CIty Of Atlanta DOW Web SIte

The City of Atlanta, Bureau of Water, has routinely undertaken major competitive assessments of our water system over the past decade and has initiated significant improvements and established new precedents in the way we operate and maintain our system.

Atlanta Skyline beyond one of the two City Reservoirs.

The City of Atlanta Water System is supplied by a surface water source, the Chattahoochee River, and consists of two water treatment plants within the City and a third plant, jointly owned by the City of Atlanta and Fulton County. Together, these plants have a capacity to supply 246.4 MGD to our Customers. The distribution system service area covers over 650 square miles and consists of approximately 2,500 miles of pipe (ranging in size from 6 to 72 inches), 17 storage tanks including clearwells, 8 zone transfer pump stations and 4 booster pump stations, and serves up to 1.5 million people daily. Service connections to the system are through approximately 149,000 residential, commercial, and wholesale meters.

Our recent trend of competitively assessing our system and employing innovative solutions commenced about ten years ago with the commissioning of the Atlanta-Fulton.

County plant in mid-1991. This jointly owned facility with Fulton County serves the north area of the Atlanta distribution system. State of the art design throughout the project, based on criteria to maximize automated operation, enables the plant to be operated at minimum cost through a private Operation and Maintenance contract management firm.

The design of this plant was a response to the competitive environment facing public water utilities and continues to serve as a model for the older plants in our system.

Benchmarking our pumping costs indicated that replacement of our two largest pump stations, both powered by steam turbines, with new pump stations powered by electric motors, would present a more efficient and more competitive option and thus would reduce operating costs. One of these pump stations was commissioned in 1994, while the other will be operational by the end of 2001. At each pump station, we increased the overall efficiency from below 30% (using steam driven turbines) to above 80% (using electric motor drives), resulting in significant annual energy savings.

Hemphill 200 MGD Finished Water Pump Station under construction, scheduled for completion during 2001.

The 1996 Olympics provided an opportunity to benchmark our facilities against other previous Olympic hosts, such as Los Angeles and Barcelona, to ensure quality service during this international event.

Major security upgrades (security cameras, card access points, fencing, tamper proof fire hydrants, etc.) and a filter rehabilitation project resulted from these comparisons and were implemented. Thus, water quality and delivery was maintained throughout the Olympics at the high standards our Customers have become accustomed to expect.

During 1997, the Atlanta Bureau of Water hosted the American Water Works Association annual Conference in Atlanta, providing us an opportunity to showcase our facilities and invite comparative discussions.

In August of 1997, SELF Magazine benchmarked the Atlanta system against the rest of the country and rated Atlanta’s water as the best tasting in the United States. The article quoted reviews such as “Has that just-out-of-the-spring quality”, “Clean, plain, no aftertaste”, and “Very crisp and fresh”.

Hemphill 136.5 MGD Water Treatment Plant.

Continuing benchmark comparisons of our Bureau with other Cities indicated that, while our water quality was exceptional, opportunities were still available to improve the efficiencies of our operations and maintenance. Through attrition and cross training, staffing levels were reduced from 868 positions in 1993 to about 480 by the end of 1998.

Even though staff reductions had greatly improved our personnel ratio to be more competitive as compared to other Cities, our goal of further reducing costs, and avoiding rate increases continued. Though discussions had began several years earlier, we began a competitive selection process and, starting 1/1/1999, entered a 20 year contract with a private firm to manage the Operations and Maintenance of our facilities and distribution system. The City of Atlanta estimates that this Operations Management contract will reduce costs by $20,000,000 annually, and $400,000,000 over the term of the contract.

The City of Atlanta transferred virtually all personnel to the private manager, however the City retained a small staff in the Bureau of Water to oversee the O&M firm and manage the Capital Improvements Program.

The City’s current staff continues to implement new projects to improve the competitive position of our system:

Significant treatment plant upgrades are scheduled during 2001 to replace many of the aging control valves and chemical feed instrumentation, leading to a new automated filter control system project in 2002, which should provide significant cost reduction in plant operations and allow for more efficient chemical usage.

An infrastructure Asset Management program is planned to start in 2001 which will not only improve the effectiveness of our Capital Improvements planning, but will improve our Finance and accounting efforts in maintaining our excellent bond rating.

For our ambitious Capital Improvements Program, our Engineering/ Technical Services strategy is to continue our efforts to be more efficient and productive with project starts and completions while working with a greatly reduced staff as compared to previous years. Therefore, alternate project delivery methods, such as Design-Build, will be tested during 2001, where 3 projects are currently awaiting contract signatures and a Notice To Proceed.

The City of Atlanta continues to support Employee Development by encouraging training seminars and job related conferences. In addition, tuition is reimbursed at local colleges to promote employees continued education.

Chattahoochee 64.9 MGD Water Treatment Plant.

Q2. Have you adopted a competitiveness strategy as part of your overall strategic and long range planning?

Also in Atlanta, as in many other Cities, water system improvements compete for funding against wastewater projects (which in Atlanta has several times the funding requirements of Water) and other infrastructure improvements, with regulatory actions often guiding the priority process. We try to take this into account when planning our operating and improvements strategy by assuring that our available funds provide the greatest benefit. An Asset Management Program will be started in 2001 to provide, among other benefits, further guidance and assurance in selecting project priority.

The Atlanta-Fulton County plant will remain under private operation and maintenance, as it was designed, and we expect it to continue to be a role model for new plants. Therefore, the City of Atlanta is currently supporting major improvements projects for additional reservoir space, additional finished water clearwell storage area, and a redundant raw water main among other improvements to maintain the high reliability of this plant.

Of course, we have adopted a major long term strategic commitment with the 20-year contract for private management of the Operations and Maintenance of our primary Facilities (Hemphill and Chattahoochee) and their associated Distribution systems.

Atlanta-Fulton County Water Treatment Plant, winner of the 2001 Safe Drinking Water Act Excellence Award for a Large Surface Water Public Water Supply.

The City has estimated a savings of $20,000,000 per year over the 20 year contract period and our strategic plan is to maintain the operations and maintenance savings at that level, and this is one of the key expectations from our private O&M firm.

In the distribution system, we have developed a consistent annual water main replacement program, which minimizes our Customer complaints as well as replacement and repair costs. This program, at about $5 million during 2001, will ramp up to over $10 million per year in 5 years and will hold at that level for at least another 10 years.

In addition, several new major transmission line projects are planned for the next 5 years at a cost of over $200 million. These mains will address water supply to growing areas in the southwest portion of our system, enabling support for new residential and commercial customers. As an old motto of our Bureau stated: “Atlanta grows where water goes”. This also creates a potential for new wholesale revenue Customers from communities outside the City.

In 2001, the City added a new wholesale customer, Coweta County, a rapidly growing area located south of Atlanta. Innovative financing with the Customer allowed needed infrastructure, which was not in place, to be fast tracked. Within a year of initial discussions, a new transmission main was in place for finished water delivery. This new customer along with our existing customers will benefit from the economy of scale of our system’s continued growth.

Within our current 5 year plan is the implementation of a pilot study for upgrading to an automated meter reading system, which is now manual. We expect to install new meters on about 5% of our system and gauge the results of labor savings, accuracy, and Customer Service against success stories heard in other Cities before phasing in the entire system.

Through our private operator, we have begun upgrades on the SCADA system, which monitors the distribution system. Competitive assessments of newer technologies have enabled a lower operating cost through both equipment changes and a reduction of dedicated telephones lines.

Stored material costs have been minimized with the creation of a Bureau-wide equipment pool and centralized warehouse that reduced the amount of on-hand inventory previously stocked at multiple locations.

New Commercial meter installation.

In regard to our Operations planning, we are currently meeting our regulatory requirements in the treatment plants and our long-term strategy is of course to implement improvement projects to maintain this record. In fact, we have never violated any SDWA standard for MCL or any treatment technique.

In 1999 we directed and funded our O&M Operator to convert our disinfectant method from chlorine gas to a liquid sodium hypochlorite system. This strategy allowed us to avoid the significant capital cost of both installing chlorine gas scrubber systems and devising a potentially controversial emergency response plan for a chlorine gas leak. Converting to a sodium hypochlorite system and not constructing chlorine scrubber facilities, allowed a capital savings of about 2 million dollars. While annual operating costs actually increased, our long-term strategy also incorporates consideration of employee and public safety benefits, and this project’s improvements met those goals.

Our safety programs have been instrumental in reducing Workman’s Compensation costs. In 1996 there were 216 workman’s compensation claims that cost us over $139,000. Those numbers were reduced in 1998 to 131 claims for about $64,000. The results of our strategy is evident from our implementation of other safety projects. Prior to privatizing our O&M, the City was exempt from OSHA requirements. In 1999, we required a safety audit of the operations and authorized a $600,000 program for immediate safety improvements in order to comply with existing OSHA regulations.

A major Capital Improvement project is scheduled for 2001, estimated at $28 million, which will replace most of the treatment plant control valves for every filter, replace most of the chemical feed systems, and repair or replace aging sedimentation basin and flocculator equipment. This project will precede a computerized automated control system project scheduled in 2002 to improve plant efficiency and optimize chemical applications. This will result in lower chemical costs and higher quality water.

Two other treatment plant projects, totaling $17 million, will be started in 2001 and will improve the solids and process wastewater removal systems at the treatment plants in order to comply with state regulatory rules.

A new electrically powered pump station will be on-line by the end of 2001, which will replace an existing 100+-year-old steam powered pump station. This pump station, with an installed capacity of 200 MGD, will supply water to the downtown Atlanta area and will be the workhorse of our system. Comparative cost analysis, performed by an outside energy consultant, confirmed the replacement strategy.

Hemphill 200 MGD Finished Water Pump Station, completion
scheduled by the end of 2001.

The Atlanta Bureau of Water was among the first group of commercial users in Georgia to adopt the “Real Time Pricing” billing strategy with our electrical utility. When looking to ensure the reliability of our new electric pump station at our Hemphill plant, we installed a new 10 MW back-up generator facility. Working with Georgia Power, our electrical utility supplier, we have set up several avenues of electrical rate incentives, including multiple load management of our major electrical accounts and real time pricing, to save over $1 million per year on energy costs.

10 MW Back-up Electrical Power Generation Facility at the Hemphill Complex.

To continue with this strategy of long term reliability improvements, we have projects totaling over $14 million, under contract for completion in 2001, to add back-up generation capacity at all our major treatment plants and pump stations. Coordination with Georgia power, utilizing rate incentives will offset most, if not all, of the costs of these back-up facilities.

Energy cost saving measures is also built into the O&M management contract, providing sharing of savings as an incentive to reduce expenses.

We consider a maintenance management system to be a critical tool in our long-term competitive strategy and made it a requirement of our O&M contract. Maximo was the recommended system we approved and we continuously oversee that it is utilized efficiently and effectively.

While Private Operation has brought reduction in the daily operating workforce, it has also created opportunities for competitive pricing through the private O&M firm out-sourcing work to local subcontractors.

For the City of Atlanta, through the current Privatization Contract, future opportunities of cost savings for Operations and Maintenance will come primarily from minimizing the costs on energy utility costs, commodities, and insurance.

Q3. Have you established Labor-Management or other employee-involved task forces or other mechanisms to assess and reengineer work processes?

The City of Atlanta Bureau of Water has long been a proponent of employee involved improvement initiatives. Prior to privatization, a Quality Service Initiatives (QSI) program, run by Bureau of Water Personnel from all representative areas, was in place and met once a month to consider employee suggestions for process and task improvements. Gifts were awarded for implemented suggestions. Our current one stop call center resulted from this program. The Bureau of Water received the Mayor’s Empowering Leader Award in 1995 and the Mayor’s TOPS In Service Award in 2000 for programs such as this which recognize the contributions of the employee.

Prior to privatization, the City offered three early retirement programs in the 1990’s. While this achieved the overall goal of reducing the quantity of the labor force, it also had the negative side effect of reducing our most experienced staff. Therefore, a reengineering of job positions and responsibilities was necessary in certain areas after each early retirement program. Cross training of employees was an important part of this process.

Apprenticeship programs certified by the American Council on Education were initiated and fully supported. For example, employees volunteered from several areas of the Bureau of Water to enter electrician apprenticeship training. Bureau of Water training personnel taught regular classes and demonstrated the training with fieldwork. Ten employees have graduated the program with State certified electrician licenses.

The City also has an excellent relationship with the workers union, AFSCME, which was involved through the entire Privatization process. This relationship was continued with the private O&M firm.

When the City privatized the Operations and Maintenance of the Bureau of Water on January 1, 1999, the City insisted on a contract which not only required that all employees be transferred to the private firm, but also required that all employees must be retained for a minimum of 3 years, an unusually long request at the time. In addition, the private firm was required to provide at least 60 hours of training annually for each employee.

A great importance was placed during the privatization Request For Proposal preparation, and during the selection process of the private contractor, that our tradition of commitment to the employee is extended. Employees transferred employees to the contract firm, as a result of the City’s contract requirements, have an excellent benefits package that meet or exceeds prior benefits with the City.

The workforce in the current Bureau of Water is now a small oversight team, which primarily monitors the O&M firm and manages the Capital Improvements Program. The oversight team works closely together and is supplied with cellular phones for readily accessible field communication. In addition, each employee has a computer and email address for posting messages. Regular meetings are held every 2 weeks with the entire staff where current issues are discussed and ideas exchanged to more efficiently and effectively resolve problem areas.

A program was instituted in 1998, where City employees are regularly evaluated with an assessment process known as QPAI, Quality Performance Appraisal Initiatives. This program allows for continuing feedback on job performance, rewarding high productivity and keeping the employee updated and an active participant in the evaluation process. Highly effective employees are able to benefit from cash bonuses as part of this program.

Bureau of Water employees are highly encouraged to pursue training opportunities. The City has a Training Bureau for many standard training needs, but outside conventions and training programs are often utilized for specific needs.

The City also has associations with colleges in the Atlanta area and provides tuition reimbursement for many job related programs.

Q4. Do you have a process for measuring and evaluating customer satisfaction?

The Atlanta Bureau of Water’s focus is strictly on serving our Customers and our effort is reflected in the Bureau’s mission statement: “To serve the public, maximizing the use of our capital funds, physical facilities and human resources, by providing an adequate supply of high quality potable water to the region and promoting environmental awareness and consideration. As the system owner, to oversee the contract operations of the system so as to realize the maximum benefit of contract management to the citizens/ratepayers.”

As many quality management consultants have taught us, our “customers” are really everyone we come into contact with: our employees, the residential, commercial, and wholesale users of our water, our City officials, etc. And indeed, we think our successes have been more satisfying when we have treated each other as customers.

The City of Atlanta has organized the City into 24 Neighborhood Planning Units, which are run by the neighborhood citizens. They meet regularly, usually once per month and meetings are often attended by City representatives. Feedback from these meetings come to the City Bureaus in the form of comments or action requests and normally receives prompt attention from the Bureau of Water. In addition, the Atlanta City Council Committees, such as the Utility and Finance Committees, hold biweekly meetings for public input. The Bureau of Water routinely attends these meetings to present new legislation and projects, as well as address public and City Council concerns. Feedback from these sessions is also always promptly addressed.

The City of Atlanta and the Bureau of Water both have web sites and email addresses where Customers may obtain information and leave messages.

Daily telephone communications from Customers come to a single telephone number for all Customer needs. This was initiated, in fact, as a result of our employee QSI program, as a Customer Service Initiative suggestion. We implemented and required by contract that our private O&M manager continue to maintain this 24/7 one stop call center for customers. Questions from Customers regarding any area of water service such as billing, water quality, leaks, meter applications, or any other area are handled through this single telephone number. Trained Customer Service representatives attempt to provide immediate responses with the assistance of the computerized Customer Information and Billing terminals, (we use Customer Star II by EDS), but if necessary, they can direct Customers to the proper Personnel to resolve questions. When a Customer has a complaint that cannot be immediately resolved, disputes are handled by a Water & Sewer Appeals Board in order to provide Customers with another avenue of feedback about their specific problem. We benchmark and track customer complaints, and how they are resolved, each quarter and annually in our “Management Plan” which is submitted to the Mayor and City Council. Each year a goal for reducing the number of complaints is established. In 2000, a 27% reduction was achieved over the previous year’s performance, and a 54% reduction in complaints was realized in the 1^st quarter of this year.

We also have the capability to send selective automated telephone messages to Customers. This is particularly useful as one of our layers of notice when performing maintenance in a specific service area.

We are also completing over $2.5 million of renovations at City Hall and a remote site to improve our Customer Service Areas, making it easier for the customer to visit us directly and to provide a better working environment for the customer service representatives.

For billing, Customers are given a variety of payment options, from mailing in the statements to coming down to City Hall, to paying by cash, check, or credit card. This has helped us achieve a 97.5% collection record since 1991.

Atlanta has a large transient and low-income population. In 1994, the Bureau of Water initiated an innovative program specifically designed to assist low-income water customers with their water bills and with water conservation measures. The “Care & Conserve” program provides an alternative to terminating water services to those customers who may be unable to pay their bills due to financial hardship. The Care & Conserve Program is funded entirely from grant funds, private corporate donations, and volunteer contributions from other Atlanta water customers. The fund is used not only to provide payment assistance to customers, but to conduct a comprehensive water audit and then assist the customer to reduce their water consumption by repairing leaks in their plumbing and retrofitting with the most water efficient fixtures available.

For our wholesale customers, we host a meeting annually in order to present our on-going efforts and provide a forum for directly obtaining feedback in a face-to-face environment.

Q5. Have you established a method for tracking the measures that impact your bond rating and for ensuring or improving your bond rating?

As many Water Systems recognize, the reliability of safe, clean drinking water is often taken for granted by the public. In fact, our task is not only expected to be done, but done well, and we diligently accept this challenge. In the March, 1997 issue of Governing Magazine, the Atlanta Bureau of Water was praised for our clear and concise Mission Statement.

Confidence and significant recognition was shown by the Atlanta City Council with the approval of the private management contract put together to manage the operation and maintenance of the Atlanta Water system. This allowed a savings of $20 million annually for the City, and $400 million over the life of the contract. Contract savings afforded the City the opportunity to utilize those funds for wastewater infrastructure improvements at a time when the State Environmental Protection Division had placed consent orders on wastewater project completions. Without this effort, the City water and sewer Customers would certainly have experienced a significant rate increase.

Ms. Remedios K. del Rosario, the Bureau of Water Commissioner, an appointed position, has served two Mayors and is currently on staff as the longest serving Commissioner. She received Community Service Proclamation from the City Council in 1993 and again in 1997 for outstanding service by the Bureau of Water to the citizens of Atlanta. This is a testimony to the Bureau’s work and an important factor in achieving the competitive goals of continuously reducing operating expenses in an efficient and effective manner.

In a broader acknowledgment, our regulating board, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, has recognized our treatment plant jointly owned with Fulton County, with the Region 4, 2001 Safe Drinking Water Act Excellence Award for a Large Surface Water Public Water Supply.

Q7. Do you have a mechanism for getting outside advice and counsel relative to improving the operations of your utility?

The City of Atlanta, Bureau of Water is fortunate to have many options available for outside counsel.

We are active members of AMWA through which are available many valuable resources and contacts throughout the United States. Meetings are always informative and the on-line reports and briefings are distributed throughout the staff on a routine basis.

We are active members of the American Water Works Association (AWWA). The many avenues of information sources: Conferences, Courses, Publications, and the opportunity for committee work and industry contacts make this an invaluable resource for our Bureau. We also support the American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AWWARF) with funding, survey assistance, and benefit from their studies.

We are active members of the Georgia Water & Pollution Control Association (GWPCA). This is a valuable resource of regional contacts which we can share common experiences and challenges specific to Georgia.

We are active members of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). This is a metro Atlanta group which has a water system section which meets monthly to discuss and share Atlanta area topics and goals. In recent years this group has proved key leadership in the Tri-states “Water Wars” – a conflict concerning the allocation of water among Georgia, Alabama and Florida, water conservation issues and statewide drought planning efforts.

As the City required in the O&M contract, our private operator joined the Partnership for Safe Water in 2000.

We have a very good relationship with the State of Georgia, Environmental Protection Division (EPD). While they are our regulatory agency, they know our system quite well and have been very valuable to us in sharing their knowledge and advice during discussions with them.

The Atlanta area is well represented with well-known and highly competent Consultants for the Water Treatment industry. This wealth of knowledge has been utilized from both the private sector as well as the academic. The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the top research centers in the world and has been utilized in conjunction with our consulting engineers. During the privatization process, we hired a Consultant team for advice in compiling the Request For Proposal and they have been retained since the transition to assist with annual performance audits of the private O&M firm.

Finally, one of the major advantages of privatizing our Operations and Maintenance is the partnership it has brought with a major international water treatment company. Our private O&M firm brings state of the art resources for making recommendations toward improvements in our system and processes.

The Atlanta Bureau of Water has diligently maintained the current 15-year Capital Improvement Program since the mid 1980’s. Previously, since 1952, the Bureau had issued an annual “Plans of Improvement” covering a 10-year period.

The obvious goal of a systematic program is to get the most out of existing infrastructure and replace it when maintenance is no longer safe or cost effective.

Funding levels for the Bureau of Water have been reduced for the last four years due to Wastewater and Sewer infrastructure needs. However, we have identified an aggressive plan to put us back on track, which will require more than $502 million over the next 5 years for which we are currently pursuing bond funding.

Our Capital Improvements Program addresses the distribution system and the water treatment facilities, both of which certainly require continuous upgrade.

For the distribution system we have approached improvements in two ways: 1) Annual renewal/replacement programs and 2) specific projects based on Consultant studies of the system.

A relatively new pursuit for us is the serious implementation and maintenance of a hydraulic model of the distribution system. The system is modeled utilizing a Stoner software package and has recently been rigorously updated and calibrated. Our O&M manager is tasked with keeping it updated. We expect this to be a more important tool in the future in selecting areas for our water main renewal/replacement program.

For the treatment facilities, improvements are prioritized by regulatory, quality, and safety requirements, as well as by reliability and efficiency improvements.

Being implemented in 2001 is an Infrastructure Asset Management program. We anticipate that this will be a valuable tool for the Bureau of Water, assisting us with future CIP planning by easing the complicated assessments of project sensitivity and criticality and assisting in determining priority structures.

Q9. Do you develop and foster creativity within your organization?

While Water Systems in general are usually very conservative organizations, the Atlanta Bureau of Water has long been known for bringing creative and innovative yet reliable solutions to the table to make improvements to our operations.

As mentioned in a previous question, a creative attitude was highly encouraged from all employees through our Quality Service Initiatives program. Employees were rewarded for suggestions that improved the operations of the Bureau of Water.

Creativity is evident with the contracting of a private firm to manage the operation and maintenance of the system, as the City of Atlanta is the largest Water System privately managed in the United States. Only creative ideas throughout the contracting process could have initiated and made the transition possible.

After the private O&M management contract was in place in 1999, the City retained and rehired a small group of key employees to oversee the O&M management contract, manage the CIP projects of which responsibility entirely remains with the City, and run the day to day administration of the Bureau. Faced with new and uncharted job responsibilities, the Department’s Commissioner encouraged innovative approaches to the performance of job duties in order to be highly efficient and effective with a small team. Currently, this team consists of only 15 employees.

More effective Project deliveries for Capital Improvements are one of the new areas we are exploring. The Bureau of Water is pioneering the Design-Build delivery method within the City of Atlanta, which had not previously used it to a significant extent. Several design-build projects are scheduled to begin in 2001, and we are closely gauging its success.

The Bureau of Water also stepped out with a creative approach with the implementation of several back-up generator projects, one is now completed and several others scheduled to start in 2001. We pioneered for the City, an agreement with our electrical utility to provide these back-up generation facilities through a design-build-operate-maintain-finance contract, requiring no up-front Capital. The facilities are fully maintained for 15 years, which is also the finance period. Electrical rate incentives virtually offset the payments. Other City Bureaus have followed our creative lead with similar projects.

A three-year drought has found Atlanta searching for creative conservation techniques. While solutions have been implemented in the western United States for many years, the Atlanta area public has been slow to accept these measures during drought years. In order to educate our customers, we are highly promoting a free service during the summer months, where Water Resources and Landscape Architecture graduate students offer in-home conservation advice as well as specific-to-their-yard landscaping ideas using xeriscaping techniques. This program promotes proper landscape planning, efficient irrigation, practical turf and plant selections, and use of mulches. With this training and education, Customers can reduce their water consumption needs.

In another example of creative innovation, we sponsored a program in the elementary schools of the Atlanta School System known as “Water Sourcebook”. This is a very creative, comprehensive water and conservation curriculum with hundreds of hands-on exercises cleverly designed to integrate water into all academic areas (math, science, language arts and social studies) for each grade level. We are currently working to also get this into the middle school curriculum.

Awards

Q1. Have you undertaken any kind of benchmarking or competitiveness assessment?

Q3. Have you established Labor-Management or other employee-involved task forces or other mechanisms to assess and reengineer work processes?

Q5. Have you established a method for tracking the measures that impact your bond rating and for ensuring or improving your bond rating?

Q6. Has your governing Board or Council recognized your work or indicated its awareness of your work in becoming more competitive?

Q8. Do you have a program for systematically replacing and rehabilitating your production and delivery system infrastructure?

Q9. Do you develop and foster creativity within your organization?

Q10. Who should AMWA contact if additional information or clarification is required for this application?

Application Summary

amwa Gold Awards