Shirley Miles established the Internal Review and Operations Research (IROR) Office at the State Department's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) in 2002. As the Director of IROR, she stood up the new office and recruited expert staff to conduct reviews and analyses of OBO's programs. She gained buy-in from stakeholders by reminding them that IROR was established to help enhance operations and address deficiencies. Over 10 years, IROR conducted 220 reviews, identified numerous deficiencies, and saved $328 million through efficiencies. Miles also recommended and established the Small Projects Assistance Branch within OBO in 2004 to provide technical assistance for post-funded projects.

1. SHIRLEY MILES—Executive Core Qualifications
ECQ1. Leading Change
A. In late 2002, I became the senior management reporting official for the new Internal Review
and Operations Research (IROR) Office at the State Department’s Bureau of Oversea Buildings
Operations (OBO), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. As the Director of IROR, I would stand
up the bureau so that it could perform a critical function: to provide crosscutting reviews and
operational analyses that covered everything from planning through evaluation and feedback for
the Chief Operating Officer and staff, relative to the bureau’s results-based mandates.
My new oversight office was the first of its kind at the Bureau level within the Department of
State. It was designed to be the designated self-policing organization for OBO, the enterprise that
provides safe, secure and functional facilities abroad, supporting the State Department’s staff in
the achievement of U.S. foreign policy objectives.
OBO’s mission specifies that our facilities should represent American values and the best in
American architecture, design, engineering, technology, sustainability, art, culture and
construction execution. A new focus of concern was also facility security. I envisioned an expert
operation that provided highly technical and sophisticated reviews to address complex functions,
but there was no existing template for such an office.
We needed a strategic plan for success related to the mission and goals of the office. The
extensive research, analysis and reviews would be highly technical and complex due to the
complexity of the Bureau’s building programs. OBO spends the majority of the State
Department’s procurement dollars, then about $1.4 billion per year. Our unit would conduct
research, reviews and analyses of major programs, projects and activities related to the
construction and operation of embassies and other facilities abroad.
Despite the support of General Colin Powell’s and General Charles Williams’s management
team, who had recruited me, and the urgency to strengthen our operations, there was an air of
resentment among the offices, whose work had never received this level of scrutiny. They did
not want outsiders identifying deficiencies or being told how to resolve them. My strategy was to
work hard to gain buy in and to make sure our reviews were unimpeachable.
I recruited a team of expert staff with the ability to analyze management techniques, processes,
and styles with an eye towards improving organizational effectiveness in an overseas
construction and US government real property acquisition environment. I gained buy-in by
reminding all stakeholders of former Secretary of State Albright’s call to action in response to
the threat assessment that OBO was in a near “state of crisis” with “insecure and often decrepit
facilities... [having] far-reaching consequences for national security and prosperity.” I addressed
pushback by convincing individual offices that I was not their enemy, but was there to help
enhance their operations. I listened to their stories of impediments to achieving performance
objectives. This included challenges presented by their internal and external customers, budget
constraints, staffing restrictions, and antiquated policies and regulations. I reminded them I was
there to support upgrades to help them as OBO’s focus shifted from aesthetics to security.
Working with my staff, I designed the process flow for accomplishing tasks, determined the
workload, and determined staffing numbers with various skills requirements. I wrote the scope of

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requirements for each task to ensure no stone was left unturned. I also determined the training
requirements for staff, and a budget to fund IROR operations, totaling $702,000 per year. I
submitted the budget to OBO’s Director and Chief Operating Officer, and justified it in terms of
our future projected staffing, equipment, technology tools and workload. I personally met with
senior level officials and briefed them on our plans, gaining their approval.
Within 12 months, I successfully launched the Internal Review Operations Research Office
within the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations, one of the most important Bureaus in the
Department. Over the next 10 years, under my leadership, the office conducted 220 reviews,
identified numerous deficiencies affecting the integrity of our overseas facilities mission, and
saved $328 million through increased efficiencies and improved operations.
IROR contributions were reported to Congress, OMB and OIG annually by the OBO’s Director.
Each applauded the work of my office. Once the office was created, I earned an Exemplary
Performance Award and a Quality Step Increase from OBO’s Director. I ensured my support
staff were recognized for their outstanding contributions as well.
B. In 2004, many State Department posts were performing renovations and construction projects
without going through the proper channels. They modified building structures without approval,
and needed expert assistance with facility maintenance. In response to this critical need for
technical assistance, particularly in the development and execution of post-funded and managed
small projects, I recommended the creation of a Small Projects and Transition (SPT) Division.
SPT would also assist the Project Director and the Post Facility Manager during the transition
phase between construction and occupancy of capital and major rehabilitation projects for New
Embassy Compounds and Consulates (NEC/NCC).
I envisioned SPT as an additional unit within OBO’s Office of Facility Management (FAC). It
would comprise architects, engineers, and project/operation and maintenance coordinators with
extensive experience in developing both architectural/engineering and construction scopes of
work, cost estimating, project/construction management and coordinating post facility operations
and maintenance support. They would support Posts in the administration of special maintenance
and repair projects, and identify and track unobligated funds that have been sent to the post by
Area Management. The new FAC division would serve as a liaison between Post, Area
Management, and other OBO offices that help plan and manage of post-executed projects.
The immediate challenge was influencing the Assistant Secretary and the Under Secretary for
Management of the need for this new office. I prepared a thorough written report that pointed out
these benefits and made the case for creating and adding this new division. I then met with the
Division Directors, Bureau Director and Assistant Secretary and earned the authority to proceed.
I prepared the right documents for signature of all those in the chain of command.
What ultimately became the Small Projects Assistance Branch was then created, fully staffed and
began conducting its mission throughout the world. The office is now one of four divisions
within FAC, comprised of architects, engineers, and Project/Operation & Maintenance
Coordinators who provide worldwide, expert assistance with architecture, engineering,
construction scopes of work, cost estimating, project/construction management, and the
coordination of follow-up support. It has provided critical quality assurance services, and has
helped FAC provide accountability for dozens of capital improvement projects, worldwide.

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ECQ2. Leading People
A. The Internal Review and Operations Research (IROR) Office at the State Department’s
Bureau of Oversea Buildings Operations (OBO) was established as a self-policing apparatus for
conducting oversight cross-cutting reviews and analysis of OBO programs.
One teambuilding challenge, as an African American female leader in a male-dominated
construction industry, was establishing my leadership authority when convening problem-solving
groups across multiple offices. Some individuals found it awkward to report to me or to confide
in me, or even resisted my authority. I also dealt with people who had very strong personalities
and objected to what they perceived as other people stepping into their sandbox. I recognized the
need to manage this source of conflict and discussed these impediments openly. I promised we
could all get what we needed from each other to achieve our mutual performance objectives, if
we could just talk and determine what those shared objectives were. I was persistent.
As one early example, I pulled engineers from design engineering, mechanical engineering
divisions, the Facility Management office, Contracts office and the Area Management office to
vet issues with chillers that were malfunctioning at many posts abroad. For years, OBO had
chiller issues. The general contractor was installing faulty chiller systems and nothing was being
done to correct it. It had gone on for many years, without being reported. However, not having a
chiller cooling system could present a life or death situation in certain parts of the world where
our diplomats are stationed. I pulled all the stakeholders together in my office to discuss how we
were going to fix the issue. I asked the appropriate questions and requested their input as to how
we got to the specific point of nonperformance. I drove agreement as to the resolution. I issued
assignments to certain staff for carrying it out. Everyone could see how their role would assist in
gaining the positive outcome desired. Ultimately, the chillers were either replaced or fixed by the
contractor. Those out of warranty were scheduled for routine maintenance and repair.
I followed up good performance with compliments to the relevant offices’ senior management.
The end game was making process improvements that ensured OBO provided good stewardship
for taxpayers’ money—a goal we all shared. When this happened, I wanted to make sure good
performance was rewarded. Through hard work, I gradually earned the trust of those who came
in to work with me; at last, they could see me as a valued colleague capable of helping them to
improve performance, an outcome we were ultimately able to achieve repeatedly.
B. At IROR, I engaged in frequent team building activities with my own office staff. In setting
up the office, I brought together a team nine individuals, spanning varying races, nationalities
and ethnicities. Culturally, we ranged from Chinese, African, Caucasian, Turkish, Mexican and
Black American. All of us were experts in the business of conducting qualitative and quantitative
analyses. Our backgrounds ranged from information technology, GAO special agent auditing,
financial auditing, and acquisition contract oversight. Now all of us were required to keep up-to-
date on all the offices, programs, projects and activities under IROR’s purview, and work
together towards a common mission.
Upon setting up the office, and until assuming my new position at the end of 2011, I made sure
IROR team members received the training they needed to advance in their careers, and were

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complimented immediately with positive feedback on work well performed. I convened huddles
where we would brainstorm programs, projects and activities to come up with the methodologies
and techniques to be utilized for each review. They felt vested in the processes and helped me
ensure that quality outcomes we obtained.
As a result, good teamwork was fostered among those who reported directly to me. Because I
enjoyed a highly functional expert team, IROR was able to complete dozens of projects resulting
in improved facilities oversight, worldwide.

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ECQ3. Results Driven
A. The Bureau of Oversea Buildings Operations (OBO) oversees $1.4 billion per year in
contracts, more than any other entity within the Department of State. Within several years as
OBO’s Director of Internal Review and Operations Research (IROR), I had overseen
approximately 40 reviews and research projects. It was becoming clear that OBO’s 20 offices
needed a better way to measure and drive performance. There was no system to enable
continuous process improvement, and no standard measures to monitor performance over time.
The lack of uniform standards or controls created confusion; offices were in conflict with one
another over performance issues. Significantly, offices were not compliant with the Government
Performance Results Act or the performance standards mandated by the President and OMB.
What OBO needed was a performance measuring application (PMA) that was easily accessible
and transparent, and enabled us to delineate responsibilities for tracking progress and achieving
identified performance objectives. I recommended a PMA that senior level officials within the
bureau could use. It would allow them to create quantitative and qualitative performance
measures, ensure that those measures were directly related to the Bureau’s strategic performance
plan, and track performance to ensure mission related goals were met.
I gained support by demonstrating how these tools would let OBO work smarter and not harder.
Senior officials at each OBO office could see clearly that this would enhance their internal
controls. With IROR’s help, each office was able to develop its own performance measures and
plug them into the system. I recommended taking the integrated approach of reviewing relevant
parts of the Foreign Affairs Manual that described each office’s responsibilities, linking those
responsibilities to the Bureau’s Strategic Performance and Resource Plan (which is linked to
congressional appropriations), applying qualitative and quantitative performance measures with
targets, and wrapping control techniques around them for mitigating the risk of nonperformance.
Under my leadership, IROR helped each office write their management controls as mandated via
the Federal Manager’ Financial Integrity Act and Circular A-123. Not only did this achieve
OBO’s desired outcome of meeting our stated performance objectives, but also it supported the
Secretary of State and the President’s Foreign Policy Plan.
Thereafter, I drew the process via mapping tools, shared it with IROR’s staff for their input, and
presented it to a software programmer for application development. I then worked with the
software programmer to make sure the application matched the mapping and had appropriate
security parameters. I then helped test it and fix outstanding issues until we got it right.
I also designed the format for monthly reporting, standardizing OBO’s monthly program
performance reports. Now each office used the same reporting method that clearly showed the
progress being made from month to month. I created a simple design for showing performance
measures, goals and targets for each year, and the progress being made. For grading purposes, I
used red, yellow and green coded indicators. Problems and successes could be readily identified
and discussed. The Director/COO and senior level managers were very pleased.

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The new PMA was rolled out in 2011. The Office of Management Controls confirmed that OBO
was the first to install quantitative/qualitative performance metrics and the only bureau with a
performance measures application. From then on, the State Department had a reliable PMA in
place, providing enhanced oversight capabilities for its most expensive Bureau.
B. During the 2008 engineering inspection of embassy Baghdad and other embassies, it was
reported that the fire main piping systems were unsafe. Indeed the same inadequate system may
have been installed at many other embassies, but OBO did not know. IROR needed to identify
and remedy this issue on an urgent basis. All U.S. embassy compounds’ piping systems needed
inspection to determine if the right type of piping had been installed; many lives were at stake.
This was a huge, extremely technical, and complex undertaking. I begin immediately to study the
National Fire Protection Codes NFPA 24 and other building codes to make sure I personally
understood the issues and developed the right corrective strategies. I had to find out for myself
because this could have major political implications as well as implications for diplomat safety.
I immediately assembled my team of experts for designing the strategies for determining our
methodology and approach. I also assembled an external support team of engineers from the
various divisions, such as mechanical, design, and the fire engineering division. The contracting
officer (CO) and contracting officer representative (COR) were also included.
I made sure all team members understood and accepted their crucial role in this process. All
agreed to a validation approach. The COs and CORs validated the terms and condition and
contract changes to designs and providing electronic copy of all specifications terms and
contracts. The design engineers validated the design for specific locations (the type of piping
depended, for example, on ground conditions that could cause erosion of the pipes). Mechanical
engineers would conduct quality assurance inspections, inspecting the pipes to ensure it was the
right type of piping and had been installed correctly, before covering with dirt. The fire
protection engineers would test the systems for pressure validation. The construction support
division would provide documents from the General Contractor confirming what was actually
installed underground – this was mandatory. OBO’s facility management division and IROR
communicated with facility managers at all 100 posts worldwide, requesting verification.
Unfortunately, some facility managers (FMs) had no idea where this information was located.
About 85% could not validate what piping was used. IROR learned the General Contractor had
not delivered documents stating what was installed or produced pressure testing results. The CO,
COR and mechanical engineering division had not enforced this requirement though it was part
of contract specifications. The mechanical engineers had not always conducted inspections for
validating workmanship or compliance with contract terms. They allowed the General Contractor
to self-inspect, without oversight from government employees (a violation of the inherent
governmental provision). There was no way to make sure these facilities were in fact built to
code. All external team members had failed to do their jobs. The problem was massive.
I immediately made recommendations to fix all of these issues. The external team took action to
resolve them, addressing a major life safety issue for all of our diplomats around the world.

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ECQ4. Business Acumen
A. In 2006, I provided oversight for a review to assess how well the State Department’s Bureau
of Overseas Building Operations (OBO) ensured that our overseas facilities were being
maintained. Unfortunately, OBO had no technology tools for confirming the wellbeing of our
facilities. As the senior management reporting official for OBO’s Internal Review and
Operations Research (IROR) Office, I realized that this lack of technology would make the work
of my team that much more difficult, wasting valuable staff review time, which translated into
unnecessary dollars spent conducting a manual review.
Since I have a systems integration background, having served in such roles at the Department of
Defense and in state government, I realized that OBO needed to implement an integrated system
to manage its business information. I successfully advocated for this to OBO leaders. I then
assisted in creating the Department of State’s Building Management Integrated System (BMIS),
a one-stop shop for stakeholders for everything related to maintenance, modernization,
renovations and redesign of our facilities domestically and abroad. This enterprise system would
also provide an inventory of all properties for which the Department is responsible.
Having persuaded senior executives and directors of the benefits of this system, I mapped a
design to show how the enterprise system would work. I selected a vendor, worked with them as
the system evolved, and eventually turned it over to the Director of Information Resource
Management for further development and processing. Once released, OBO’s Building
Management Information System (BMIS) would capture, manage and report on the data
associated with the Department of State’s worldwide property and project portfolio.
Today, the program manager for the system formally known at CAFMS supervises 20
developers and analysts who use MS Project Server to coordinate and share information between
divisions over the course of the lifecycle of a building, supporting asset management,
maintenance management, project management, real estate and space management. As a result of
my leadership of this initiative for IROR, the State Department is now able to capture, manage
and report on the information necessary to manage one of the largest property and project
portfolios in the federal government. Moreover, it has made the work associated with external
reviewers much less arduous.
B. I was hired to set up the State Department’s office of Internal Review and Operations
Research (IROR), supporting the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations in achieving its
mission through effective, collaborative, and efficient internal reviews and research of Bureau
programs and policies. My goal was to ensure good governance, accountability, and compliance
with applicable laws, regulations, policies and procedures. IROR would also examine potential
fraud, waste, and mismanagement within the Bureau. In instances where improper actions
surface, IROR would notify senior management, and may work with the Department’s OIG to
resolve issues.
IROR staff would conduct in-depth research and analysis on programs and projects to evaluate
operational requirements, identifying and recommending changes or development of new policy

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and processes, as needed. The office would conduct inspections and evaluations using various
study methods and evaluative techniques.
During the establishment of IROR, one of my key focuses was to hire a mix of people who
would complement the oversight work to be done by my office for the Bureau. At the outset, I
decided to hire Personal Service Contractors (PSCs) to allow time for observing their work ethic
and quality of performance. This strategy worked very well. I found that with the exception of a
few individuals, they were all good workers. I then worked with Human Resources to offer the
positions as Direct Hire job openings; they were hired on the spot.
The next step was getting them orientated to the OBO culture in the most expeditious manner. I
arranged for briefings by each Managing Directors, Directorate, a total of 20 offices. I required
my staff to become familiar with 1 FAM 280, delineating the responsibility of each directorate,
the strategic plan which indicated the Bureau’s five year plan, role and contribution of various
offices. I also determined their training requirements based on the mandates and uniqueness of
our and their work. Auditing Construction was at the top of the list for training.
I wrote IROR’s standard operating procedures for conducting reviews and inspections and shared
this with my staff and Managing Directors for feedback – ensuring we had everything covered.
My SOP was established. Next, I worked on IROR’s work load projections.
Our workload was projected to increase each year – My office had been assigned a billion dollar
Baghdad project for continuous review, OMB Circular A-123 Management Accountability and
Internal Control, the Performance Measures Program, and the Management Controls Program.
I organized our other workload for review and analysis into eight separate categories, addressing
budget and financial, contracting compliance, internal controls, un-liquidated obligations, post
audits, risk mitigation, service-level agreements and requests for equitable adjustment. In
addition, IROR would recommend innovative or new processes and programs for bureau
consideration. Based on the workload I determined that I would need at least 12 staff members. I
advocated for and successfully won the authority to hire nine full time, internal staff. This was
supplemented as needed by external experts drawn from other areas to serve on special project
working groups.
I assigned projects to my staff based on their level of expertise and training in relevant areas. I
made sure IROR had the resources needed to do their job effectively. OBO was very impressed
with the professionalism and knowledge of my team.
Staff appeared to enjoy IROR’s independent status and that we reported directed to the head of
OBO. I led my staff by setting good examples, both in professionalism and work ethic. We were
well thought of as a venue to come to for advice and assistance for resolving difficult
performance, contracting and other oversight issues. By 2012, under my leadership, the office
had conducted 220 reviews, identified numerous deficiencies affecting the integrity of our
overseas facilities mission, and saved $328 million through increased efficiencies and improved
operations.

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ECQ5. Building Coalitions
A. The Executive Women at State (EW@S) began in 2007 as an informal coalition to bring
together senior career women and promote effective networking within the Department of State
as well as across the broader foreign affairs community. In 2009, EW@S responded to requests
to help develop the leadership potential of women in mid-career, junior, and entry-level
positions. Today. EW@S includes more than 1,100 State Department career women, providing a
continuum of leadership support via subgroups that address the needs of the most junior to the
most senior ranks. Because of its scope and use of subgroups, it is unique among the
Department’s affinity groups.
By 2012, one of the groups, the Associates group (EW@S/A), was in need of new direction to
provide better mentoring and networking opportunities for its members, and to better support
them as they advanced in their careers and continued to close gender gaps as they advanced to
the highest levels in the Department. In October I was elected to chair the board of EW@S/A,
and would serve as our liaison to the Office of Civil Rights, set meeting agendas and goals for
the year, and be the primary point of contact for State Department officials, attending meetings
with leadership as required. In addition to serving as the primary liaison to the Secretary of State
and his team of advisors, I would liaise with sister organizations at other agencies, along with
like-minded groups within state and local governments as well as private sector corporations.
I offered to brief Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom on the status of diversity at the
Department and answer any questions she may have about EW@S. We were proud of the
Deputy Secretary and very much inspired by her accomplishments. Along with a collaborating
partner from USAID, I met with her to discuss our organization and review issues of mutual
interest. We welcomed her to the Department and gave her a briefing booklet that discussed
EW@S issues and recommended solutions. Specifically, it reflected the statistics that evidenced
exceedingly low levels of diversity at the Department, particularly at higher ranks.
This meeting was very successful. I stated that the Department needed to look like America and
that the wide disparity gaps reflected in agency employment statistics had been present for a very
long time. She was very interested in hearing about these issues and recommended solutions.
Thereafter, in the Secretary of State John Kerry’s first Town Hall meeting, a promise was made
to address the gender disparity gap among the ranks and to make life better for those who
engaged in career swaps between civil service and the foreign service.
We went on to meet with other Assistant Secretaries and convinced them to agree to promote the
hiring of more women, to level the playing fields within their Bureaus. Human Resources shared
vacancies with us to help us recruit more women to compete for vacant positions. We met with
leaders of other Affinity groups for hosting program events together. Our coalition building took
place in Rosslyn, VA, Main State, and other facilities around the Department such as the Foreign
Service Institute, the George C Marshall Center Auditorium, and other venues.
During my year as President, from October 2012 to October 2013, the Executive Women at State
experienced the most successful year in history, thanks to the Associate Group. During my

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tenure, the Associates group planned and executed 13 successful programs, and strengthened its
relationship with the Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State, as well as other offices
within the Department, setting the stage for further action and relationship building to advance
our mutual diversity goals.
B. In 2014, I discovered that a new Native American Group was being formed at the State
Department. I was very pleased to hear this good news: Native Americans are underrepresented
at the Department, which has fewer than 20 Native American employees.
While working with Executive Women at State, I liaised with White House Domestic Policy
Advisors for Native American Country (Kimberly Teehee and Jodi Gillette) for two consecutive
years. Since I am part Native American, I remained interested in the Native American group’s
pursuit to gain a charter, even after my term as President had ended. I initiated discussions with
the group to determine the status of their charter efforts. I met with the group and learned that
they had been trying to become a chartered affinity group for a year. This was entirely too long.
The 18 member group, called the Native Americans Foreign Affairs Council (NAFAC), included
members from numerous tribes, such as Apache, Zuni, Blackfoot, Hawaiian, Alaskan, Dakota,
Navajo, Cherokee, and others. But all Affinity groups must work through the Office of Civil
Rights (OCR) to obtain a charter. I met with the group and we reviewed the issues OCR had
expressed with respect to the charter language. I joined with them in fixing the language, but
still, it came back disapproved. I recommended that we call a meeting with OCR to try to resolve
the issues. Four members of our group met with the OCR director. After about 40 minutes, he
could not identify a problem, but would not grant a charter.
I directed NAFAC to instead seek a charter as an employee organization under the Director
General’s (DG) Office of the State Department. This time, we were successful. I jumped into
action and provided NAFAC with a sample charter, bylaws, mission and goals document, and
planning activity document. These documents were ones I had used successfully in the past, and
they worked well for NAFAC. We received our charter approval in December 2014.
.
I also assisted in directing and developing the planning activities for the first ever Native
American History month event, sponsored by NAFAC. Dignitaries such as the first Native
American Ambassador to the United Nations, and a senior official from USAID, were our
keynote speakers. We promoted the event through a news item in the February 2015 issue of the
Department’s magazine.
Since then I have kept NAFAC’s focus upon increasing the number of Native Americans at
State. I have built bridges on behalf of NAFAC at tribal events such as the National Conference
of American Indians, engaging in partnership building across tribal nations. NAFAC seeks
opportunities to address the audience and inform them about job opportunities at State. We have
also formed relationships at law schools, speaking to students and professors from Pomona
College about partnering opportunities. We also spoke to the White House education Director,
forming another significant liaison. Through efforts such as these, I have successfully formed
new liaisons for Native Americans within the State Department and beyond.