Extramural Agreements
Management Review
The Extramural Agreements Division performs periodic Management Reviews
of the Area Office agreements functions. It is our goal to review 3
to 4 Area Offices a year, so that each office is reviewed every 2 to
3 years.
Objectives
The objectives of the EAMR are threefold:
- to measure the Area's compliance with applicable statutes, regulations,
and ARS policies and procedures governing extramural agreements;
- to determine where EAD can be of assistance in interpreting and
determining the applicability of various Federal and State statutes
and regulations and in developing negotiation strategies to resolve
conflicting requirements or issues of noncompliance with the Cooperator;
and
- to identify positive and innovative techniques being used in the
Area that can be shared with other Area Offices.
Process
Most reviews will be performed by a team of 2 - 3 people over a three-day
period. The team will hold an opening conference with the AAO and all
Area personnel involved in the agreements process on Tuesday morning.
During the opening conference, the team will discuss the objectives
of the review and will solicit issues and/or concerns from the Area
personnel that they feel they need the most assistance or guidance.
Following the conference, the team will begin reviewing the Area's
agreement files. The team will typically try to review at least 50%
of the latest completed fiscal year's agreements. However, files will
only be reviewed to the extent necessary to identify developing trends
or patterns of noncompliance with established guidelines. The team will
also visit with the Area personnel to discuss their roles and responsibilities,
identify operational procedures and techniques, and to provide on-site
assistance where appropriate. Each team member will randomly select
and interview one or two customers from the field in order to determine
their satisfaction with the Area in executing their agreements.
An exit conference will be held on Thursday afternoon with all members
of the Area's agreements team to discuss the review team's findings
and to jointly define and validate the recommendations. A separate exit
conference may be held between the review team leader, the Area Director,
Associate Area Director, and the AAO to discuss operational processes
and procedures.
A draft report of the Team's findings will be provided to the AAO within
two weeks of completing the review. The Area will have two weeks to
provide their comments and return the draft to EAD. EAD will then issue
a final report out within one week. The entire review process should
take no longer than six weeks.
