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In 1996, Kaiser-Hill was the Management and Integration (M&I) contractor in charge of
closing the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) for the Department of Energy (DOE).
During the Cold War, RFETS was an integral part of the US nuclear weapons program.
The site was used to process special nuclear materials prior to weapons assembly.
As a result of these materials processing activities, RFETS contained the most radiological
contaminated building in the US, as well as other heavily contaminated processing facilities
and hundreds of contaminated ancillary structures and waste sites. Until this point,
the DOE had never contracted for the complete closure of a major DOE site.
Kaiser-Hill contracted with Project Time & Cost, Inc. (PT&C) to develop a
Lifecycle Baseline estimate and schedule for the closure of RFETS. PT&C was
selected for this first-of-a-kind site closure baseline project due to its vast
cost engineering experience across the DOE complex. PT&C:
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Developed an estimating system capable of capturing all
the scope detail required to close RFETS within a single project estimate file; |
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Electronically linked the estimating system to labor and
equipment pricing databases, scheduling software, human resource software, and a
project controls reporting system used by site managers to track cleanup progress; |
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Developed the Site Closure cost baseline, creating a uniform
Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) which defined closure activities down to a cost
account level which could be tied to individual managerial responsibility; and |
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Customized the lower level WBS numbering system as necessary
to capture all activities required. |
Upon completing the site-wide WBS, PT&C worked with hundreds of cognizant project
managers defining tens of thousands of estimate activities, which in total,
comprised the closure baseline cost estimate. Each major program - Site Infrastructure,
D&D, Special Nuclear Materials, Environmental Restoration, Waste Management -
and supporting detail was included in the baseline estimate. This site closure
baseline estimate represented the first time a DOE site was portrayed as a single closure project.
Perhaps the greatest value added for our client was the creation of a site
closure schedule, which was based on all the activities in the cost baseline.
The schedule was logic driven, with each activity assigned a duration, and tied
to the start or finish of another activity within the schedule baseline.
Once this closure resource-loaded schedule was complete, Kaiser-Hill and the
DOE could develop alternate plans for site closure and move the closure costs along a timeline.
The schedule allowed DOE and Kaiser-Hill to analyze the impacts of various funding profiles
on the total project cost. Eventually, the two parties negotiated a first-of-its-kind site
closure contract with a target cost of $4 billion.
The estimating rigor PT&C demonstrated provided enough confidence in the
closure baseline that, for the first time, the DOE executed a site closure contract.
RFETS closed a year ahead of schedule and under cost. The successful closure of
RFETS is one of the greatest success stories in the history of the DOE Environmental Management Program.
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