Detailed Information on the
Minerals Management Service - Outer Continental Shelf Minerals Evaluation and Leasing Assessment

Publish Renewable/Alternative Use OCS Regulations

Acquire new geological data for deepwater formations and consider geological assessment technologies to improve the evaluation process.

Develop or adjust measurable performance goals to examine program performance and processes.

Ensure targets are ambitious rather than extensions of the baseline.

Establish a program for managing access to the Outer Continental Shelf for renewable energy projects as authorized in the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

Measure: Percent of available OCS acres offered for leasing during the 5-Year Program compared to what was planned for leasing

Explanation:This measure tracks the extent to which MMS is offering access to OCS acreage. A high percentage means the goals set in consultation with stakeholders were realistic and attainable. Results will be available after the end of the 2002-2007 5-year Program.

Measure: Percent of leases drilled annually for the first time. (First number is 5-year leases, second 8- and 10-year leases.) (Calendar year measure.)

Explanation:Indicates new activity on undrilled leases. Shows that the program is leasing to companies that are actively seeking production to meet the energy needs of the country. First number is 5-year leases, second 8- and 10-year leases.

Measure: Percent of available OCS acres offered for leasing in each year's lease-sales.

Explanation:This measure tracks the acres offered in a year's OCS lease-sales compared to the total acres in the applicable program areas. Years with low targets reflect the program's assumption that there will be no industry interest, and thus, no sale in scheduled ultra-frontier areas offshore Alaska. FY 2006 Cook Inlet Sale not held due to lack of industry interest.

Measure: Percent of available OCS oil and gas resources offered in each year's lease-sales

Explanation:This measure tracks the extent to which MMS is providing access to OCS oil and gas resources. The target means that the percentage of undiscovered resources offered will be greater than the percentage of available OCS acreage offered. The targets assume success in meeting Performance Measure two.

Measure: Percent of high bids on leases accepted or rejected within 60 days

Explanation:This measure tracks timeliness of bid evaluation, impacting both industry access to the OCS and federal receipt of funds. 100% will be completed within 120 days. Targets here are for lease-sales with fewer than 600 tracts receiving bids.

Measure: Percent of tracts with high bids rejected in the previous lease-sale receiving acceptable high bids the next time the tracts are made available

Explanation:This measure tracks the effect of MMS bid adequacy procedures on bidding and serves as a validation of MMS Fair Market Valuation. FY 2006: of 23 bids rejected in previous sales, 9 were accepted, 6 received no bids, 5 were rejected again and 3 are under appeal.

Measure: Percent of available OCS resources offered for leasing during the 5-Year Program compared to what was planned for leasing

Explanation:This measure tracks the extent to which MMS is offering access to OCS resources. A high percentage means the goals set in consultation with stakeholders were realistic and attainable.

Is the program purpose clear?

Explanation: Minerals Managment Service (MMS) is the nation's ocean resource expert charged with overseeing nearly two billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The program offers access to OCS resources to best meet national energy needs while safeguarding the environment; considering stakeholder comments; preserving free competition; and receiving fair-market value for the government.

Evidence: The OCS Lands Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide access to OCS mineral resources, subject to a number of environmental and economic considerations. Additionally, MMS offers rights-of-way access for pipelines and noncompetitively negotiates rights to OCS sand, gravel, and shell resources. ' Secretarial Order 3071 Establishes MMS ' Congressional Justifications

Does the program address a specific and existing problem, interest or need?

Explanation: The program offers access to the resources of the OCS. MMS contributes to domestic energy supplies by providing access to OCS lands for oil and natural gas exploration, development, and production by means of a Five-Year Program. MMS conveys sand and gravel resources for public works projects and offers pipeline rights-of-way.

Evidence: The Energy Information Administration, the National Petroleum Council, and the National Energy Policy all cite America's increasing demand for energy resources. The Offshore Minerals Management (OMM) program contributes to domestic energy supplies as authorized under the OCS Lands Act.

Is the program designed so that it is not redundant or duplicative of any other Federal, state, local or private effort?

Explanation: MMS is the only entity authorized to permit access to the OCS for energy and non-energy mineral resource. Additionally, the program collects and analyzes OCS geological and geophysical proprietary information. Though other entities produce resource estimates, they rely on MMS data.

Evidence: The OCS Lands Act, the Submerged Lands Act, Departmental guidance, and inter-agency memoranda of understanding clearly delineate jurisdictional boundaries (whether geographic or functional).

Is the program design free of major flaws that would limit the program's effectiveness or efficiency?

Explanation: The nonenergy mineral and oil and gas lease sales are free of major flaws. However pursuant to the OCSLA, MMS can only offer access to sand, gravel, salt, sulphur, oil, and gas. Currently, no clear authority exists for the Federal government to comprehensively review, permit, and provide appropriate regulatory oversight for renewable energy projects such as wind, wave, and solar'as well as projects of a more traditional nature such as facilities to handle liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas. Instead, current authorities appear to be either non-existent or limited in scope. MMS has the capacity to manage these resources, but their mandate is too narrow. In order for the Federal Government to manage OCS resources effectively and avoid ambiguity and confusion over the responsible Federal permitting agency, MMS is seeking statutory authority to provide access to the Outer Continental Shelf.

Evidence: The OMM program is free of flaws that would improperly allow access without regard to environmental considerations. The oil and gas component employs a rigorous process of consultation with stakeholders and affected parties in developing the Five-Year Leasing Program and conducting lease-sales. The sand and gravel component coordinates development of marine mineral resources through partnerships with 14 coastal States. Both components are supported by geologic information and environmental studies. The evidence below outlines the procedures to access OCS resources: ' Bid Adequacy Procedures and Bid Evaluation Diagram. ' OCS Leasing Program 2002-2007 Bid Adequacy Procedures and Bid Evaluation Diagram. ' Guidelines for Obtaining Offshore Sand

Is the program effectively targeted, so that resources will reach intended beneficiaries and/or otherwise address the program's purpose directly?

Explanation: The Program's resource is access to resources of the OCS. Benefits include: contributions to national energy security; OCS revenue stream; environmental research of the OCS; and regional economic developments including employment. The sand and gravel component provides resources for public works projects.

Evidence: Responsible development of OCS resources contributes about 30 percent of the Nation's domestic oil supply and 23 percent of its natural gas production. From 1995 to 2003, MMS fulfilled every request for sand, conveying rights to nearly 20 million cubic yards of OCS sand for shore protection and coastal restoration projects, protecting billions of dollars of property. The below outline MMS leasing process and guidelines that enable resources to reach intended beneficiaries: ' OCS Leasing Process ' OCS Leasing Guidelines ' Guidelines for Obtaining Offshore Sand for Wetlands Protection and Beach Restoration Projects ' National Environmental Policy Act ' Coastal Zone Management Act ' Sustainable Fisheries Act

Does the program have a limited number of specific long-term performance measures that focus on outcomes and meaningfully reflect the purpose of the program?

Explanation: The program offers environmentally sound access to the most promising resource areas of the OCS. The Five-Year Plan is a framework for MMS to offer access. Additionally, MMS developed (and is always modifying) measures that indicate the percent of resources offered and the rate at which leaseholders actively pursue resource exploration.

Evidence: Offshore Minerals Management (OMM) program monitors national trends in the oil and natural gas industry. The below indicate performance goals aside from PART: ' DOI Strategic Plan 2003-2008 ' MMS Logic Model ' National Assessment 2000 ' MMS FY 2005 Budget Justification (performance chart) ' OCS Leasing Program 2002-2007

Does the program have ambitious targets and timeframes for its long-term measures?

Explanation: Timeframes associated with the long-term measures are tied to the Five-Year Leasing Program. The combined targets of the measures are ambitious. They represent the highest percentages of acreage offered attainable given industry interest. In addition, MMS is developing measures that assess if these leases are being explored.

Evidence: Oil and gas prospects in the United States compete for exploration dollars in a global market. While the U.S. has a stable regulatory environment, the overall maturity of oil and gas development means smaller hydrocarbon accumulations are available as exploration targets compared to untapped fields in other countries. Therefore, maintaining interest in leasing on the OCS is difficult and ambitious goals are set through the OCS Leasing Program five-year plan.

Does the program have a limited number of specific annual performance measures that can demonstrate progress toward achieving the program's long-term goals?

Explanation: The program has annual performance measures that demonstrate progress towards providing access to OCS lands to best meet the energy needs of the nation. Measures address: meeting milestones to achieve timely sales; the acreage and resources offered in each sale; the efficiency of bid analysis; and the impact of bid adequacy procedures and leasing incentives.

Evidence: In addition to the PART measures, MMS monitors a suite of GPRA measures related to the DOI Strategic Plan. DOI assesses the overall success of the program based on the completion of lease sales and the continued attainment of fair market value. OMM also tracks numerous output measures through its Activity Based Costing system. Evidence includes: ' MMS Logic Model ' Offshore Minerals Management (OMM) Program Strategies and Tactical Plans 2003 Closeout Report ' OMM Program Strategies and Tactical Plans, 2004-2008 ' ABC performance data (ABC reports)

Does the program have baselines and ambitious targets for its annual measures?

Explanation: The program has collected trend data since its inception, and used the results of data analysis to reallocate resources and justify requests for resource increases. Additional measures/targets reflect the program's attempts to improve timeliness of consultation processes, to improve timeliness of bid evaluation, and to determine whether bid adequacy procedures and leasing incentives are producing the intended effect of increasing bidding. MMS measures should focus on how well the program is performing in helping to best meet the energy needs of the nation. However, not all measures are ambitious: often they are continuation of a previous baseline. Furthermore, some measures do not reflect the program, but analyze the environment in which the program is operating (e.g. percent of OCS acres offered in lease sales is indicative of industry interest rather than program performance)

Evidence: OCS planning areas vary significantly in terms of infrastructure, operating conditions, and political sensitivity. It is more likely that political, environmental, and multiple-use considerations will lead to deferrals of acreage, or that market conditions will constrain industry interest rather than failure of MMS to offer a lease sale. Studying the reasons for falling short of the targeted levels of performance (should this prove to be the case) may provide management information for setting terms and incentives for future lease-sales.

Do all partners (including grantees, sub-grantees, contractors, cost-sharing partners, and other government partners) commit to and work toward the annual and/or long-term goals of the program?

Explanation: MMS achieves goals, including adherence to a timely OCS lease sale schedule, through cooperation of partners. In the 2002-2007 Program, all partners met milestones, allowing five sales as planned. The program works closely with Federal, State, and local governments that require those resources from the OCS. Additionally, states and other entities share geologic and geophysical information with MMS to assist in the leasing process.

Evidence: Evidence of mutual commitment to program goals includes: regular consultation with States and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on coastal zone management issues; numerous cooperative agreements for environmental studies and marine minerals matters; discussions of multiple-use issues with the Department of Defense and the National Marine Fisheries Service; and various data-sharing agreements.

Are independent evaluations of sufficient scope and quality conducted on a regular basis or as needed to support program improvements and evaluate effectiveness and relevance to the problem, interest, or need?

Explanation: The Program is subject to regular review by the public, environmental groups, industry, states and federal agencies, as guidelines mandate external review and comment. Furthermore, federal advisory committees and outside groups such as the National Academies of Science periodically review technical and policy aspects of the program. Two current reviews, by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and independent contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, are particularly comprehensive assessments of the program's impact and management.

Evidence: The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy is conducting a comprehensive assessment of national ocean policy, addressing issues ranging from ocean governance to the stewardship of marine resources. The Commission's preliminary report addresses the full spectrum of OCS leasing issues, from State involvement in decision-making to environmental issues and production and revenue trends. MMS commissioned a comprehensive study, with independent contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, for a review of the program's core business processes. The project is divided into functional phases over the 2004-2008 period. The first phase, addressing the leasing program, has been completed.

Are Budget requests explicitly tied to accomplishment of the annual and long-term performance goals, and are the resource needs presented in a complete and transparent manner in the program's budget?

Explanation: The program's budget request links budget dollars and staffing levels to DOI mission goals and the related performance measures and Activity-Based Costing (ABC) end outputs. Since 1985, the program has realigned resources to support performance goals and mission priorities.

Evidence: Recent (FY2004) resource shifts include reductions in FTE and IT expenditures, to offset increased funding related to gas hydrates and infrastructure security. Long-term trends reflect steadily increased investment in the Gulf of Mexico region, offset by the closure of the Atlantic office and reductions at Program Headquarters and other regions. Annual Budget Justifications elaborate on how budget requests are tied to performance.

Has the program taken meaningful steps to correct its strategic planning deficiencies?

Explanation: The Program has always met GPRA requirements for strategic planning and performance measurement. Additionally, MMS established Program Strategies and Tactical Plans'2002 to 2007 (updated in FY 2004), a compilation of strategies that describes issues, desired outcomes, and explains tactical plans over a five-year period, to guide the agency. Furthermore, constant review of data helps MMS make adjustments to the program as necessary.

Evidence: OMM managers and staff routinely reference the program strategies, prioritize their work with the tactical plans, and have critical results incorporated into their employee performance plans. The program's Activity-Based Costing system is aligned with the DOI 2003-2008 Strategic Plan.

Does the agency regularly collect timely and credible performance information, including information from key program partners, and use it to manage the program and improve performance?

Explanation: The MMS collects vast amounts of information on the industry and market. MMS imposes reporting requirements on the oil and gas industry; facilitates the exchange of OCS-related information between stakeholders and provides information to stakeholders to manage the program and promote competitive bidding.

Evidence: The MMS considers bidding activity, geophysical/environmental factors, exploration and development results, market conditions, and stakeholder comments in making management decisions -- both for individual lease sales and in proposing the Five-Year Leasing Program. Consideration of these factors informs the OMM in offering access to the most promising OCS acreage, securing fair value, protecting sensitive environmental resources, and implementing innovative leasing incentives where appropriate. Last year, MMS acquired 3-D seismic information to define and assess potential oil and natural gas occurrences on a record 7,182 OCS blocks, bringing the bureau total to over 33,000 files of 3-D seismic information.

Are Federal managers and program partners (including grantees, sub-grantees, contractors, cost-sharing partners, and other government partners) held accountable for cost, schedule and performance results?

Explanation: Performance plans for all OMM managers include goals that are linked to the program's GPRA and PART measures, tactical plans, or critical-action dates. The plans only recently incorporated these goals. MMS has not yet had the opportunity to evaluate managers by them. Older contracts tended to have vague performance goals that were difficult to measure performance by. Contracting officers assure the quality and timeliness of contracted work, and monitor expenditures. Additionally, MMS established an Evaluation Integration Council, developed a process to integrate risk assessment and to track internal and external program evaluation information

Evidence: The majority of OMM employee performance plans include critical results linked to GPRA or other mission outcomes. In support of the Evaluation Integration Council, a Coordinators and Liaisons Group has been established to monitor progress against all audit and program evaluation corrective actions.

Are funds (Federal and partners') obligated in a timely manner and spent for the intended purpose?

Explanation: MMS reviews the budget quarterly to identify unfunded needs, spending lapses, and unusual spending patterns. Budget controls, including signature authority limitation and contractor oversight, ensure MMS obligates funds timely and for the intended purpose. Additionally, MMS contractors are subject to oversight from award to completion.

Evidence: The program establishes formal agreements with program partners, including reporting requirements to ensure that work performed contributes to the bureau's performance goals. Cost centers are established to track program budget allocations, and specifically identify funding associated with Congressional earmarks and intent. Evidence includes: ' Annual operating and financial plans ' Quarterly review and analysis of spending ' Monthly review of disbursements and obligations ' Requests for reallocation of funds ' End of year budget and/or finance reports ' Evaluation criteria for contract awards (performance)

Does the program have procedures (e.g. competitive sourcing/cost comparisons, IT improvements, appropriate incentives) to measure and achieve efficiencies and cost effectiveness in program execution?

Explanation: MMS uses competitive sourcing as a strategic tool to meet the organization's mission. MMS has studied all the functions it committed to study and saved approximately $2 million in costs over five years. Additionally, the Information Management Committee facilitates systematic reviews of IT contractors, equipment, and maintenance costs.

Evidence: Competitive sourcing studies determined the program's staff provides the best value to the taxpayer (avoiding over $2 million in cost over five years). MMS is re-engineering its business processes and acquiring IT components and web-enabled applications to improve its efficiency. Evidence includes: ' E-Gov Baseline Report and E-Gov Benchmarking Report for Leasing ' Report on Competitive Sourcing

Does the program collaborate and coordinate effectively with related programs?

Explanation: The oil and gas lease-sales are collaborated effectively with other related programs. The OCSLA and other statues mandate collaboration for maintaining the 5-year oil and gas-leasing schedule and providing access to non-mineral resources. Additionally, MMS works with the Coast Guard and Department of Transportation (to develop plans for deepwater LNG-ports) the USGS (to create methodologies for the National Resource Assessment), NOAA (to revise the Coastal Zone Management Act) Bureau of Land Management (to institute a coherent DOI Fluid Minerals Architecture)

Evidence: Processes for the oil-and-gas and sand-and-gravel programs provide for extensive consultation and coordination with interested and affected parties. Further, OMM's Program Strategies and Tactical Plans emphasize a number of collaborative efforts to improve interagency coordination. However, the Oceans Commission Preliminary Report indicates ambiguity over managing other resources on the OCS that have not been directly assigned to a specific agency.

Does the program use strong financial management practices?

Explanation: An independent auditor determined MMS is free of material internal control weaknesses and has procedures to ensure charges are legitimate and payments, accurate. MMS reviews invoices greater than $50,000 and a sample of smaller invoices.

Evidence: The MMS has procedures in place for financial management, quality assurance, contractor oversight, and management control. They include: ' Implementation of a Quality Assurance Review Program. ' Required training for Contracting Officer's Technical Representatives ' FY2003 Independent Auditors Report ' MMS Finance Division written procedures on commercial payments

Has the program taken meaningful steps to address its management deficiencies?

Explanation: The program annually conducts Alternative Management Control Reviews. MMS established a Coordinators and Liaisons Group to audit and evaluate program staff members to ensure follow-up. Through observed industry activity, OMM analyzes the results of sales and proactively take steps to develop terms and conditions for future sales that will encourage responsible bidding, exploration, and development with regard to the economic and geologic climate of the sale area.

Evidence: The OCS Policy Committee provides advice on implementation of the OCS Lands Act. Select subcommittees study issues from a variety of perspectives and develop recommendations to inform and improve OCS policy. In addition to strengthening coordination of audit and program evaluation efforts, the bureau is moving toward a risk assessment strategy to ensure evaluation efforts/resources are targeted effectively. Additional evidence includes: ' DOI Management Control Handbook. ' E-Gov Baseline Report and E-Gov Benchmarking Report for Leasing.

Has the program demonstrated adequate progress in achieving its long-term performance goals?

Explanation: MMS has a history of providing the greatest access possible to OCS mineral resources as shown by their performance measures. This has enabled industry to produce about 143 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 13 billion barrels of oil. Since 1995, the Sand and Gravel Program has conveyed approximately 20 million cubic yards of OCS sand, satisfying all requests. They have been successful in offering all available acreage and resources and tracking industry action. Their new measure should help MMS maintain vigilance to ensure that exploration is occurring on lands that are leased.

Evidence: In addition to updating GPRA status to the DOI at least annually, the bureau releases numerous fact sheets, reports, and statistics detailing the program's performance, related industry activity, and resulting revenues. Furthermore, the program monitors national trends in the oil and natural gas industry to see how their program is influencing industry activity.

Does the program (including program partners) achieve its annual performance goals?

Explanation: If 2.4 is no than 4.2 can only be small extent. The program achieves its annual goals. MMS satisfies critical action dates (for environmental considerations and stakeholder consultations), holds lease sales that secure fair market value, and offers land and resources to the greatest extent possible.

Evidence: The MMS releases sales summaries, bidding results and related analyses following each lease sale. These reports (some listed below) and statistics detail the acreage offered, the acreage leased, and information related to fair market value. MMS bid adequacy procedures have resulted in higher returns in subsequent sales for tracts that have had bids previously rejected on fair value grounds. For example, one year after MMS rejected combined bids of $11 million on two deepwater blocks in an area of the Green Canyon (Central Gulf of Mexico), the same blocks were re-offered and drew bids of more than $30 million each. ' OMM Program Strategies and Tactical Plans ' 2003 Closeout Report ' DOI FY 2003 Performance and Accountability Report ' OMM GPRA Measures Report

Does the program demonstrate improved efficiencies or cost effectiveness in achieving program goals each year?

Explanation: OMM used competitive sourcing studies saving almost $2.5M in five years, launched a process review to examine policy and procedural changes and invested in technologies to improve program efficiency.

Evidence: OMM consistently implements organizational efficiencies. Since 1985, staff levels have declined by 25%, while the number of leases managed by the program increased by about 40%. ' G&G Data Acquisition 2002, GOM G&G Data 2001 ' Competitive Sourcing Report ' Blueprint Report: Manage and Administer Leasing Program Cluster

Does the performance of this program compare favorably to other programs, including government, private, etc., with similar purpose and goals?

Explanation: MMS is the only agency authorized to manage access to mineral resources on the OCS. A benchmarking study evaluating elements of the leasing program to comparable processes in federal, state, private, and foreign organizations found the program practices were on par with the field.

Evidence: MMS commissioned the benchmarking study in an effort to incorporate best practices into OMM's core business processes. The study found that OMM practices were superior in 13 of 14 comparisons to other public sector land leasing organizations. Additionally, the report concluded that MMS does use best practices in selected leasing processes, and recommended 21 methods for improving other leasing activities. Evidence: Benchmarking and Blueprint Report: Manage and Administer Leasing Program Cluster, March, 2004.

Do independent evaluations of sufficient scope and quality indicate that the program is effective and achieving results?

Explanation: Independent evaluations of varying scope found the program effective. In 1997, the National Academies of Science found that 'MMS' efforts 'resulted in the creation of novel collaborative processes, the resolution of several long-term disputes, and an increase in oil production...' More recently, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy reported that "the OCS oil and gas program has a well institutionalized and reasonably comprehensive management regime' Though the report noted there is ambiguity over the management of some of the ocean resources.

Evidence: Independent evaluations come from Ocean Commission Preliminary Report, 2003 Independent Auditor's Report and Reports from the National Academies of Science and the OCS Policy Committee.