ADMINISTRIVIAL PURSUITS

February 23, 2000

GPRA Symposium

Implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires fundamental changes in the management of Federal programs. The Center for Improving Government Performance has created a series of symposiums to assist Executive Branch employees and management to make these critical changes. Several symposiums are already scheduled and include roundtable discussions and presentations by executive departments, as well as OMB and congressional staffs. For additional information on these free symposiums, go to their website at http://www.Performance.napawash.org. For additional information on performance improvement, contact Ed Meyer at (202)482-5436.

When to Use A Purchase Card vs. a CD-435, Procurement Request

ITA employees who have access to Government issued VISA Purchase Cards are to make purchases for their offices for products and services up to $2,500 on the Purchase Card unless the vendor does not accept a VISA Purchase Card. Requests for products and services above $2,500 and purchases from vendors that do not accept the VISA Purchase Card should be placed on a form CD-435, Procurement Request. We review all CD-435s and contact the requisitioning office to determine if the purchase can be made on a VISA Purchase Card. ITA employees are also reminded that they cannot make purchases on behalf of their office and request reimbursement from the Government. THRU THE MAZE has information on How To Prepare and Clear a CD-435, Procurement Request (OOMS-3). For further information, contact Jean Leslie at (202)482-3266.

Tax Changes

Effective January 1, 2000, two changes occurred that will impact your pay check: (1) the Federal income tax withholding formula changed and (2) the maximum amount of annual earnings subject to social security withholding tax has been increased for 2000. Beginning with salary payments made for pay period 26, 1999, you will notice that 6.20% is being deducted for social security. That will continue to be withheld until you reach the maximum annual earnings amount of $76,200 or the maximum amount payable by an employee of $4,724.00. If you have questions, please contact Vanessa Lewis at (202)482-3301.

Nominations for the Under Secretary's Award - Reminder

Nominations for the Under Secretary's Awards are due February 29, 2000. The Under Secretary's Award Program recognizes employees who have shown superior performance throughout the year and have contributed significantly to the achievement of ITA goals and objectives. If you have any questions about these awards, please call Michael Reskallah at (202)482-2535 or Christine Covington at (202)482-3947.

Managing Diversity In The Workplace

The Career Development Division will offer "Managing Diversity in the Workplace" course on March 29, 2000 in the HCH Building, Room 4064. Some of the goals of diversity training are to help Federal employees understand the differences, as well as the similarities, among and between individuals at all levels of the organization, and society at large; the legal and statutory requirements for equal employment and affirmative action which support diversity in the federal government; and how diversity contributes to a richness in the organization by having a variety of views, approaches, and actions to use in strategic planning, tactical planning, problem solving, and decision making. The cost for the one day workshop is $200. Reminder: Diversity training is mandatory for supervisors and managers serving a probationary period. To enroll, employees should submit an ITA registration form to the Career Development Division by March 17, 2000. If you have questions, please call LaVerne Hawkins at (202)482-2537.

Position Sensitivity and Security Investigations

All positions within the Department of Commerce must be assigned a level of sensitivity or risk, commensurate with their assigned duties and responsibilities, as they relate to national security. The purpose for designating position sensitivity is to ensure that the employee undergoes the appropriate type of investigative processing. The immediate supervisor or manager having responsibility for the position is primarily responsible, in coordination with the Office of Human Resources Management, for designating the sensitivity or risk level of an employee's position. The position sensitivity or risk designation must be based on an overall assessment of the damage that an individual, by virtue of occupying the position, could cause to national security or to the integrity of the Department. Critical Sensitive and Non Critical Sensitive are positions that require access to classified information and the appropriate code must be annotated on the Form CD-79 "REQUEST FOR SECURITY CLEARANCE". Moderate Risk and Low Risk positions do not require access to classified information. Additional information pertaining to position sensitivity and risk levels, can be found in DAO 202-731 (Position Sensitivity for Personnel Suitability and Personnel Security Purposes). If you have questions, please contact the ITA security staff at (202)482-0630.

"Leap Day" and Y2K

This coming Tuesday, February 29^th, is "leap day" - the extra day added to the calendar every four years. It is a special event in that it is the first leap day in this century and, as such, it poses a "final" Y2K test, of sorts, for our computer systems. ITA crossed the Y2K boundary on January 1 without experiencing any significant disruption in our computers or networks. The effort we expended over the course of last year upgrading our systems to be fully Y2K compliant seems to have paid off. As a result, we anticipate no problems handling "leap day". However, we will be participating, along with the rest of the Federal Government, in monitoring our systems over the leap day period and reporting our status to the Department. If anything interesting pops up, we will let you know - but we expect this to be a "snoozer", just like Y2K! If you have any questions or concerns, contact Frank Jaffe at (202)482-1491.

Traveler's Corner

Question: When should a traveler request authorization for reimbursement for actual expense?

Answer: A traveler should request authorization for reimbursement for actual expense in advance of travel. However, approval after the fact may be granted when supported by an explanation. If you have questions, please call your travel contact or Sharon Russell at (202)482-3267.

How Do I Find....

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Department, Roger Baker, working through the DOC CIO Council, has established several Affinity Groups. These groups, made up of technical and program representatives from the DOC bureaus, are tasked with addressing specific information technology related problems facing the Department. Currently there are eight active groups: IT Enterprise Architecture; Electronic Grants; Contingency Planning; Electronic Forms/Systems; Electronic Signatures/PKI; Messaging Standards; IT Management Handbook; and Web Services. ITA has representatives, mostly from OIRM, serving on six of the groups. For more information about the role, membership and activities of these groups, check DOC Affinity Group web site at http://www.doc.gov/cio/Affinity/DOCAGC.html

PC Tips and Tricks

Multiple text justifications on one WordPerfect line

Here's an easy way to left-justify, center-justify, and right-justify text, that you have already typed into your document. If you try highlighting a section of the text and changing the justification, all of the text on that line moves to the new justification. Instead, place the cursor where you want the new justification to begin, right-click, and then select a justification option (Center or Flush Right). Only the text to the right of the cursor will move to the new justification. Using this method, you can leave some text left-justified, move some text to the center of the page, and have even more text right-justified. Formatting the justification of your WordPerfect documents has never been easier. If you have questions regarding this Tip, please call User Assistance at (202)482-1955.