Background

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is responsible for promoting efficiency and effectiveness through the elimination of waste, abuse, and fraud by conducting audits, investigations, and evaluations of HHS programs. Within OIG, the Office of Management and Policy (OMP) is responsible for providing facilities management services to the other OIG components, including identifying space projects, coordinating projects within OIG and with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), developing space requirements, providing funding, tracking project status, maintaining space and project data, and other support activities. OMP provides these services for OIG’s national inventory of space, which includes its headquarters in Washington, D.C., eight regional offices, and 78 field offices throughout the country. In 2007, Fentress began working with HHS-OIG to assess its facilities management program, including the areas of organizational structure, staffing, project delivery, budgeting, space standards, and information technology. In particular, HHS-OIG required a comprehensive facilities management plan that would fill the existing operation gap and and improve facility related services.

Project Summary

In conducting the assessment of HHS-OIG’s facilities management program, Fentress facilitated interview sessions with key personnel within the organization to document current practices. Using our knowledge of real property programs and input from the study interviews, Fentress performed a gap analysis and developed a comprehensive recommendations to improve facilities management practices, which were published in a two-volume report. The report included a description of current operations, 38 recommendations for program improvement, and an implementation plan. Following the completion of the report, Fentress assisted HHS-OIG in implementing the recommendations, including:

• Designing a brochure to assist with communicating both the HHS-OIG’s facilities management services and the milestones within the project delivery process
• Developing a web-based facility inventory and project tracking database
• Developing space performance measures and an assessment checklist for OIG facilities
• Conducting space evaluations in all OIG offices and identifying project needs across its national portfolio
• Developing new design standards to lower facility costs
• Programming a space and cost calculation tool to produce draft operational requirements and budget estimates

Results

Fentress Incorporated has served as a prime contractor along with subcontractors in interior design and construction management to support OIG in improving its facilities program. Over the past several years, OIG has been able to properly staff its facilities management team and refine its work processes. OIG now has a fully functional facilities program and is reducing contract support. Fentress is currently focusing on developing a comprehensive space inventory and project tracking system in SharePoint to assist OIG in collaborating on its national inventory of projects.