New Security Program Manager

ITA has a new manager for security programs. Kurt Arneson has joined ITA from the Department’s Office of Security and will be responsible for all security programs. Kurt is located in Room 3821 and can be reached at (202)482-3633. Please feel free to contact Kurt on all security matters.

ITA Secretariat Moves to DUS

Effective December 24, 2006, the ITA Secretariat function was moved from the Office of Organization and Management Support to the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary to facilitate the management of controlled correspondence services to the ITA organization. The ITA Secretariat's functions include the control, routing, and processing of controlled correspondence from the Offices of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary, the Department's and ITA's Offices of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, all Congressional correspondence addressed to ITA officials, the Under Secretary for International Trade, and the Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade. This transfer does not affect the contact information for the ITA Secretariat staff, who remain available to assist you with your correspondence needs. You may contact Charles Jefferson at (202)482-6078 or charles.jefferson@mail.doc.gov if you have any questions.

Citibank Travel Card

ITA travel cardholders are reminded to notify Citibank’s Customer Service if there is a change in your address (i.e., home or work), phone number or name. In order to receive your monthly travel card statement, Citibank must have a current address on record. The Customer Service number to call in the U.S. is (800)790-7206 and outside of the U.S. is 1(904)954-7850. Also, you can review and make payment on your account at the following address: https://www.onlinestatements.cards.citidirect.com. If you have questions, please call Sharon Russell at (202)482-3267.

Status of Congress and Committees

The 110th Congress will convene for the first time on Thursday, January 4, 2007 for swearing in members of both the House and Senate. Although speculation abounds, there have been not been any announcements of appropriation subcommittee assignments. In fact, as of January 3, the House and Senate Appropriation web sites still had the Republicans listed as the majority party and Democrats in the Minority. The House membership list is at: http://appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutTheCommittee.MemberList&SubcommitteeId=18 . The Senate is at: http://appropriations.senate.gov/members/members.htm . There is an additional web site showing the effects of the 2006 election on each Committee in the House. It shows how the election affects the membership of all committees and who the likely members will be based on seniority. See: http://www.calinst.org/pubs/110thCommittees.pdf. We do know that the Senate full appropriations committee will be chaired by Robert Byrd of West Virginia and the House full appropriations committee will be chaired by David Obey of Wisconsin. The Full Committee Ranking Minority members will be Jerry Lewis of California for the House and Thad Cochran of Mississippi for the Senate. If the Ranking Minority Members of the 2006 (the previous Congress) Subcommittees become the Chairmen, then Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski would become the Chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Appropriations subcommittee and West Virginia Congressman Alan Mollohan would become the chairman of the House Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee. If you have questions, please contact Doug Allis at (202)482-9151.

Operating Status of the Federal Government

Did you know that you could sign up with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to get notification at work or at home or both on the operating status of the Federal government? To sign up, please go to the OPM website at http://www.opm.gov/Operating_Status_Schedules/ and click on Washington, DC Area Operating Status. Then scroll down to “Would you like automatic email updates?” and then click on Operating Status mailing list sign up. That will take you to the subscription page where you can sign up for the email notifications. If you have any questions, please contact Carmen Montgomery at (202)482-3620 or via email at Carmen_Montgomery@ita.doc.gov.

Federal Employee Health Benefits Coverage Begins January 2007

The new premium rates paid by both employees and retirees under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program are effective January 1 for retirees and with the first full pay period of the year (January 7, 2007) for most active employees. Premiums on average are increasing by about 2 percent in 2007, although within that average is a wide variation of actual changes, with some plans exceeding that figure substantially while others had smaller increases or even lowered premiums. Further, coverage changes also take effect on the same effective date as the premium changes. Any changes in plans or levels of coverage elected in the recently concluded FEHB open season begin. Please visit the following link to get additional information on FEHB: http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp. or contact Vanessa Lewis at (202)482-8327 or via email at Vanessa_Lewis@ita.doc.gov.

Procurement/Purchase Card Corner

C Request Training

As a reminder C Request was deployed on October 16, 2006. ITA’s acquisition office at NOAA is only accepting procurement actions that have been entered in the C Request system. Therefore, it is imperative that you sign-up for one of the training classes listed below. ITA, in conjunction with NOAA's, Acquisition and Management Division has scheduled a C Request Requestioner class for Wednesday, January 17, 2007 from 9:00 – 3:00 in room 6872. Spaces are limited and on a first come first serve basis. To reserve your space, please send an email to Robin Carpenter at Robin.Carpenter@mail.doc.gov. The Office of Acquisition Management will also conduct C Request Requsitioner and C Request Reviewer/Approver Classes for those who have not taken the training. However, dates are to be announced. Requisitioner classes are designed for anyone who needs to enter a requisition in C Request. Reviewer/Approver class is designed for anyone who will be reviewing or approving a requisition, i.e. supervisor, budget officials. If you have questions please contact Robin Carpenter at (202)482-4989 or via email at Robin.Carpenter@mail.doc.gov.

Where Do I Find.... Foreign Currency Converter

To find the value of the US currency in a foreign country access the following website: http://www.oanda.com/converter/classic . If you have questions, please call Sharon Russell (202)482-3267.