Although already described by many as a dynamic and highly successful example of an integrated dispute resolution unit within a federal agency, the Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) believes it can do even better in reaching out to FERC staff and other stakeholders who might benefit from its services.

Our work

Step 1: Preliminary round of key informant interviews to identify the main types of cases FERC handles and the primary “entry points” for each of these types of cases.

Step 2: Secondary round of interviews with FERC employees tasked with handling or processing cases at various points along the dispute resolution pathway for each of the case-types identified above. Questioning will focus on the pathway and on identifying any challenges, capacity bottlenecks, or decision nodes these employees face in handling a typical case.

Step 3: Development of a comprehensive description of how cases are presently handled at FERC, coupled with an analysis of areas DRS might target to improve the usage-rate of its services.

Final Product

Internal strategy paper, for use by DRS, outlining the findings and recommendations for possible reforms so that there might be a more systematic, integrated, and routine system for other units at FERC to channel disputes that could benefit from some form of ADR services to DRS.