We will discuss about the Kaiser Hill Rocky flats closure project, which was awarded the PMI project of the year in 2006. The project was completed for the U.S. Department of Energy. The Rocky Flats Closure Project is the largest, most complex environmental cleanup project of its kind in the world. The $7 billion (US), 10-year cleanup of one of the nation's largest nuclear weapons facilities was completed in October 2005, 14 months ahead of schedule and more than $500 million (US) under revised budget. The site will be now become a wildlife refuge.

source: http://www.pmi.org/prod/groups/public/documents/info/ap_news-kaiserhill.asp

Let us see some of the factors which made this project a huge success. One of the the primary factor was the establishment of a clear vision for closure and a sense of urgency for the mission from the project sponsors, ie, DOE, without which the company,ie, Kaiser Hills, would not have been able to complete the project successfully. The scope of the project was clearly defined and understood by the project team. Secondly, the complete project team was not only talented but also dedicated to get each work on time and in the best possible manner. The project manager from Kaiser Hills chose the best possible team possessing the right set of skills to undertake and complete the project successfully. The team was motivated and dedicated towards the project and kept the project as per the planned scope, schedule and budget.

There was Effective technological funding, coordination and deployment between the project and its sponsors, ie Department of Energy, which resulted in smooth progress of the project. The project team was ensure stable funding to carry on the project.

source: http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Testimony&Hearing_ID=1513&Witness_ID=4314

Many of the site's employees were proud Cold Warriors who had worked at the project site making plutonium-based triggers for nuclear bombs -- until an infamous 1989 FBI raid shut the place down. The most important early task, says CEO Tuor, was getting workers, who had been without a clear end goal since 1989, to remember how to succeed. Kaiser-Hill worked with the DOE to craft detailed performance measures so that bite-sized, identifiable tasks could be measured -- and then celebrated. According to CEO Tuor, Kaiser Hill had to reinstate the pride and accomplishment that they'd had during the production days. Tuor herself began making a conscious effort -- in meetings, during weekly announcements, in employee newsletters -- to laud workers' progress.

Another critical success factor was choosing the right employees for the right job. For example, Kaiser Hill made the decision that the workers who made the weapons at the project site before its closure were also going to be the workers who made the environmental-restoration cleanup happen. The steelworkers, the company reasoned, had years of experience that would be crucial for the decontamination work at the plant: They were familiar with the hazards, they were used to the risks, and they knew the plant.

To broaden that expertise, Kaiser-Hill worked with the union to eliminate narrow job categories and place the steelworkers in flexible, efficient teams. That helped lead to countless innovations that have increased productivity dramatically.

Further, Kaiser Hill acted promptly on mistakes and errors. For example, After a fire in one of the contaminated glove boxes was mishandled and independent reviewers told Kaiser-Hill that it was too loose in defining workers' authority, company quickly responded by refining workers' scope on assignments and training frontline supervisors to better recognize when workers are straying from their tasks.

Further, in such a risky project, company ensured that it provided safe working conditions for its employees. Also, Halting work for an incident that shuts down the site cost $2.5 million a day. To prevent that, the company started a number of safety initiatives, from installing an anonymous hotline for safety complaints to using safety records to help decide executive bonuses. Thus, proper risk mitigation strategies were used by the project team.

Giving employees a reason to work themselves out of a job was key to motivating workers whose public image had gone from patriots to polluters. Kaiser-Hill had employees envision a wildlife refuge -- images of a cleaned-up site were used on many staff materials -- and promoted that workers were doing something that hadn't been done before.

For a workforce that didn't believe the company's goals were possible, symbolic steps were needed to fight denial. Dismantling site monuments, including a longtime management building, paved the way.

source: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/84/rocky.html

Good sources for more reference:

http://www.bkconnection.com/static/cameron-lavine-excerpt.pdf.
http://www.client-ross.com/cleanup-news/documents/RFCA_Success_Factors.pdf.