The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will appoint a committee to review and identify ways to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of defense environmental cleanup activities of the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM). The committee's review will:

1. Assess DOE-EM's program and project management practices benchmarked against DOE 413.3B and other practices used elsewhere for project planning and acquisition, technology insertion, controls, review, reporting, contract management, and other management activities;

2. Evaluate whether DOE-EM has well-defined and measurable outcomes for its cleanup activities and review DOE-EM's prioritization strategy and decision support for operational actions for achieving the stated outcomes; and

3. Evaluate the level and appropriateness of DOE-EM's oversight of technical contractors and site operations, as well as engagement with external stakeholders, to meet the stated outcomes.

The committee will make recommendations on actions to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of DOE-EM's cleanup activities. The committee will issue two consensus studies, one at approximately 10 months after the contract is signed and a second at 18 months. The first report will make recommendations on changes to DOE-EM's project management practices that can be implemented immediately. The second report will make recommendations on how such practices should be transformed over 5- to 10-years.