Organizational Assessment and PROGRAM Support

In 2007, Fentress began working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG) to assess its facilities management program in the areas of organizational structure, staffing, project delivery, budgeting, space standards, and information technology. HHS-OIG required a comprehensive facilities management plan that would fill the existing operation gap and improve facility related services. 

The Office of Management and Policy (OMP) within OIG is responsible for providing facilities management services to the other OIG components, including developing space requirements, identifying and executing facility projects, maintaining space and project data, and overseeing a comprehensive facility security program.  OMP provides these services for OIG’s national inventory of space, which includes its headquarters in Washington, D.C., 14 regional offices, and over 75 field offices throughout the country.

In the initial assessment of OIG’s facilities management program, Fentress recommended improvements to facilities management practices and developed an implementation plan for a comprehensive program.  Fentress then worked with OIG to implement the recommendations, including: 

• Creating a web-based facility inventory and project tracking database
• Identifying 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
• Designing a space and cost calculator to produce operational requirements and project budget estimates

Since the initial implementation of these recommendations, Fentress has continued to support the OIG Facilities Management Program.  Fentress conducted on-site assessments of all headquarters, regional, and field offices and documented the findings in site reports.  Using this data, Fentress worked with OMP to develop a list of facility projects, including priorities, costs, and space requirements. 

Fentress continues to support the Facilities Management Program in many areas, including: 

• Compiling all rent and security charges from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Rent On The Web database and producing detailed monthly cost reports
• Tracking all changes in rent and security charges and square footage and following up with GSA where needed
• Compiling a quarterly facility inventory report that details the current OIG space inventory, including locations, occupancy, rent and security charges, and lease expiration dates
• Preparing and uploading a quarterly space inventory report for the Department’s facility management database, ARCHIBUS, and producing detailed justifications for all facility projects and changes in space
• Updating the space and cost calculator that is used by OMP to produce the space requirements for individual offices and estimate the costs, including GSA project management and construction charges, moving and relocation expenses, and the updated rent and security costs
• Producing tools, reports, and analyses for OMP in response to Congressional mandates, Department initiatives, and OMP requests for information