HHS Facility Needs Assessments

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.  OIG is comprised of six organizational units headquartered in Washington, D.C. and also located in eight regional offices and 78 field offices.  In 2007, Fentress began working with HHS-OIG to assess its facilities management program.  This assessment included a recommendation for the organization to conduct ongoing assessments of its facilities throughout the country.

Project Summary:
In 2007, Fentress began conducting needs assessments of all HHS-OIG facilities.  In doing the needs assessments, a project team comprised of architects and space planners visits each field office site within a region to tour and photograph the space, gather information on the furniture and finishes, and take space measurements.  The team also meets with representatives from each office at their facilities to gather information about unique operational factors and anticipated personnel growth.  Following the site visits, Fentress produces a report that details the current space conditions and future needs for each facility.  The report also contains the photographs, assignment drawings, and a furniture inventory.  When all of the field office site visits in a region are complete and the reports have been produced, Fentress conducts a strategic planning meeting with personnel at the regional office to discuss program changes that could affect space, personnel growth, project needs, and priorities.  The project team updates the field office reports based upon the information gathered at the regional meeting.  In addition, a region-level report that contains key summary information about the facilities within the region is produced.

Results:
The completed needs assessments will support HHS-OIG's facility management program in several ways.  First, the assessment data will be used to populate a database that will serve as a national repository for the HHS-OIG facility portfolio, providing a central location for all important facility-related data and projects.  In addition, the information from each assessment will be used to score both small and large projects based upon factors such as security and life safety issues, lease and occupancy agreement expiration dates, and project size and complexity.  This information will enable HHS-OIG to develop an overall list of its prioritized facility needs and to proactively budget for and manage projects based upon urgency.