MANAGEMENT BOARD MEETING OF 1st JULY 2002

The Management Board took note of the composition of the new Staff Association Executive Committee and congratulated Dr J.-P. Matheys on his re-election as President and Dr M. Goossens and Mr M. Vitasse on their election as Vice-Presidents.

Outcome of the June Council week

The Director-General presented the main results of the meetings of the Council and its committees during the week of 17-21 June. He reported that, following discussion of the final report by the External Review Committee at the various committees, the Council had accepted the ERC's recommendations on the LHC Project and the management of the Organization, expressing the view that the report and the Management's proposals constituted an important step towards resolving the problems identified since the emergence of the LHC funding shortfall in the second half of 2001 and re-establishing an atmosphere of trust. The extra costs for the LHC Project would be covered by a balanced package funded partly by the CERN budget, partly through savings obtained from the rescheduling of the Project and partly in the form of an extension of repayment to 2010. Although the baseline scenario without any additional Member State contributions to the CERN budget had prevailed, some delegations had not excluded the possibility of further resources for specific CERN programmes like computing or accelerator R&D at a later date once the Organization was back on track.
In approving the ERC's recommendations, the Council had requested the Management to provide an action list and timetable for their implementation in September and had established an Implementation Group to make proposals on the introduction of an Independent Audit Committee, also for September. For December, it had invited the Management to prepare a proposal for the revision of the 1996 LHC financial framework, with the completion of the Project as the all-out priority until the start of operation in 2007; the revision would include the cost to completion for the LHC, the resources for the non-LHC Programme and a new overall long-term financial framework and staff plan for the Organization.
Further important decisions taken during the week of meetings had been the Council's unanimous approval of the proposal for unblocking the remaining withheld part of the resources allocated to the LHC Project in the 2002 materials budget, as well as of the 2003 budget figures to allow the detailed preliminary 2003 Draft Budget to be prepared for presentation in September. A formal decision on the medium-term plan covering the period until 2006 would be taken later, in the light of the action list and plan for the implementation of the ERC's recommendations. Finally, with a view to a decision in December, the Finance Committee had given the green light for the negotiation of a medium-term loan for the LHC, already approved in principle by the European Investment Bank.
Summarising the present state of progress and further actions needed, the Director-General remarked that a common understanding had now been reached between the Management, ERC and Council and thanked the members of the Management Board for their help and support in resolving the recent difficulties. However, CERN had still to deliver concrete results in critical areas before it could be considered back on track and to firmly re-establish its role in the international arena. Immediate priorities included completing the reinforcement of manpower for the supervision of cable and magnet production, finalising the terms of the 'contract' with the group leaders in charge of the LHC work packages and defining the associated insourcing requirements. By the end of the year, in addition to producing the revised LHC financial plan requested by the Council, the Management would need to have completed a review of human resources needs, finalised the proposal for the introduction of Locally Recruited Staff and implemented the Earned Value Management system for the LHC.

Preparation of the Morges III meeting

J. van der Boon, Director of Administration, presented a draft document from the Human Resources Review Board setting out the aims and objectives of the 'Morges III' meeting to be held on 28 and 29 October to review the staff and industrial services manpower needed by the Organization to carry out the redefined programme of activities for the period 2003 to 2010. 'Morges III', so named after the location of the first off-site meeting between directors and division leaders devoted to specific topics, would be part of an annual review process that would start immediately after the June Council week.
In order to provide a sound factual basis for the meeting, the Directorate had requested divisions to carry out an in-depth review by group and activity of the specific work packages and services required to fulfil their respective mandates, taking account of the new scientific programme, the LHC project planning and the restructuring in the Accelerator Sector. The results of those reviews, which would be based on a common reporting format, would then be integrated into an overall plan for each sector. The main aims of the Morges exercise would be to provide a homogeneous view of the sectorial manpower plans for 2003-2010, identify the skills profiles needed during the LHC construction era and first years of operation, identify the major issues to be tackled by the sectors to implement their manpower plans and propose solutions to any problems identified, the ultimate goal being the establishment of a CERN-wide Staff Plan for the period until 2010. A further specific objective would be to clearly identify the mission of each division.

Implementation Issues relating to Austerity Measures

As a follow-up to earlier monitoring and savings measures recommended by Task Force 3 on Industrial Support and Contracts, K.-H. Kissler, CERN Programme Controller, presented proposals for the linking of signature rights to activity codes and SCEM numbers (stores catalogue numbers) in order to reinforce control over the purchase of certain selected items. Purchasing and material requests would henceforth be routed via the EDH (Electronic Document Handling) system as a function of activity codes and SCEM numbers, and expenditure on a selected list of 'controlled' items, such as computer equipment, telephones, photographic equipment, printers, etc., would require approval by both the group leader and division leader, irrespective of the amount involved. The moratorium on the purchase of furniture would also be maintained.
The Management Board discussed various practical aspects of the proposal, noting that division leaders would be able to delegate their authority to DPOs for the approval of expenditure on 'controlled' items. It was agreed that the proposal should be implemented for a six-month trial period, at the end of which the situation would be reviewed in the light of experience, including an assessment of the resulting savings.

Mail distribution

J. Ferguson, Leader of AS Division, reported that, following discussions with the mail contractor and Mail Service personnel, an agreement had been reached that would allow deliveries to each distribution point to be maintained, while still achieving a large proportion of the planned budget reduction in 2002. As a result, the service would revert to its previous level throughout the Laboratory during the summer. Outgoing mail would be collected from a single collection point at the end of each corridor. Further discussions were currently in progress between ST, SPL and AS divisions on the possibility of an integrated distribution service for internal mail, stores items and small parcels, which could lead to additional savings from 2003 onwards, without affecting service levels.