Quality management and real estate consolidation at NAVFAC

Quality Management

Developing, Implementing, and Assessing a Quality Management Control Program NAVFAC

Initiation

Given the large increase in the availability and reliability of communications technologies, the consolidation of real estate that has been proposed as an initial measure in the cost savings and quality management plan should not be difficult for NAVFAC to achieve. The NITC can move its geographical position into one of the larger facilities of the NAVFAC center, reducing facilities costs and allowing for the sale or repurposing of the buildings and land that it now occupies. This consolidation of real estate may also have more direct implications for the quality control management of NAVFAC as a whole and the NITC in particular by bringing oversight and overall management into a much more centralized schema.

The consolidation of real estate that has been proposed will also result in the elimination of many specialized Data Centers and Specialty Centers, not only consolidating the geographical space taken up by these offices, but actually streamlining the entire NAVFAC organization through consolidation and the merging of various departments. Again, this will improve the quality control management of the organization by increasing the centralization of power and making direct oversight of different operations and offices more prevalent and more efficiently maintained. This consolidation will also lead to a significant cost savings for the NAVFAC organization, which was one of the primary goals for which this quality control system was initially conceived and designed.

A necessary part of the geographical consolidation of various NAVFAC offices and departments and the merging and unification of several of the organization's Data Centers and Specialty Centers will be the elimination of redundant human resource positions. While there will be certain negative reactions to the loss of employment opportunities that this consolidation will entail, this represents a needed step in improving the efficiency as well as the quality control of the NAVFAC organization as a whole and of NITC in particular. Project planning and day-to-day operations will move with much greater efficiency when only the necessary number of employees is engaged in the work of the NAVFAC organization; superfluous individuals only serve to decrease efficiency without truly adding to productivity. This has a necessarily negative impact on quality control within the organization.

Planning

Before any changes are implemented, and indeed before any preliminary details of the planned changes are disseminated to the organization at large or to the wider public, the approval of the initial design will be sought from all major stakeholders with decision-making power. This will include all key personnel in leadership positions within NAVFAC and within all branches of the military that NAVFAC serves as well as individual department and Center leaders as applicable and necessary. The formation of a consensus amongst these various leaders is essential to bringing about a smooth transition to the new design and organization of NAVFAC with truly effective changes in its operations.

Though complex in their effects and in the changes to day-to-day operations, the processes involved in making these recommended changes are actually relatively simple and straightforward. Reorganization planning will take place with all involved leaders as identified above to ensure that the necessary operational abilities will still exist after the consolidation of NAVFAC has been completed. This area of planning will improve quality control at NAVFAC during and following the transitional phase of the proposed project by maintaining a strict balance and watchfulness over the actual needs and capabilities of the organization. The physical moving of equipment and personnel and their installation in existing buildings in a more consolidated and streamlined manner can be achieved with a minimum of logistical planning, following a determination of how this consolidation will be achieved.

Many of the programs in which NAVFAC is engaged appear to be highly redundant; the organization provides communication services to all major departments in the United States military. Consolidating these efforts will significantly increase the efficiency and quality control capabilities of the organization, and can best be achieved through the elimination of redundant communication programs. Other programs that will be selected for elimination will be those that show a clear lack of efficiency and/or effectiveness, and that are redundant within the larger department of defense schema if not within NAVFAC itself. Some of the lower level operations engaged in by the NAVFAC organization, such as single-vessel support operations will also be considered for elimination.

Assurance

In order to ensure the acceptance of the proposed changes to the NAVFAC organization by the key stakeholders and major decision makers in the military hierarchy as well as in the government at large, clear rational for all proposed cuts and consolidations will be presented in a concise published form. A series of meetings and interviews following the dissemination of these published materials will allow all questions and concerns to be raised prior to final design approval and implementation. Any changes made following suggestions and/or demands made by various leadership individuals during these meetings and interviews will also be delivered to other major stakeholders as a means of achieving consistency and concurrent approval for all proposed changes and the overall development plan.

The deliverables for the proposed consolidation and quality control management will be largely tangible in nature. Reduced expenses and more simplified communication hierarchies will both form important aspects of the proposed projects results. The quality control aspects of this projects, however, will be almost entirely intangible and deliverables in this area will consists of improved efficiency in operations and greater knowledge and oversight of day-to-day operations amongst NAVFAC leadership and individual leadership in the remaining departments. The breadth and scope of these deliverables will include almost every aspect of the organization's operations, altering the reporting procedures as well as hierarchies of command in NAVFAC to at least some degree.

Closure

As part of the ongoing efforts to improve quality and efficiency within the NAVFAC organization and in the various military branches as a whole, measurements of specific contributions to these goals made by specific departments and personnel within the organization will be assessed. Resistance to the implemented changes will doubtless cause a lack of efficiency, or a least a less significant improvement in efficiency over that which might be expected, and adjustments and/or terminations will be made as necessary. Leadership involvement is key to the success of the proposed changes and of the organization as a whole; without effective involvement of leadership no proposed project will achieve its stated goals. Direct rewards for achievement and assistance in bringing about this project will be fairly scant, however promotions and other long-term benefits and rewards will certainly be considered for leadership and other personnel as a result of evidenced dedication and effort to making the several changes proposed herein an effective reality.

The overall quality of project processed must necessarily be assessed over the long-term. Given the wide variety and scope of NAVFAC's operations, it could take some time before the true efficacy of the proposed changes is known. With the elimination of certain programs and consolidation of others, NAVFAC cannot help but cut back its operations from their current state but continued success will depend on the organizations ability to carry out necessary operations despite losses and cutbacks with the organization. It is hoped that this will be understood and well received by those at Headquarters with the responsibility and authority to make these decisions.