21    MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL CONTRACTORS:
DAMAGE CONTROL
John W. Donley, President
Donley Environmental Management, Inc.
Stafford, Virginia 22554
INTRODUCTION
Over the past decade, industry has become increasingly more reliant on contract resources for
maintaining environmental compliance. This is due, in part, to the almost exponential increase in
environmental regulations promulgated since the 1970s. However, industry thrives on growth and
might have been able to meet the challenge with additional staff if the regulators had established
reasonable schedules for achieving and maintaining compliance. Unfortunately, most new programs
demand a rapid and intense response, followed by a long period of inactivity. The process favors
contractors who can maintain the necessary resource base by providing similar support to several
clients.
The demand for experienced environmental professionals currently exceeds the supply. Yet legislators and regulators continue to develop new requirements that fail to take these limitations into
account. Ironically, this has come at a time when unemployment is increasing for many other scientific and technical professions. Thus, in response to pressures from industry, the pool of contract
resources is becoming diluted by personnel with little or no direct environmental experience. Not
surprisingly, contractor performance problems are becoming more frequent.
Most performance problems can be prevented through conventional project management techniques, if the management responsibilities are clearly defined. Often, industry relies heavily on
contractors to manage themselves due to limited in-house resources. Unfortunately, while many
environmental contractors have exceptional technical skills, many are only marginal managers. They
may find themselves overwhelmed by the pressures of meeting tight regulatory deadlines using inexperienced staff.
But, regulators typically have little patience for contractor problems. They demand that industry
respond quickly and effectively when things begin to go wrong. Fortunately, managing contractors is
similar to managing employees; many performance problems can be traced to a single individual, or
to a "personality" trait of the company as a whole. Consequently, proven techniques for dealing with
employee problems can often be adapted to the contractor relationship.
THE SYSTEM
This paper presents a system for dealing with contractor performance problems which was borrowed from several popular books on personnel management.'-2-3 The system (Table 1) focuses on
identifying the cause of the performance problem quickly, so that the manager can resolve the
problem with minimal disruption to the project schedule. In many cases, the problem can be resolved
in a few minutes to a few hours. The author has used the system to successfully resolve numerous
contractor problems and has shared the system with others who report similar favorable results. It
works most efficiently when each step is performed in the sequence presented herein.
Is the Problem Real?
As soon as you begin to feel that your contractor's performance is unsatisfactory, take a few
minutes to prepare a brief written description of the problem. Then, assemble supporting documentation from your files to verify that the problem is real. Resist the temptation to take action against the
contractor until you are certain that you have all of the facts.
Hopefully, your files will be complete and sufficient to verify the problem. Documentation is an
essential component of any project. Unfortunately, many people avoid paperwork, preferring to take
47th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1992 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
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