Responsible Detrick

In the spirit of teamwork and cooperation, the Detrick Restoration Team will complete an environmental restoration program in a safe, expeditious and cost-effective manner. To achieve this, the Detrick Restoration Team will use its combined resources to make decisions based on good science and engineering, meaningful stakeholder and community involvement, and regulatory agency requirements.

The U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Detrick initiated partnering with the following agencies

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), Baltimore District
U.S. Army Environmental Center (USAEC)
U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine (USACHPPM)
Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region III
Shaw E&I, Inc.

What is Partnering?

Partnering is the process by which two or more organizations with shared interests act as a team to achieve mutually beneficial goals. Typically, the "partners" are organizations that in the past have worked at arm's length, or have even had competitive or adversarial relationships. For the Army's environmental mission, partners might include Army agencies and contractors, Maryland Department of the Environment, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Partnering is not a legally binding relationship or a formal partnership. Rather it is a commitment and agreement between the parties to:

Participate in structured, facilitated team building sessions and joint training to acquire the skills needed to work together as a team.
Remove organization impediments to open communication within the team, regardless of rank or organization affiliation.

Principles of Partnering (The Management Edge)

Teamwork can overcome organizational impediments
The team should be empowered down the line
The best approach to resolving disputes is to prevent them
Shared responsibility involves shared risks and benefits
Partnering requires open communication and flexible boundaries
Partners maximize each other's resources

What is Fort Detrick Doing?

On November 1999, Fort Detrick formally initiated partnering with the hopes of encouraging more efficient use of cleanup dollars by promoting better communication and teamwork among the stakeholders. The partnering process helps reduce gaps between studies and actions, thereby speeding up the remediation process and helping to maintain performance despite projections of trends toward a reduced budget.

Partnering at Fort Detrick has made significant improvements in the processes used to investigate and remediate the Installation Restoration Program cleanup actions. Team members have made commitments to each other in a spirit of openness and teamwork, not only accelerating cleanup but also improving working relations. The team members feel the openness allows them to present professional discussion and judgement, realistic views on the investigative results, and the consideration of risk assessment. The team concept fosters negotiation, understanding and "real listening". The Detrick Restoration Team now looks at problems from each other's perspective and has been open enough to discuss these problems. The Team meets on a monthly basis and rotates the location of meetings -- each Team member shares the responsibility of hosting meetings at their respective facilities.

The first major accomplishment occurred in January 2000 which was to finalize an Engineering Evaluation Cost Assessment (EECA) for an Interim Removal Action at Trench B11 disposal pits -- a former disposal site located in Area B or Fort Detrick. The alternative selected is the utilization of soil freezing technology during excavation to recover mixed laboratory waste known to be buried at the site. The Army signed the Decision Document on July 2000 and the actual removal is scheduled to begin February 2001. The Partnering has greatly accelerated Fort Detrick's Installation restoration schedule.

The Army actively encourages the use of partnering in its environmental mission. Partnering is a proven tool for dramatically improving working relationships between agencies and organizations that share a common environmental goal. The result can be a solution that is better than could be achieved by any of the organizations acting alone. Above all, by creating a joint solution to problems all organizations have a commitment to successful implementation. The early success the Detrick Restoration Team has achieved with Partnering is encouraging for all stakeholders and this will be the impetus as the Team strives towards future successes in Fort Detrick's Installation Restoration Program.

Area B Remediation Partnerships


Maryland Department of the Environment Regulations	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region III	Maryland Department of the Environment

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District	U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion & Preventive Medicine	U.S. Army Environmental Center

Frederick County	FedLaw - Federal Regualtions	Defense Network Information Exchange

The City of Frederick	U.S. Army