Effective NEPA Contracting

Description

Participants develop an understanding of tools and techniques for efficient and effective development and management of contracts for NEPA and NEPA related studies. Those working with NEPA will be able to design and write better Statements of Work (SOW), and establish and manage timelines and budgets for NEPA related contracts.

Objectives

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to do the following:

• Use a detailed Statement of Work (SOW) to control NEPA project milestones and project costs.
• Identify clear project deliverables/tasks in the SOW.
• Use an internal governmental Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to estimate projected costs and then to control a contractor’s billed costs.
• Establish quality standards and milestones for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) tasks, studies, and documents.

Session Activities

• Review samples of SOW text for their clarity and their specificity.
• Review NEPA contract templates, and evaluate strengths and weaknesses for various SOW provisions.
• Link SOW language to NEPA compliance requirements, with citations to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (CEQ) and to agency NEPA requirements.
• Identify and discuss milestones, deliverables, and quality standards in the SOW so that the contractor’s can clearly meet agency expectations.

Audience

Participants for this training generally include NEPA contract specialists; NEPA project managers and NEPA related subject matter experts.

Process

Effective NEPA Contracting is an interactive workshop designed to build practical skills. For optimal learning, class size is limited to 20 participants. This 2-day workshop consists of a carefully designed combination of the following:

• 40% Lecture
• 20% General discussion
• 40% small group exercises

Materials

Participants receive a comprehensive workshop manual designed to support the instruction and to serve as an ongoing reference.