utilities:to reduce costs in plant operation while maintaining a comparable level of ' safety.'= Potential savings -in the annual operating cost for~ a nuclear power plant are estimated to be 1% to 3%. The savings will' be seen by the public through the rate-setting process-in each-state.
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Elimination of Regulatory Requirements that are Marginal to the Safe Operation of Licensed Nuclear Power Plants, Fuel Cycle and Medical Facilities The NRC has adopted as a fundamental premise the principle that all regulatory burdens must be justified and the regulatory process must be efficient.
The initiative to review burdensome regulations involves seeking public comment on regulatory requirements that provide marginal safety benefit yet impose a significant cost or regulatory burden.
Decreasing the prescriptiveness of regulations will allow licensees to determine how to meet performance requirements which will stimulate self-initiative and result in a positive impact on safety.
Industry estimates are that modifications to requirements in an area such as quality assurance could save at least $1 billion a year.
5.
Revision of the Guidelines for Preparing Regulatory Analyses NRC conducts regulatory analyses to ensure that the NRC's decisions which impose burdens on licensees are based on adequate cost / benefit-information.
The ultimate objective of this regulatory process is to ensure that all regulatory burdens are needed, justified, and minimgF" to achieve the regulatory objectives.
The revision to the guidelines will address consideration of the NRC safety goal, improved quantification of benefits, and interest / discount rates.
6.
Review Options for Changes in the Regulation of Medical Radiation Protection There has been a dramatic growth in medical uses of radioactive materials and radiation in recent years. NRC regulates byproduct radioactive materials by authority of the Atomic Energy Act.
States regulate other radioactive materir's not covered in the Atomic Energy Act.
Recent events have raised questions of whether Federal and State regulation provides an adequate margin of protection of public health and the safety of those who may.be put at risk by radiation treatment. However, the NRC's jurisdiction covers only approximately 25 percent of the radiation therapy treatments performed nationally.
The remainder, which involve identical radiation from different types of sources, are covered under a range of state regulatory programs.
Therefore, the NRC is conducting a review of options for improvements in the regulatory control of medical uses of nuclear materials, including shifts in jurisdictional boundaries. On August 6 of this year NRC will provide Congress with an interim report on the issues involved in assessing whether to maintain the current regulatory regime for medical uses of radioactive materials or to make legislative or regulatory changes.
7.
Technical Specifications Improvement Program (TSIP)
The nuclear industry and the NRC studied the question of whether improvements were needed to the existing nuclear power plant
3 Technical Specifications contained in operating. licenses.
Two studies concluded that many-improvements were needed.in the scope and-content of technical specifications.
The development of improved Standard Technical Specifications (STS) was undertaken to' enhance-safety by making the technical specifications clearer,f easier to use, and more-focused on safety.
Four Nuclear Steam Supply : System (NSSS).
vendor owners groups completed improved:STS. A licensee that' converts to the improved STS will reduce its reporting and. record' keeping burden because many reporting requirements of the current technical specifications are.not required in.the-improved STS.
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U.S.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Inspection Program Assessment The NRC has initiated efforts to improve independent assessment of the inspection program to provide insights regarding program effectiveness, implementation, and consistency.
Inspection program objectives have been reviewed and quantitative and qualitative measures have been identified which will be applied in evaluating whether the inspection program is achieving its objectives.
The revised assessment process will provide improved insights regarding program performance through a more structured look at inspection program findings and data.
The impact of this effort is that inspection resources will be focused toward areas of higher safety benefit.
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4 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Recentralization of the Operator Licensing Function.
Currently, the Regional Administrator for each of the five regions' is responsible for administering the operator licensing program.
In response to claims that the regionalization of the operator licensing function has resulted in inconsistency in the development and administration. of operator licensing examinations, the NRC is commencing a study to identify the sources of such inconsistencies even though previous studies have suggested that ' regional differences are not a major problem.
Specifically, the study will assess the size and scope of the problems as they affect examination consistency, quality and efficiency, as well as whether the problems are the result of decentralization. The study will also address the pros and cons of recentralization, r
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Conduct an Independent Audit of NRC's Medical Use Program i
Due to the serious therapy misadministration incident in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and other recent events and circumstances, the Commission has directed an internal review of the existing medical use regulatory program. The review will focus on whether the existing programs, including oversight of the Agreement State Program, are being effectively implemented.
Implementation of the study's recommendations will likely result in better service to the public, fewer misadministrations, and decreased risk of fatalities, and more informed patients and public when misadministrations do occur.
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Conduct Business Process Re-engineering of Materials Licensing and Inspection Process The NRC staff completes approximately 2,500 inspections of materials facilities and approximately 4,500 licensing actions each year.
Currently, documentation and management of materials license review, issuance, amendment, renewal, inspection scheduling, inspection reports, follow up, termination fee payment, enforcement actions, and storage and maintenance of dockets consists primarily of a manual process.
Several agency ADP systems contain some information related to materials licensees; however, the information in these systems is not fully integrated ^r sufficiently comprehensive to optimize license reviews and inspections.
The goal is to eliminate as much of the administrative burden as y;ssible and streamline the licensing and inspection process utilizing ADF wherever possible.
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Reinventing the Procurement System The Federal procurement system is governed by a wide range of statutes and regulations that often deter individual agencies. The process takes considerable time and is not cost effective in many instances. The NRC-plans to establish a "reinvention laboratory" directed toward improving the procurement system at this agency.
The NRC will be seeking OMB approval to independently manage its total procurement function in accordance with the dictates and objectives of current laws without oversight of agencies such as GSA. With this authority, the agency will be able to make. independent business judgments consistent with the goals and objectives of the agency.
This will _ allow for more efficiency by tailoring procurement strategies, time frames, and source selections to mission needs and circumstances.
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Initiate Fast Payment of Commercial Invoices A significant cause of delays in paying commercial vendors is the requirement that payment offices obtain documentation from the requesting office that goods and/or services have been received before making payment.
The delay in obtaining this documentation may result in the requirement to pay an interest penalty in accordance with the Prompt Payment Act.
Establishment of a fast pay policy to allow payment of commercial invoices of $2,500 or less prior to obtaining documentation receipt of goods and/or services would speed up the payment of commerctii vendors, improve relations with vendors and reduce the interest pe.,titaer, paid by the NRC.
The NRC plans to request approval.from OMB to initiate a fast pai ci rui program in FY 1994.
The NRC will establish a "reinvention labo stor y' directed to improvements in payments.
Estimated savings could :mge f rcn
$1,500 to $2,500 annually.
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I U.S. NUCLEAR PEGULATORY COMMISSION i
Issue
Title:
Improving the NRC Commercial Acquisition Process through j
the Use of Business Process Reengineering Like many other government agencies, NRC is dependent upon contracts to obtain goods and services to perform basic functions.
Effectiveness and timeliness in acquiring these goods and services and in managing the 1
contracts affects the ability of the agency to successfully execute its mission and programs.
The NRC has initiated an assessment of its procedures and automated systems that support the contracting process.
The agency plans to use a " business process reengineeering" (BPR) approach to analyze internal acquisition procedures, constraints of Federal laws and regulations, processing practices, and supporting automation to determine if there are efficiencies we can adapt to improve the current commercial acquisition process.
The NRC proposes to share the results of this internal effort with other government agencies through the Small Agency Council.
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Alternative Approach to Small Federal Information Processing Resource Acquisitions The acquisition of Federal Information Processing (FIP) resources is a conolicated,. burdensome, and slow process. This is due to the many regulations which require extensive documentation, reviews, and oversight for even tb] smallest purchases of FIP resources.
It is not unusual for the cost to acquire an item to exceed the cost of the item itself.
The time required to acquire an item may take so long that the original requireme.,.ay :ome and go before the item is obtained, or when acquired the product may already be outdated.
The NRC plans to use this initiative to establish a "reinvention laboratory" and request waivers from regulations or changes to statutes to simplify procedures for FIP resource acquisitions.
Results will be documented 'or consideration for government-wide implementation.
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4 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Consolidation of Regions IV and V The NRC currently has five regional offices. The two smallest regions (IV and V) are approximately half the size of the three large. regions resulting in inefficiencies from fixed overhead and lack of economies of scale.
Studies have shown that larger regions are more resource efficient.
Based on the need for efficiency and based on reviews indicating that small regions require more fixed cost and overhead, the NRC is looking at the option of combining Regions IV and V.
The potential savings could range from 35 to 40 FTE.
A study team will issue a report and recommendations later this summer.
U.S.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION INITIATIVES WITH GOVERNMENT-WIDE APPLICATION 1.
Elimination of Agency Regulation and Directives for Government-Wide Activities by Issuance of Single Regulation or Directive for all Agencies 2.
Simplify Travel Per Diem Rates and Establish a Flat Rate for Reimbursement of other Types of Travel Expenses; Simplify the Travel Vouchering Process P
ENCLOSURE 2
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I U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Elimination of Agency Regulations and Directives for Government-wide Activities by Issuance of a Single Regulation or Directive for all Agencies Throughout Federal agencies, significant staff effort is devoted to preparation of regulations that implement regulations and statutes, and in larger agencies component directives or guidance _ that implement agency-wide directives.
This effort, especially in administrative areas such as personnel, contracting, security, information management, facilities, etc., involves re-stating substantial information from the higher level statute. A major effort should be made to issue regulations that apply government-wide in sufficient detail that they will suffice for all agencies, thereby eliminating the neea for implementing directives or guidance in an agency except where it is necessary to identify the agency officials, addresses, etc. referenced in the regulations.
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Issue
Title:
Simplify Travel Per Diem Rates and Establish a Flat Rate i
l for Reimbursement of other Types of Travel Expenses.
Simplify the Travel Vouchering Process.
The Federal Travel Regulations prescribe the regulations necessary to administer the laws governing travel and relocation allowances for Federal employees as promulgated by the General Services Administration.
This results in enormous detailed accounting which is administratively costly for Federal agencies.
Some suggested changes that could be made by the General Services Administration to improve this process include the following:
Implement a flat per diem rate on a quarter day basis with an o
annual adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index.
o Establish a flat allowance for items such as rental cars, local transportation, and telephone calls.
Simplify the travel vouchering process by permitting agencies o
to pay travel expenses based on the traveler's itinerary and authorized travel items (such as rental cars).
Upon return, the traveller would only need to certify that the travel was performed as authorized unless there was a deviation from the authorized plan.
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, ink.y T H E VICE PRESIDENT WASH f NGTON May 5.1993 Mr. Ivan Selin Chairman U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555
Dear:
Mr. Selin As you know, the President has asked me to lead an initiative to bring about greater efliciency and lower cost of government. The resulting National Performance Review Task Force will not be easy, but we are seeking fundamentally to change the way our government works -- for the people it serves and the people it employs.
Now I am pleased to give your agency an official invitation to collaborate with the National Perfonnance Review (NPR). Allow me to thank you in advance for your cooperation. My goal is to stand with your agency on September 7, when we report to the President, and show the American people a concrete, credible plan to streamline and revitalize the federal government. To get from here to there I would like for you to do the following in cooperation with the White House Liaison assigned to your agency:
- 1. Designate a National Performance Review Liaison by Friday, May 14 and inform Mr. Bob Stone, the NPR Director, concerning who your liaison is and where to find her/him. This liaison should be a person well experienced in your agency and able to represent your agency during the course of this review. A senior career executive would be an appropriate choice.
- 2. Create a reinvention team in your agency. This team can be any size you wish and-should have as its irnmediate mission the task ofidentifying themes, issues, and possible legislation for the National Performance Review. Your team (or teams) should be prepared to continue working as change agents in the bureaucracy past the September 7 deadline.
- 3. I would like you to designate two or three programs or units to be " laboratories" for reinventing government. Ideally, these would be places where the federal government directly serves the public, in a highly visible way. The point is to pick a few places where
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we can immediately unshackle our workers so they can re-engineer their work processes to fully accomplish their missions -- places where we can fully delegate authority and responsibility, replace regulations with incentives, and measure our success by customer satisfaction. Please pick your reinvention labs, empower them, and let us know what -
they are by Friday, May 14.
- 4. See if you can come up with a few crazy rules you have inherited -- which should be the easiest thing I have asked you to do -- and also a hero or two and send them to me.
We will use these to illustrate the bureaucratic problems we have to fix, as well as, examples of federal workers who have risen above the bureaucracy to do excellent work.
I think stories of this kind will be a powerful way to get our point across, and I would like your help in finding them. Eventually, we will want to set up weekly ceremonies in which one of you introduces a hero to the President and me.
- 5. We have scheduled a meeting of the agency liaisons for the National Performance Review for Monday, May 10,1993: from 9:00 - 11:00 in the Vice President's ceremonial office in the Old Executive Office Building.
-- We will discuss reinvention laboratories. Members of the National Performance Review will be available in the days subsequent to our meeting to settle on final selection -
of these laboratories.
-- We also need to discuss your plans and progress to date, as well as other items related to the National Performance Review.
Your staff me feel free to contact, Mr. John 11 ale, who has been named to coordinate National Performance Review Task Force activities involving your agency' at (202-632-0150)
This effort is about more thanjust making marginal improvements in efficiency. -- it is about fundamental cultural change in the federal government.
Once again, thank you for your help and I look forward to working with you.
Sincerely, A
Al Gore