Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Contact: Spence Jackson, 573-751-0290
Governor Commends Employees for Efficiency, Productivity
JEFFERSON CITY–Gov. Matt Blunt today recognized four state employee work groups with the Governor’s Award for Quality and Productivity (GAQP). The award recognizes ongoing efforts to improve state government.
This is the 18th annual award recognizing state government teams’ collective efforts to continuously increase quality and productivity. There were 40 submissions for six categories: Customer Service, Efficiency, Workforce Planning, Innovation, Technology in Government and Process Improvement. A committee of senior level executives recommended the four winning teams honored at today’s Capitol ceremony. All winning nominations must meet clearly defined requirements related to effectiveness, responsiveness and efficiency that would serve as a model of excellence in state government nationally.
“The honorees are a sample of the tremendous quality and dedication Missouri state government employees exemplify,” Blunt said. “I commend them and all state employees who work every day to serve Missourians, make the most for every tax dollar and eliminate waste.”
Following is a brief description of each team’s project:
EFFICIENCY
DNA Profiling Section, Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab
Department of Public Safety
The DNA Profiling Section (the section) of the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Laboratory is responsible for storing and analyzing convicted offender samples to include in the CODIS (Combined DNA Information System) database. Before 2005 only individuals convicted of violent crimes were eligible for entry in the database. Since its inception in 1993 the section had uploaded approximately 26,000 offender profiles to the national database.
Recent legislation requires individuals convicted of any felony to submit a DNA sample and increased eligible entries to approximately 20,000 per year. The law was also retroactive, requiring immediate collection of an estimated 100,000 inmate DNA samples. Collection of these samples began January 1, 2005, when the section estimated it would need seven years to work through the backlog of samples.
In 18 months the section processed, analyzed and entered approximately 54,000 profiles into the CODIS database. This represents a 200 percent increase in the total number entered during the first 12 years of the section’s existence. Requests of the CODIS system jumped from 126 (from 1996 through 2004) to 441 from (January 2005 to May 2006).
The result is an immediate response to verification requests from CODIS, allows other laboratories to quickly disseminate essential case information, enables law enforcement to solve crimes more quickly and provides information to assist prosecutors.
INNOVATION
Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project
Department of Natural Resources; Department of Health and Senior Services; Department of Conservation
The Department of Natural Resources, in coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, worked to clean up the Department of Energy’s Weldon Spring site in St. Charles County. Contamination of this 17,000-acre site included hazardous and radioactive materials from a World War II explosive manufacturing plant and later a uranium processing facility. The site had pits filled with contaminated water, buildings that were used for processing TNT and uranium and soil that contained hazardous materials.
Cooperation among these, other agencies and local groups has spanned more than three decades. The initial challenge was how to dispose of contaminated material left on site. Rather than shipping the material, which included buildings, equipment, and soil, the decision was made to entomb the materials in an on-site disposal cell. Completed in 2001, the 45-acre, 75-foot high disposal cell contains 1.5 million cubic yards of waste that will need monitoring for generations to come. However, what could have been merely a safe repository for hazardous and radioactive waste is now a new educational and recreational attraction.
This revitalized area now serves the community in a new way. An on-site interpretive center shows the history, cleanup and current status of site monitoring. Native prairies in the area have been re-established, and the Hamburg hike-and-bike trail was opened to the public this year. This area now provides an opportunity for citizens to learn about history and enjoy nature.
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
District 8 Pavement Repair Crew
Department of Transportation
After Amendment 3 passed, MoDOT implemented the Smooth Roads Initiative (SRI), an aggressive program to resurface 2,200 miles of the most heavily traveled roads throughout the state. In the Springfield district, the challenge was preparing 307 miles for SRI. This work included making over 4,000 full depth repairs to concrete pavement. Given the amount of work and the tight deadlines, the crew had to radically alter their approach to pavement repair. They systematically reviewed the process, uncovered numerous repetitive steps, and eliminated inefficiency. The review also determined the personnel and equipment needed to ensure 20 repairs per day.
The repair process now completes numerous steps simultaneously and has dramatically improved efficiency and increased production. The first day results were 19 repairs and the second day results were 25 repairs, which is now the standard.
MoDOT replaced 30,081 square yards of concrete pavement at a savings of $23.85 per square yard. As a result of the improvement made in the pavement repair process, in 2005 MoDOT realized a total savings of $717,431.85.
TECHNOLOGY IN GOVERNMENT
Active Directory Team
Office of Administration; Department of Natural Resources; Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; Department of Corrections; Department of Mental Health; Department of Economic Development
Active Directory is the tool the Information Technology Services Division uses to manage the thousands of computers on the state network. This team combined fourteen state agencies into a single infrastructure to leverage technology and reduce operating costs to better manage the network system connecting the state’s computers.
To form a single infrastructure, the team had to combine independent systems. They developed a blueprint for each agency to plan, test and move staff accounts, computers, printers, servers and all other devices to a new combined infrastructure without causing service interruptions and with minimal cost.
Through this consolidation, the team reduced servers, software licenses, and management overhead and increased availability, reliability, and scalability. By doing this, Missouri not only realized immediate efficiencies and cost savings but also the ability to explore additional technologies.
Other states, private companies, and vendors are closely watching Missouri’s efforts to see if this project will set a new standard in government IT consolidation.
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