Client Background
The Army National Gaurd Region South - Industrial Hygiene Office is responsible for Industrial Hygiene (IH) at all Army National Guard(ANG) locations throughout the southeast. They have 11 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands to manage. Their annual directive is to conduct an IH Audits at each facility annually. Since most states have more than 20 sites, some with over 40, this is a big undertaking for them. The IH office only consists of about 5 people, so they rely on contractors to conduct their audits.
CATEGORYWorkplace IH | DATEJuly 1, 2013 | STATUSOngoing |
Client Goals
With hundreds of ANG maintenance facilities across their region, the Industrial Hygiene Office of the Southeast Region must find a way to assess each one every year. They also have responsibility for conducting lead assessments at Readiness Centers, otherwise known as armories, throughout their territory as well. In order to accomplish this monumental task, this client submits multiple requests for proposals on approximately 20 to 30 contracts per year. Their main concerns are budget, timeline, and having quality contractors.
The Challenge
The main challenges to these projects are simply scheduling and coordination. These groups can get called up for duty, be in training, have alternate work schedules, etc. that make it difficult to nail them down for a site visit. We have to be flexible. Also, we have to be prepared to monitor a wide variety of exposures. We never really know what we need until we get there. In short, our challenges for these projects are:
- Must use Pre-qualified Contractors
- Limited Budget (bid is awarded based on cost)
- Limited timeline for 100s of assessments
- Unpredictable Schedules
- Highly varied types of exposures
Project Plan
From the request for proposal to project completion, we strive to provide timely reminders for our clients. The Southeast Region Industrial Hygiene Office is no different. Once the Contract is Signed, we complete the scheduling for the on-site assessment within 30 days. We book the site visit a month in advance of the actual visit to accommodate the various schedules of on-site personnel. We set up reminders for the points of contact in advance of our arrival so that our visit stays top of mind.
In order to address the wide variety of assessment types for these facilities, we plan and carry with us up to 10 different pieces of equipment and sampling media. Each piece of equipment helps us monitor for different types of chemicals. Our experience in working on these projects has helped to develop this selected list of equipment. With it, we are able to test for what we need and nothing we don’t.
Project Results
After completing assessments at over 100 sites, including the setup, testing, and reporting, we are proud to say that our client has been extremely happy with our work. They have even required some of their other contractors to use our proposal format and include the same information we have provided. Our quality of service has become the ANG Southeast Region IN Office's gold-standard of service.