More than 300 Federal agency representatives working with Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) attended the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) ceremony marking the first annual OPM Director’s Award for Outstanding ADR Programs on July 27, 1999.

The award was initiated in support of President Clinton’s May 1, 1998, memorandum to heads of executive departments and agencies directing them to promote greater use of ADR programs. ADR, he said, should be part of an effort "to make the Federal government operate in a more efficient and effective manner."

The competition for the award was very keen, with seven recipients selected from 49 agency nominations submitted. Each of these programs shared similar goals to resolve issues quickly, reduce the cost of disputes, avoid litigation, create resolutions that are durable, and promote better work environments.

OPM Director Janice Lachance said that the Director’s Award "honors those programs that resolve disputes that might otherwise have to move to formal employee grievance, appeal, or complaint process." She acknowledged that the current formal administrative adjudicatory process can be a "very lengthy, very costly, very frustrating, and sometimes a seemingly endless road to resolution. Today ADR offers a better road."

The Director spoke of OPM’s long history of encouraging the increasing use of ADR for workplace disputes, and said, "I intend to carry on that tradition." She shared statistics on successful programs — time saved, cost avoidance, and the increased satisfaction reported among all parties.

"I am heartened by the strong interest in the award and the quality of the nominations we received. And I take this as more than just evidence that the ADR process indeed has firmly taken root in the Federal government — and it is thriving."

Everyone who has contributed to the ADR process in large and small ways deserves to be applauded, she said, because they are making it work. "The Government is clearly a better place because of you," she said.

The keynote speaker, Attorney General Janet Reno, said about alternative dispute resolution, "I’ve decided to call it ‘Appropriate Dispute Resolution’ because it might involve negotiation. It can involve mediation. It can involve arbitration. It may involve combinations. But it is aimed at solving problems in a sensible way to provide a permanent solution."