Memorandum From Attorney General Janet Reno-January 2001
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January 2001 |
Report To The President On The Interagency ADR Working Group
Civil Enforcement Section
Claims Against The Government Section
Contracts And Procurement Section
Workplace Section
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
The Report of the Interagency Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Working Group, which is hereby submitted, marks the end of the first year of this government-wide effort to promote more collaborative ways to handle disputes. The report, prepared pursuant to your Memorandum creating the Working Group, was written jointly by the Department of Justice and officials from more than ten agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Department of the Air Force, whose staff served as chairs of individual sections of the group. As you will see from the report, there has been a great deal accomplished during the past year, and we plan to do much more in the months ahead.
In the past, the government has relied heavily upon traditional, adversarial processes to resolve both internal matters and disputes involving the public. Experience teaches us, however, that there are many costs to this approach. Even when the government wins a case, it can find that victory has come at too high a price. Litigation can destroy the underlying relationships between the parties, and this can be far more harmful in the long run. In the workplace area, for example, formal complaints often force employees working in the same office to take sides against one another. During the months or years required to process a complaint, and even long after it is over, the dispute can be extremely corrosive to the productivity of the office and the morale of its employees. Similarly, when contract and other disputes arise involving outside parties, previously healthy and productive relationships can be damaged if formal, adversarial processes are used.
Our experience has shown that ADR can resolve disputes in a manner that is quicker, cheaper, and less adversarial. For that reason, I call it "appropriate" dispute resolution, rather than "alternative" dispute resolution. In ADR, parties meet with each other directly, under the guidance of a neutral professional who is trained and experienced in handling disputes. They talk about the problems that led to the complaint and the resolution that will work best for them in the future. With the assistance of the neutral professional, they are able to retain control over their own dispute and work collaboratively to find creative, effective solutions that are agreeable to all sides.
We believe that every well-run agency should have at least one ADR program. Over the past year, the Working Group has worked to make this a reality. The Group has sponsored programs in the following areas: workplace, contracts and procurement, claims against the government, and civil enforcement. There have been more than 50 training sessions, meetings, and colloquia on all aspects of ADR. More than 500 representatives from across the government have been participating. We have created a Federal ADR website that has received tens of thousands of requests for information from across the country.
We have found many specific examples of time and money saved through the use of ADR. The U.S. Postal Service, for example, has one of the leading workplace mediation programs in the country. It has mediated more than 12,000 EEO complaints under this program. Its average mediation takes just 4 hours, and 81 percent of mediated cases are closed without a formal complaint being filed. Participants in the mediation are twice as satisfied with the amount of control, respect, and fairness in the ADR process compared with the traditional adversarial process (88 percent satisfaction rate versus 44 percent). The mediation program has also increased communication in the workplace, creating lasting and beneficial changes that help prevent future complaints. In the first year after full implementation of this ADR program, the number of new complaints filed by U.S. Postal Service employees dropped by 24 percent compared with the previous year. This translates into thousands of fewer complaints per year, which represents a huge cost savings, not to mention savings in morale and productivity.
In the contracting arena, the Department of the Air Force has used ADR to resolve more than $1 billion in recent procurement disputes. It has used mediation in more than 100 cases, and more than 93 percent have settled. Relations with contractors have improved, and parties on all sides are very pleased with the results. Due to the success of these programs, the Secretary of the Department of the Air Force has now committed to include ADR provisions in its contracts and ordered employees to use ADR "to the maximum extent practicable."
In addition to these savings in time and money, agencies have reported other important benefits. By emphasizing consensual resolution of disputes, these processes allow the participants to retain control over the outcome of the conflict. By moving away from winning and losing, and focusing instead on problem solving, these programs encourage the parties to identify what they really need to get the controversy resolved. We often see parties jointly engaged in finding creative, mutually acceptable solutions to disputes that no board, judge, or court would have the authority or the knowledge to impose.
Over the coming year, we will also work with individual agencies to assist them in developing ADR programs. While our first year was devoted to offering a broad-based introduction to ADR, we see our second year as requiring work with agencies on a more individually tailored basis. We hope to draw upon the expertise of agencies that have already been using ADR successfully to persuade and assist agencies that are not as well developed in this field.
As I wrote to you when I accepted the position of chair of this Working Group, I believe that ADR has the potential to transform significantly the way that Federal departments and agencies resolve disputes. We look forward to a continuing growth in the use of ADR and the establishment of new programs that can provide our citizens with a maximum amount of respect and a minimum amount of adversity. With your continued support, we look forward to a future where all government employees facing conflict will be able to act as peacemakers and problem-solvers.
Respectfully,
Janet Reno
Attorney General
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