The January 22 afternoon session at the Contractor Information Exchange consisted of a series of four "talk show"-type panel discussions featuring contractor representatives. Contractors were asked to tell their stories--to describe what they were doing, where they were doing it, what other organizations (both host-country and stateside) were involved, successes achieved, and lessons learned. At the end of each panel discussion, contractor representatives were asked to provide suggestions or recommendations to DOE and laboratory program management. What follows are summaries of their remarks.

Some recommendations apply to the contractors themselves, while others are directed specifically to program managers from DOE and the laboratories and to the technology integrators.

Phrases in brackets [word word] were added after the fact, for clarification/explanation.

Clearly identify desired outcomes [of projects, tasks]; spell out those outcomes in the statement of work for the effort.

Involve program contracts representative in project/task kickoff meetings.

Carefully select plant staff for project management.

Continue bringing host-country people to the United States.

Have onsite presence--assign a company representative to stay at the project site.

Before going onsite, establish a detailed agenda for the meeting or other interaction.

Establish reliable sources for translation, interpretation, logistics.

Team building--build relationships with the host-country people, the DOE and laboratory program managers.

Require monthly reports/accountability from recipient organizations in project.

Make the United States put pressure on Russia and Ukraine organizations to resolve customs issues.

Hasten [the program] bid and proposal process.

Reexamine the PNNL-defined customs process. It is technically correct but unrealistic.

Don't expect the host-country nuclear power plants to cost-share project work--they do not have the money.

Involve Gosatomnadzor early on in projects in which they ultimately will have approval-disapproval role.

Compensate Gosatomnadzor for their staff involvement in projects.

Encourage hybrid management style--e.g., a combination of western [U.S. team] and Ukraine specialists for projects.

Communicate aggressively--i.e., don't give up easily on trying to connect with host-country people [develop work-arounds for time zone differences, telecommunications idiosyncracies].

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