The annual report for the National Applied Resource Sciences Center (NARSC) is a report to our shareholders and partners within the Bureau of Land Management. It represents our commitment to share our accomplishments during the past year and report how well our customers' expectations and needs were met. In addition, it allows us an opportunity to review the commitments to new initiatives that we made in our last annual report and establish goals for the upcoming year.
NARSC began operations on October 1, 1995, and has completed its third year. We are pleased to announce that NARSC has now completed over 1,000 projects since operations began. We are beginning to accumulate sufficient information to establish some trends, although 3 years is still insufficient time to have statistically reliable data.
This report displays our performance for FY 98 in comparison to the 2 previous years. The type of work we are being requested to do appears to be changing. As you will see, the total number of projects completed in FY 98 is somewhat less than in previous years. This corresponds with an increase in the number of hours expended on larger projects, as well as an increase in the number of requests for short-term and consultation-type services that fall below our tracking threshold of 40 total hours. We also experienced an increase in the number of higher priority projects, such as the Maintenance Backlog and Utah Wilderness projects, that required NARSC to react quickly, resulting in the temporary delay of other work.
The satisfaction rate, as determined by our customer feedback, remains at a very high level-99 percent of our customers who returned survey forms for FY 98 work indicated that they were satisfied with our overall performance. This compares with a 98 percent customer satisfaction rate for FY 97 work. The surveys also indicated areas where NARSC needs improvement, such as getting work completed within agreed-upon time frames.
NARSC established several initiative goals for FY 98. Each initiative has been addressed during the year. Several of these goals were not completely achieved during the year and will be addressed again during FY 99, such as our need to continue to focus on project scoping and management, and on the full integration of science into resource management decisionmaking. We were partially successful in the above-mentioned initiatives, but found that making the necessary changes to procedures and processes will take more than just a year. We were more successful in some of our other initiatives, such as implementing our staffing strategy, utilizing National Technical Means imagery data, and continuing to develop partnerships.
A significant commitment has been made by NARSC to support the Bureau's various diversity initiatives. During the past fiscal year, NARSC has been very involved in supporting the Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) initiatives. We have been involved with the formation of the Grasslands Center of Excellence at Langston University and are partnering with the school to develop a recruitment video which will introduce BLM to prospective students. We have worked with Alabama A&M University to provide GIS and remote sensing training on campus. In addition, we have worked on various Native American initiatives and have been actively involved in several of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and other national Hispanic initiatives. NARSC is also committed to helping the Bureau meet its diversity objectives by providing technical assistance to, and becoming a host facility for, visiting professors and interns.
Finally, NARSC will continue to seek opportunities to improve its business practices and to provide exceptional products and services to its customers. In FY 99, NARSC will again focus on specific, new initiatives. The leadership and staff of NARSC are committed to continually improving delivery of products and services, both in terms of quality and cost effectiveness. Our focus and emphasis will change as our customers identify new or emerging requirements. With this in mind, we invite the reader to study this annual report. We also encourage feedback, not only about this report, but throughout the year. As partners with our customers, we stand by our motto, "helping those who manage the land."
The focus of NARSC is to assist BLM offices in achieving the strategic goals of the Bureau. This is primarily accomplished through the delivery of products and services requested by BLM offices or through the transfer of technology to BLM customers. During FY 98, 141 BLM offices/organizations requested assistance from NARSC. These customers ranged from employees stationed in field offices to the BLM Deputy Directors. Appendix 1 lists the BLM offices/organizations that requested and received assistance in FY 98.
NARSC completed 317 projects for BLM customers in FY 98. This number includes all assistance provided to customers that required more than 40 hours of labor. This represents a 13 percent decrease in the number of projects completed from FY 97.
An evaluation of project size was conducted for all projects completed in FY 98 based on the estimated labor hours needed to complete the projects. The results of the evaluation indicated that 32 percent were small projects (requiring 40 to 100 hours), 51 percent were medium projects (requiring 101 to 500 hours), and 17 percent were large projects (requiring more than 500 hours). Evaluating the total number of estimated hours to complete all projects indicated that 6 percent of the total project hours were spent on small projects, 29 percent on medium projects, and 65 percent on large projects. Thus, the largest number of projects completed by NARSC in FY 98 were in the small and medium categories, but the majority of labor was expended on the large projects.
The distribution of customers for FY 98 projects was 5 percent Washington Office, 62 percent field offices, and 33 percent Bureauwide. Projects designated as providing Bureauwide support are requested by the Washington Office on behalf of the field offices. Some examples of projects that provided Bureauwide support are user representation for the Grazing Authorization Billing System (GABS); BLM dam safety; 100K map specifications and standards; and audits of treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. The distribution of projects by office is depicted in Figure 1.
To ensure the relevance of these projects to the BLM strategic goals, each State Director, Associate State Director, Assistant Director, and National Center Director is provided a list of all projects for review on a semiannual basis. A vast majority of the projects completed in FY 98 were in support of the strategic goals identified in the BLM Multi-Year Performance Plan for FY 1998-2002. Many projects supported more than one strategic goal. The most support provided by NARSC was associated with strategic goal 01.04, reduce threats to public health, safety, and property; followed by 01.05, improve land, resource, and title information; then 02.02, identify resources at risk. The number of projects supporting each strategic goal is depicted in Figure 2.
NARSC played a major role in many significant BLM projects in FY 98. Examples of some of these projects include:
In addition, NARSC produced, in cooperation with other BLM offices, seven technical/scientific publications that have agencywide application. A list of these publications is provided in Chapter 3 of this report. A list of all projects completed by NARSC in FY 98 is provided in Appendix 3.
NARSC also provides a substantial amount of assistance through short-term (less than 40 hours per request) services. This assistance is provided in the form of technical and scientific consultation, reviews, tasks, and other work. Some examples of short-duration assistance provided by NARSC in FY 98 are:
Editorial Tasks - 51
Graphics Tasks - 123
Microfiche Orders Filled - 185
Library Research Tasks - 23,872
Historical Research Tasks - 264
Aerial Photo Reproductions - 45,000
Customer feedback is the best indicator of how well NARSC is meeting its business goal of providing quality products and services on time and within budgets. Customer feedback forms are sent to all customers at the completion of a project or delivery of a service. In FY 96, we received 202 customer responses from 319 completed projects (a 63 percent response rate); in FY 97, we received 186 customer responses from 366 completed projects (a 51 percent response rate). The total number of customer responses for FY 98 projects cannot yet be determined because responses from customers will continue to be submitted through the first quarter of FY 99. To date, NARSC has received 136 customer responses for 317 projects completed in FY 98. This represents a 43 percent response rate compared to a 33 percent response rate at this date last fiscal year. The customer satisfaction statistics for FY 96, FY 97, and FY 98 are displayed in Figures 3-8.
Customers were encouraged to provide additional comments. All but 25 response forms had written comments. The written comments were analyzed for each response form, based on a qualitative rating system of positive, neutral, or negative. The results of this analysis were 81 positive, 27 neutral, and 3 negative. When negative feedback is received, NARSC works with the customer to identify the problem and investigate ways of improving our services.
In addition to the comments received on the feedback forms, NARSC has received numerous unsolicited comments from customers pertaining to services provided in FY 98. Appendix 4 provides copies of some of these unsolicited comments.
In FY 98, NARSC provided assistance on many significant projects in support of the BLM Director's priorities and other national initiatives. A brief description of some of these projects follows.
Use of Best Science and Current Technologies
Application of science and current technologies into the production of products and delivery of services was a major focus for NARSC in FY 98. Several examples of projects completed by NARSC during FY 98 that demonstrated the application of science and technology are briefly described below.
In addition to the above examples, NARSC participated in the development of several publications focused on the integration of science and technology into resource management. A list of these documents is provided below:
Partnerships
Partnerships are an efficient and effective means of expanding the resources available to accomplish the work of the Bureau. NARSC continues to pursue partnerships via agreements and contracts with companies, universities, and other government agencies to expand the availability of resources to BLM offices. The goal of establishing partnerships is to increase NARSC's ability to quickly mobilize resources to meet BLM requirements. Appendix 2 provides a list of contracts and agreements that are used by NARSC to meet BLM resource needs. In addition to these partnerships, NARSC established other partnerships that will be of benefit in assisting BLM offices. A brief description of some of these partnerships follows.
National Technical Systems
The use of imagery and other remotely sensed information that is of a classified nature is available to qualified members of the NARSC staff through USGS's National Technical Systems. This data was used on several projects this year including the West Mojave Road Inventory and support of the Grand Staircase-Escalante management planning effort. As the data and analytical processes become more institutionalized, NARSC specialists, in cooperation with their counterparts in the field, will significantly expand the current range of applications.
Automation of the BLM 1:100,000-Scale Administrative Map Series
Developmental work begun during FY 98 will continue using ArcInfo GIS software and data derived primarily from the BLM GCDB database and selected USGS spatial databases. The first automated 100k map (Red Desert Basin, WY) was printed in November 1998. Further refinement of the automated processes will continue during early FY 99. NARSC is implementing these new procedures by scheduling limited production of automated maps during this fiscal year. The process is dependent upon GCDB data loading into ArcInfo and has been designed to accept input from the ALMRS database when this data is available. When fully implemented, these automated procedures will allow BLM to provide revised map data to all customers in a more timely fashion. Revenues from increased sales of this product can be expected to rise.
Diversity Initiatives
NARSC has been aggressive in helping the Bureau meet its diversity initiative during FY 98 in several different areas. In terms of recruitment, each vacancy has been analyzed and a recruitment strategy developed to attract a diverse applicant pool. This resulted in the hiring of six individuals (out of 11 recruitment actions) that represent various diversity categories.
NARSC has supported the various diversity initiatives in several different ways. The Native American initiative has been supported by committing one position full time as a national program manager. This position works with the national office in developing various Native American initiatives. NARSC staff also provided technical assistance to Haskell Indian Nations University (KS), Salish Kootenai College (MT), and Sisseton College (SD).
The Hispanic initiative has been supported by contributing staff time and assistance for various national initiatives such as those associated with the National Hispanic Coalition, IMAGE, and the National Association of Hispanic Firefighters. NARSC also assisted the Arizona State Director in setting up a local Hispanic coalition. NARSC was a cosponsor of the MESA student award in engineering and science and the NARSC Director sits on the MESA Industrial Advisory Board.
NARSC has actively supported the Historically Black College and Universities initiative. NARSC staff have worked with Langston University, located in Oklahoma, on several activities including the production of a recruitment/outreach video for Langston University, several technical assistance visits to the campus in support of the Grasslands Center for Excellence, and the development of long-term strategies that will be implemented over the next several years. The NARSC Director is currently representing the Bureau on the Langston University Grassland Center of Excellence Advisory Board. NARSC staff also participated in and provided instruction for a GIS/remote sensing seminar at Alabama A&M.
A progressive business or organization continues to identify 1) new initiatives that will improve the way products and services are delivered, and 2) new products and services that are in demand by its customers. Each fiscal year, NARSC identifies several new initiatives to strengthen the organization and keep its product line current. The following are initiatives on which NARSC will focus in FY 99.
Support for the Director's Priorities
The FY 99 Preliminary Annual Work Plan identifies the Director's priorities for the year. NARSC is committed to supporting these priorities by providing technical assistance to the field offices in the various disciplines represented on staff. Cross-cutting assistance can be offered, for example, in areas of GIS applications, remotely-sensed data analysis, graphics, document editing, literature searches, and special map production. How these and other skills are applied to meeting the Director's priorities will depend to a large extent on the needs and requests of the various field offices.
Some of the Director's priorities will require immediate and significant involvement by the staff of NARSC as described below.
Architecture and Engineering Efficiencies
Projects specifically identified by Congress and the Administration as high priorities–critical health and safety and critical environmental protection deferred maintenance needs related to existing BLM facilities–could be a major workload for NARSC in FY 99. To enable the Bureau to meet these needs, an A&E contract, administered by NARSC, may be required. This contract would aid in providing additional assistance to field offices to meet deferred maintenance reduction goals. NARSC personnel would continue to partner with other federal agencies in the Denver area to provide scarce-skill support to the Bureau.
Video Conferencing
During FY 98, video-teleconferencing capability and equipment were installed in Building 50 at the Denver Federal Center for use by all the BLM National Centers in Denver. Use of this technology is planned for FY 99 to increase coordination of project management and day-to-day operations, while saving time and travel dollars.
Cost-Saving Measures
As a National Performance Reinvention Lab, NARSC will continue to study ways to increase efficiencies of operation and cost-saving methods during FY 99. Two areas that are planned for investigation are gainsharing and telecommuting. Gainsharing involves employees receiving cash awards for saving NARSC money associated with temporary duty travel. An example of gainsharing would be the use of frequent flier benefits by a NARSC employee to obtain coach-class airline tickets; the employee would then be eligible to receive awards for half of the savings realized by the agency. Telecommuting involves establishing alternative worksite locations that will increase productivity and efficiencies regarding the delivery of products and services. NARSC will participate in a pilot program in FY 99, along with three other National Centers, to test telecommuting options.