Environmental Rehabilitation on NPRA

The Geological Survey environmental rehabilitation program at the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska consists of two parts-the collection and consolidation of litter and debris left from earlier construction and oil-exploration activities and the cleanup and revegetation of current drilling sites.

Early oil-exploration and construction activities were carried out with little regard for environmental protection or the effects of drilling operations on the tundra environment. Fuel drums, aban

doned equipment and supplies, and other kinds of exploration and construction litter were left at many sites. During fiscal year 1981, the Geological Survey collected over 380 tons of debris and waste materials from numerous old sites on the Reserve, including 8,000 old barrels. These materials were consolidated and stockpiled at several collection points on the Reserve.

Rehabilitation of current drill sites consists of initial recontouring and revegetation of drilling sites and a second reseeding the following year. During fiscal year 1981, initial rehabilitation work was performed at six sites, and followup reseeding and refertilizing were completed at other sites as necessary. Both cleanup and rehabilitation activities are accomplished by contract personnel.

Administrative Division

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

The cost of executive direction and coordination of the U.S. Geological Survey programs and administrative services provided by the Administrative Division is funded by sources collectively referred to as "General Administrative Expenses." During fiscal year 1981, these expenses totaled $21.1 million and amounted to 3 percent of the total budget. This funding was derived from the following sources: the general administration budget activity, $3.9 million; assessment on directly appropriated activities, $11.9 million; and assessments on reimbursable programs, $5.3 million. No assessments were made on cooperative funds from State and local governments.

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT

The management and service activities of the Administrative Division are directed from the Survey's National Center in Reston, Virginia and from the three Regional Centers at Reston, Eastern, Denver, Colorado, Central, and Menlo Park, California, Western, as well as at field offices located at Atlanta, Georgia, Rolla, Missouri, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Anchorage, Alaska. The field offices provide support to Survey installations and personnel in immediate or nearby areas. Highlights associated with the Division's experience in facilities, Automatic Data Processing systems improvements, and personnel management are described in the following text.

EROS Solar Energy Hot Water Heating System

The EROS Data Center (EDC) at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, solar energy hot-water heating system has been in operation since January 1980. Typically, the system provides all the EDC's hot water needs on a sunny summer day and half of the hot water needs on a sunny winter day. On a normal production day, the EDC uses 10,000 gallons of 120°F. hot water. The EDC is purchasing considerably less energy with the solar system and backup electric boilers than with the originally installed oil-fired boilers. In addition to the savings produced by the solar energy system, savings

come from the greater efficiency of the electric boilers over the fuel oil boilers.

As the largest operational flat-field solar energy system in the North-Central United States, the EDC demonstration project has received considerable attention. Through presentations at energy management seminars, participation in solar energy conferences, and working with the State energy offices, the EDC system was recommended by the South Dakota State Energy Office for instrumentation and monitoring under a 3-year contract with the Department of Energy.

The system will be extensively instrumented and the data will be fed back to a central computer where the energy contribution by the solar system will be calculated. Because individual loops of the system will be monitored, improvements can be made where heat loss areas are found.

The results, as well as suggested improvements, will be documented and made available to the EROS Data Center and to the general public. These results will be useful when evaluating the feasibility and application of future solar energy systems in both public and private sectors.

Automatic Data Processing

The Administrative Division's concerted effort to seek opportunities to streamline administrative processes and to improve the delivery of administrative services resulted in several significant accomplishments during fiscal year 1981. In particular, special emphasis was placed on identifying areas where greater utilization of advanced technologies could be made to increase the efficiency of administrative operations and on undertaking projects aimed at implementing the technologies. Highlights of some of the projects undertaken in 1981 follow.

ATTACHED RESOURCES COMPUTER SYSTEM

The Automated Data Processing Network was adopted and installed in 1976 to simplify and reduce the processing time for the 160,000 procurement and property transactions executed by

the Survey each year. The network was

significantly modified and improved during fiscal year 1981 with the installation of an Attached Resources Computer System at the National Center. The addition of the Attached Resources Computer System increases the amount of processing time available for accomplishing many different tasks; for example, data entry, data manipulation, and data transmission from field offices to the Network System. ARC permits these tasks to be completed simultaneously rather than in sequential order. The Denver and Menlo Park elements of the Network also were upgraded with the installation of faster processing minicomputers. The net effects of the enhancements made to the Network include improving the processing time for procurement and personal property transactions, improving the currency of information available to Survey managers, and increasing the capacity for developing new management information systems for other areas of administrative operations.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Utilizing the enhanced Network System, two new management information systems have recently been implemented. The first is a new Personnel Data Collection System that was installed at the National Center and in the Eastern Region. This system was designed to reduce the time and costs of processing personnel actions. To date, the system has accounted for a reduction in data entry time of 57 percent, processing time reduced from 3 days to 1, contractor keypunch costs reduced by 85 percent, data entry errors reduced by 67 percent and personnel supplemental payroll checks being issued has been. cut by 50 percent. Because of the successful introduction of this system, it will soon be installed in the other five Survey Personnel offices.

The second system, an automated remote data collection process, has been installed to provide an easier method of entering information into the Automated Regional Locator System. This Regional Locator System permits more efficient ways to identify employees at their exact work sites at the Survey's 392 locations across the Nation.

Commitment Accounting System

Two major studies have been completed this year which will lead to the development of a new commitment accounting system and a streamlined system for processing personnel actions. The new commitment accounting system will provide managers with reports showing an estimate

of funds reserved for requisitions in process and, hence, a more realistic insight of funds availability. This system will maintain an up-to-date status for fund balances through the electronic collection of commitment data and an ongoing reconciliation of accounts with the existing Bureau accounting system.

Each Division within the Survey will receive formal training on the use of the system and will, consequently, be better able to reconcile the status of its funds.

Alternative Work Schedules

In March 1981, the Administrative Division completed an 18-month evaluation of the Survey's experiments with alternative work schedules. These experiments, which involved about 800 Survey employees in four field office installations and one National Center organization, were made possible by the Federal Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act. This law allowed all Federal agencies in the Executive Branch to experiment with a variety of alternative work schedules. The law also mandated that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) monitor the experiments to determine if alternative work schedules could be used successfully by Federal agencies.

The five Survey organizations selected to participate in the experiments were the Computer Center Division, Reston, Virginia, the Rolla Field Center, Rolla, Missouri, the Denver Central Laboratory, Arvada, Colorado, the Flagstaff Field Center, Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Branch of Marine Geology, Redwood City, California. The Rolla and Flagstaff Field Centers and the Computer Center Division tested a form of flexible work schedule. The Denver Central Laboratory and the Branch of Marine Geology experimented with a form of compressed work schedule (4-day week).

Throughout the 18-month data collection period, the Survey supplied information about its own experiences with alternative work schedules to the OPM and also conducted its own evaluation. The purpose of the Survey's evaluation was to determine what impact the new work schedules had on operations, management tasks, service to the public, transportation, building operations, and employee use of leisure time. Analysis of the data collected through employee questionnaires, customer service surveys, data record forms, and onsite interviews indicated that all the experiments were successful, and that the alternative work schedules had a positive effect on each of the organizations. In each of the experimenting organizations, there was an increase

in productivity, a reduction in the use of annual leave and overtime and improved employee morale.

Decisions about permanent use of the new work schedule alternatives in the Survey will be made after consideration of legislation by Congress in spring 1982.

Employee Awards

During Fiscal Year 1981, Geological Survey employees distinguished themselves by outstanding performance or submission of ideas to improve the economy, efficiency, and (or) effectiveness of Government operations. Approximately 1,100 employees or groups of employees received cash awards totalling $426,000 for their contributions. An additional 210 were recognized with quality step increases for a level of performance meriting faster-than-normal pay increases.

Among the 70 groups of employees who were recognized for their outstanding collective efforts were two which earned the highest awards ever given by the Geological Survey. One group of six scientists received $13,000 for their work before, during, and after the eruption of Mount St. Helens. The work of this group in gathering,

Computer Center Division

The Computer Center Division operates a nationwide system for computer facilities and terminals to provide automatic data processing and computer-assisted communication services for the U.S. Geological Survey. Fiscal year 1981 witnessed a number of developments in the application of Automatic Data Processing technology and information science to the work of the Geological Survey. Among these were small computer technology, reorganization of information systems, data communications, automatic data processing security, teleconferencing and office automation, and array processing.

SMALL COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

During fiscal year 1981, the Computer Center Division evaluated the potential application of small computer or "microcomputer" technology to the various data processing activities of the Survey. In response to the considerable amount of interest shown by the user community in microcomputing, several steps were taken to make this technology more readily available for user evaluation:

• A Microcomputer Technology Team was established to function as the focal point for all activities related to small computer technology. This action, in turn, led to the formation of the Survey Microcomputing

assembling, and interpreting data and coordinating with other concerned agencies helped to save many lives when the major eruption occurred on May 18, 1980. In addition to these scientists, 102 other employees were recognized for extraordinary efforts ranging from logistical support to mapping to stream measurement in the wake of the eruptions.

A second group of 11 geologists and engineers received $13,000 for their work in gathering and evaluating the tonnage of Federally owned coal illegally mined in 20 case areas in Alabama. The value of this coal totalled $7,465,000. In addition to this assessment, the group developed new procedures that can be used as a deterrent to future leasable mineral trespass, an achievement of great significance to the national interest.

Besides the use of cash awards to recognize significant achievements, the Survey presented 82 honorary awards to employees for distinguished, meritorious, or superior career achievements. Finally, the Survey was especially honored that Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, a geologist from Menlo Park, was selected as one of 10 Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employees in the country in

1981.

Users Group, which serves as an interdivisional forum for planning and discussing overall microcomputer activity throughout the Survey.

• A series of tasks was initiated to evaluate the software for microcomputers. Various software packages are being compared to determine which is the most efficient. Where possible, the packages are being compared with similar ones used on larger "mainframe' computers. The results will be documented as Software Evaluation Reports and made available to the user community. These reports will serve as starting points for those users who are considering the application of microcomputers but need assistance in software selection.

• Means were established whereby microcomputers and associated machinery, such as printers and graphics-output devices, could be acquired and made available to the Survey user community.

REORGANIZATION OF
INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Although microcomputer technology played an increasing role in data processing activities during fiscal year 1981, the Computer Center Division