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What Each Item Name Means:

General Information:
Department or Agency: This item is required. This agency abbreviation is the two to five letter agency abbreviation for the highest department or agency level to which the committee belongs, e.g., HHS; EPA. It is established by the agency and cannot be edited on this page.
The Fiscal Year being reported, e.g., 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, etc. cannot be edited on this page. This item is required.
The Full name of the committee, or subcommittee, as listed in the current charter, e.g., Arkansas Advisory Committee, cannot be edited on this page. This item is required.
Committee Status: This item is required. The status will display as Chartered or Terminated and cannot be edited on this page. This data is displayed as a result of actions taken on the Consultation page.
New Committee: This item is required. This item is Yes if the committee was established during the fiscal year being reported, otherwise No, and cannot be edited on this page.
Current Charter Date: This item is required. This is the date the most recent charter for the committee was filed, e.g., 04/17/2005. This data is displayed as a result of actions taken on the Consultation page and cannot be edited on this page.
Expected Renewal Date: This item is required. This is the date on which the current charter is expected to be renewed and re-filed, e.g., 04/17/2007. This date is normally 2 years after the Charter Date described in 5 above, and is automatically entered by the program due to actions on the Consultation page. This date can be edited on this page if a different date is appropriate, needed, or anticipated.
Expected Termination Date: This is the date on which committee will terminate based upon information in the legislation, Executive order, or charter, or could reasonably be expected to terminate. This date is unnecessary if the committee is not expected to terminate and the Renewal Date is 2 years later than the Current Charter Date.
Terminated This FY: This item is required. This item should be Yes if the committee was terminated during the fiscal year being reported, otherwise No. This data is displayed as a result of actions taken on the Consultation page and cannot be edited on this page.
Specific Termination Authority: This entry should list the agency decision document, the statute, or the Executive Order (other than EO 12838) which authorizes termination of the committee, e.g., 42 U.S.C. 1975. This entry should not contain statements like "expired charter," "abolished," or Section 14 of FACA, which are facts but not the termination authority.
Actual Termination Date: This is the date on which the committee terminated during the fiscal year being reported, e.g., 04/19/2002. This date is displayed as a result of actions taken on the Consultation page and cannot be edited on this page.
Establishment Authority: This item is required. There are four kinds of authority used to establish a committee.. "Statutory(Congress Created)" is non-discretionary establishment authority specifically mandated in law. "Authorized by Law" and "Agency Authority" are both discretionary establishment authorities, either pursuant to law, or by the decision of the agency head, respectively. "Presidential" generally means established by Executive order or other direction by the President, and also is considered to be non-discretionary. Negotiated rulemaking ("Reg-Neg") committees and labor-management partnership committees (EO 12871) are considered "Presidential." The authority is displayed based on decisions made when a committee was established and cannot be edited on this page.
Specific Establishment Authority: This item is required. This is the agency decision document, the statute, or the Executive order (other than EO 12838), e.g., Executive Order 13017 or 21 U.S.C. 394. This is not a letter from OMB, a consultation with (or concurrence from) GSA, the charter, or a section of FACA.
Effective Date of Authority: This is the date of the document in Specific Establishment Authority above, e.g., 11/28/1990. This is not the date of the current charter.
Committee Type: This item is required. All committees are either "Ad hoc" or "Continuing." For this report, an Ad hoc committee is one which is not renewed beyond its original biennial charter and generally exists for two years or less.  Select either Ad hoc or Continuing.
Presidential: This item is required. In addition to being either Ad hoc or Continuing, a committee may be Presidential.  A "Presidential" (committee) is one which directly advises the President. This item should be Yes if the committee is Presidential.
Presidential Appointments: This item is required. If the President appoints any members of the committee, this item should be Yes; otherwise No.
Committee Function: This item is required. Select the function of this committee, which may be
    National Policy/Issue Advisory,
    Non-Scientific Program Advisory,
    Scientific/Technical Program Advisory,
    Grant Review,
    Regulatory Negotiation,
    Other, or
    Special Emphasis Panel.
If a committee must be described by more than one function, select "Other" and add an explanation to Remarks on the Recommendations Page if necessary.
Exempt from Renewal: This item is required. This item is only Yes if so stated in the authorizing legislation; otherwise No.
Number of Members: This item is required. If the charter or authorizing legislation specifies a number of members, enter that number. Otherwise, leave the default entry: Unlimited.
Committee URL: If the committee posts information on a web site, enter the web site address here as displayed in the example.

Recommendations:
Recommendation: This item is required. This item reflects the recommendation of the agency officials responsible for the continuation or termination of the committee (It does not refer to recommendations of the committee to the agency). Select either Continue or Terminate or Merge.
Is Legislation Required: This item should  be completed with a Yes or a No if Terminate or Merge was selected in Recommendation above.  If an explanation is necessary, use Remarks.
Legislation Status: If legislation is required to terminate the committee, select either Pending or Enacted to indicate the status of the legislation and include the bill number for proposed legislation or the statute (U.S.C.) for enacted legislation in Remarks.
Remarks: This memo field can be used for any explanations, details, or notations that are needed to properly answer or qualify other items in this report.

Reports:
Report Title: This item is required. All formal, substantive committee and subcommittee reports relative to the committee's scope and duties that are made to the agency, the President, or the Congress should be individually listed in a separate entry. The program counts the number of entries to produce the eventual number of reports. It is not necessary to include committee meeting minutes or transcripts and various administrative reports determined by the agency or this current Annual Comprehensive Review.  List the complete title, e.g., Annual Report to the Secretary.
Report date: The date (09/30/05) the report was issued, each set on a new, separate entry.   This item is required. No particular order is required as the program will list them in chronological date order.
Presidential Action: This item is required. This item should be Yes if the committee is a Presidential Type committee (see Presidential on the General Information page) otherwise No. If the report includes recommendations to the President, a follow-up report on the actions taken by the President in response to the recommendations is due from the sponsoring agency a year later.
View Report At: If the committee posts the report on a web site, enter the web site address of the report here as displayed in the example. If the report is uploaded to the FACA Database, the system will make an entry in this text box and create a hyperlink to the report.

Meetings:
Open or Closed: This item is required. Each meeting should be listed on a separate entry.  Each entry includes a selection of whether the meeting was Open, Closed, or Partially Closed.
MeetingStart Date: This item is required. The date the meeting started (the time is not necessary), e.g., 05/05/2005.
Meeting Stop Date: This item is required. The date the meeting ended (the time is not necessary), e.g., 05/06/2005 Both the Start Date and Stop Dates are necessary to determine the length of the meetings.
Location: All of the fields are required, but the detail in the Location field should be consistent with agency guidance.
Purpose: All of the fields are required, but the detail in the Purpose field should be consistent with agency guidance.
View Minutes At: This item is not required to be added to the database online. If the committee posts the minutes on a web site, enter the web site address of the minutes here as displayed in the example. If the minutes are uploaded to the FACA Database, the system will make an entry in this text box and create a hyperlink to the minutes. All formal committee and subcommittee meetings held under section 10 of FACA should be included and listed, each on a separate record. The program produces a total count of the meetings by counting the number of records.  If more than one meeting is held on the same date, a separate record should be used for each separate meeting.  The total number of meetings reported should equal the meetings announced (and not subsequently canceled) in the Federal Register and any other venues approved for meeting notices in the future.  The program will list the meetings entered in date order.
List all other activities the agency decides to include in this report, e.g., site visits, information-gathering or research sessions, etc., in Remarks on the Recommendation page.

Costs:
The Current FY column is the fiscal year being reported and the Estimated FY column is the next fiscal year after the one being reported.  The costs should be in whole dollars. Please complete each item and do not use either decimals, or the letters K for thousands, M for millions, NA for Not Available, or leave the entry field blank. If the amount for a field is 0 (zero), enter a 0.
Payments to Non-Federal Members: This item is required if funds are spent in this category and represents the value of any monies given by the Government to any advisory committee member who is not a Federal employee and who is not a consultant, where the monies are not reimbursement for travel expenses.
Payments to Federal Members: This item is required if funds are spent in this category and represents the value of any monies paid by the Government to any advisory committee member who is a Federal employee. The amount may simply be their salaries (including benefits) for the days they attended committee meetings or otherwise worked on committee activity. In the rare situation where the Federal member is on leave from their Federal responsibility to work on advisory committee activity, the amount reported should be the combination of their salary (including benefits) and any additional monies paid by the office sponsoring the advisory committee, where the monies are not reimbursement for travel expenses.
Payments to Federal Staff: This item is required if funds are spent in this category and represents the value of any monies paid to any Federal employees who are not committee members but whose work supports the activity of the committee. This includes the DFO if he or she is not an appointed member.
Payments to Consultants: This item is required if funds are spent in this category and represents the value of any monies paid to consultants to the committee. These consultants are not appointed members, nor are they Federal employees, and the payments are not reimbursement for travel expenses.
Here's an example of costs attributable to a committee.  A GS-11 with a salary level including locality pay of $53,000 per year is spending 10% of his/her duty time working as an assistant staff director for a committee. The total cost of the GS-11 for committee activity is salary plus benefits (figure 17% for benefits) times 10% or $6,202.  In this case the dollar amount of 6201 should be included in Payments to Federal Staff. Cost for Federal members and Federal staff should always include benefits costs.  To compute benefits, you can multiply salary by the benefit percentage generally used by your agency (normally between 14% to 18%) or by the Government average of 16%.
Travel: Non-Federal Members: This item is required if funds are spent in this category and should include all travel and per diem costs incurred by committee activity and authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5703 and paid to Non-Federal members.
Travel: Federal Members: This item is required if funds are spent in this category and should include all travel and per diem costs incurred by committee activity and authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5703 and paid to Federal members.
Travel: Federal Staff: This item is required if funds are spent in this category and should include all travel and per diem costs incurred by committee activity and paid to Federal Staff.
Travel: Consultants: This item is required if funds are spent in this category and should include all travel and per diem costs incurred by committee activity and authorized by 5 U.S.C. 5703 and paid to Consultants.
Other: This item is required if funds are spent in this category. This field includes all administrative costs not attributable either to personnel payments or to travel and per diem. This may include the costs of meeting rooms, transcripts, maintenance of a committee web site, etc.
Total: This item is required. The program computes the totals when the user clicks Save. This field cannot be edited. Changes are made to this value by entering data in the correct boxes above and clicking Save. Please be careful to enter your figures in the correct fields and do not leave any fields blank.
NOTE: In calculating personnel payments and other costs associated with Federal advisory committee activities under FACA, only those discrete costs directly related to the committee's scope and duties should be reported. Agencies must assure that only those incremental costs necessary to directly support the committee are captured for purposes of this Current FY Annual Comprehensive Review. As a general rule, agencies should not include expenses which: (1) are part of ongoing program activities; (2) are incurred as part of efforts not directly related to the committee's functions; or (3) were programmed for other purposes prior to the establishment of the committee. Each agency should follow any additional internal guidance developed or derived from either statutory or other administrative authorities which are peculiar to that agency. Any questions concerning a specific agency's advisory committee cost reporting for this Current FY Annual Comprehensive Review, or regarding the guidance provided in these instructions, should be directed to the Committee Management Secretariat.
Federal Staff Support: This item is required and is the total of the Federal FTE count supporting the committee's activities, to the nearest tenth, e.g., 4.3. There should be a direct comparable relationship in fiscal value between item Federal Staff Support and Payments to Federal Staff.   In the example for Payments to Federal Staff above (10% of his/her duty time) Federal Staff Support should show .1 FTE for the Federal staff member working as an assistant staff director on the committee's work.

Justifications:
How does the Committee Accomplish its Purpose? This item is required.
How is the Membership Balanced? This item is required.
How Frequent and Relevant are the Meetings? This item is required.
Why is this Committee Necessary? This item is required.
Why must Meetings be Closed? This question only requires a response if committee meetings were closed, otherwise N/A.
Answers to these Annual Comprehensive Review questions are required except for committees terminated during the fiscal year being reported. Be specific and feel free to be descriptive and illustrative of the committee's activities. Please confine answers to activities from the reported fiscal year. All answers must be complete and accurate.

Members:
Prefix: Title or formal reference, i.e., Dr., Mr., Col., Honorable
First Name:
Middle Name:
Last Name: While all the name fields are desired, the Prefix, First name, Middle name and Suffix fields can be left blank in a member record. Last Name is the only required name field. Place holders like TBD are not allowed. Each member record must identify an actual member (a real person) and not a group that will be represented or a group from which a member will be appointed.
Suffix: Formal reference, i.e., Jr., III, PhD, Ed.D
Member Designation: Individual agencies are responsible, under appropriate statutory mandates and personnel rules, for determining the designation of members who will serve on their Federal advisory committees.  For purposes of the FACA Database, advisory committee members normally come under ONE of the following designation categories.  Please ensure that each reported advisory committee member is characterized properly in the Database as designated previously by the agency.  The default entry to the database will be Special Government Employee (SGE).
   Regular Government Employee (RGE) Member: Generally, an individual employed within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. 2105, or a Federal officer as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2104.  For purposes of the FACA Database only, this category also includes a Federal officer holding a position in the uniformed services.  (See 5 U.S.C. 2101(3) for a listing of the uniformed services.)
   Special Government Employee (SGE) Member: An officer or employee of the executive or legislative branch who is retained, designated, appointed, or employed to perform temporary duties (either on a full-time or intermittent basis) for not to exceed 130 days during any period of 365 consecutive days.  An SGE may serve with or without compensation.  The full definition of SGE also includes individuals in certain miscellaneous positions, who are deemed SGEs without any regard to the number of days of service.  In general, SGEs provide Federal advisory committees with their own best independent judgment based on their individual expertise.  (For more information on the definition of an SGE, see 18 U.S.C. 202(a), or consult with the agency’s ethics official.)
   Representative Member: An individual who is not a Federal employee (or a Federal employee who is attending in a personal capacity), who is selected for membership on a Federal advisory committee for the purpose of obtaining the point of view or perspective of an outside interest group or stakeholder interest.  While representative members may have expertise in a specific area, discipline, or subject matter, they are not selected solely on the basis of this expertise, but rather are selected to represent the point of view of a group or particular interest.  (See, for example, Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Informal Advisory Letter 93 x 14.)  A representative member may represent groups or organizations, such as industry, labor, consumers, or any other recognizable group of persons having an interest in matters before the committee, including on occasion the public at large.  (See, generally, OGE Memorandum 82 x 22.)
   Ex Officio Member: An individual who serves on a Federal advisory committee strictly by virtue of holding a particular governmental or organizational office, title, or other specified position.  For example, if the committee’s authority or charter states that a Federal officer by position, or the Governor of a particular State, or the leader of a particular tribe, or the head of a particular trade association or other organization will serve as a member of the committee, that individual would be characterized as an Ex Officio member for purposes of the FACA Database.
   Peer Review Consultant Member: An individual, primarily nongovernment expert, qualified by training and experience in particular scientific or technical fields, or qualified as an authority knowledgeable in the various disciplines and fields related to the scientific areas under review.  For purposes of the FACA Database, this category applies only to an individual serving on a particular Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health peer review Federal advisory committee, who provides expert advice on the scientific and technical merit of grant applications or contract proposals, or the concept of contract proposals.  (See 42 CFR Part 52h.)
Represented Group: If Representative Member is selected in the field above, the group represented must be entered in this field.
Chairperson: This item is required and is Yes if the member is a chairperson of the committee; otherwise No.
Occupation Or Affiliation: This item is required, but the specific degree of detail is a matter of agency guidance. List the preferred or selected occupation or affiliation as appropriate, indicating either the member's profession, employment or employer, or area of interest or expertise, organization, or representational category.
Appointment Start Date: This item is required and is the date the member was appointed as a member of the committee.
Appointment End Date: This item is required and is the date the member's committee appointment ends. The program will default to the end of the following FY if no date is entered.
Appointment Type: This item is required. The Pull-down list allows selection from Agency, Congressional, Federal Employee Member, Judicial, Other, and Presidential. The default entry is Agency since most committee members are appointed by the agency head.
Appointment Term: This item is required. Select from the Pull-down list.
Pay Plan: This item is required. Select from the Pull-down list.
Pay Source: This item is required. Select from the Pull-down list.
E-mail Address: This item is required from 2002 forward. An e-mail entered for a member does not display in the public access part of the system and will be used by Committee Management solely for Performance Measurement Activities. List each member on a separate record.  The program counts the number of members for each committee by counting the number of records. Report all members serving on the committee at any time during the fiscal year being reported.
NOTE: The determination of which persons are to be counted as "members" of the committee, including members of any subcommittee, is subject to the statutory or administrative authority for the committee under which such members are appointed or selected, and is the responsibility of the agency. This includes such undefined categories as "ex officio," "substitute" (or "alternate"), or "ad hoc" (i.e., temporary member).

Subcommittees: Subcommittees that are not separately chartered are added at the behest and discretion of the DFO in consultation with the CMO. This should only be done when the agency wishes to track the activity and cost of the subcommittees separately. Subcommittees can be added to track Meetings, Reports, Costs, and Members separately. Data can be added to either the subcommittee or to the parent committee but not to both as data added to subcommittees is combined by the program with the data added to the parent committee for a total summary report.

Performance Measures: Although Performance Measures have been part of Federal advisory committees since the first committee was chartered, they have only become a formal component of the Annual Comprehensive Review from FY 2003 forward. A response is required for each question on the page and explanatory comments are desired and encouraged.
Narrative Description: (Required). Please provide a narrative description of how the committee supports the agency's mission and its strategic plan.
Program Outcomes: (Required). Some typical outcomes are supplied. Please place a check in the box of all the provided outcomes that apply and provide an explanation in the comments box, especially if Other is among the selections.
Cost Savings: (Required). Select the single most appropriate answer or range by clicking the radio button. Add any necessary explanatory detail in the Comments Box.
Number of Recommendations: (Required). This number is the total of the separate and distinct recommendations conveyed formally to the decision maker "using" the committee for the life of the committee. Explanatory detail should be provided in the Comments Box
Percentage of Recommendations Fully Implemented: (Required). This number is the cumulative total percentage of the formally-conveyed recommendations that have been fully implemented over the life of the committee thus far. Clarifications and explanations should be included in the Comments Box.
Percentage of Recommendations Partially Implemented: (Required). This number is the cumulative percentage of the formally-conveyed recommendations that have been partially implemented over the life of the committee thus far. Clarifications and explanations should be included in the Comments Box.
Agency Feedback about Recommendations: (Required). This item requires selecting a Yes, No, or Not Applicable. If the response is No or Not Applicable, please explain in the "No" Comment Box why feedback is not considered necessary. If the response is Yes, please explain in the "Yes" Comment Box how the feedback is provided.
Actions the Agency Has Taken: (Required). Select all the actions that apply by checking the box next to the appropriate action and provide an explanation in the Comments Box.
Engaged in Review for Grants: (Required). Select Yes or No.
  If Yes is selected, then
    Provide an Estimated Number of the Grant Requests Reviewed, and
    Provide an Estimated Number of the Grant Requests the Committee Recommended for Approval, and
    Provide an Estimated Dollar Value of the Grant Requests Recommended for Approval.
Access to Committee Information and Documentation: (Required). Select all the methods stated that apply and, for Other, provide an explanation in the Comments Box.

Current FY Annual Comprehensive Review:
The reported data for the committee in a printer-friendly format (can be more easily printed from the Internet). This page cannot be edited.

Designated Federal Official:
Prefix: Not required but desired.
First name: Not required but desired.
Middle Initial: Not required but desired.
Last name: This item is required.
Suffix: Not required but desired.
Title: This item is required. This can be the title the DFO is assigned or wishes to use or it can be simply DFO
Phone: This item is required.
Fax: This item is required.
E-mail: This item is required.
The name, title, phone, fax, and e-mail of the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) for the committee can be edited by the designated DFO, GFO, or CMO.

The Group Federal Official:
Prefix: Not required but desired.
First name: Not required but desired.
Middle Initial: Not required but desired.
Last name: This item is required if there is a GFO for the committee.
Suffix: Not required but desired.
Title: This item is required. This can be the title the GFO is assigned or wishes to use or it can be simply GFO.
Phone: This item is required.
Fax: This item is required.
E-mail: This item is required.
The GFO is either the agency official having responsibility for a set of committees or the agency official other than the CMO who formally certifies the accuracy of the reported data for the agency.  The name, title, phone, fax, and e-mail of the GFO for the committee can be edited by the designated GFO, or CMO.

The Committee Management Officer:
Prefix: Not required but desired.
First name: Not required but desired.
Middle Initial: Not required but desired.
Last name: This item is required.
Suffix: Not required but desired.
Title: This item is required. This can be the title the CMO is assigned, or wishes to use, or it can be simply CMO
Phone: This item is required.
Fax: This item is required.
E-mail: This item is required.
Agency URL: This item is not required but users generally find it helpful.
The agency official who formally manages the committees, reports the committee data annually, and certifies the accuracy of the reported data for the agency.  The name, title, phone, fax, and e-mail of the CMO for the agency can be edited by the designated CMO or the Committee Management Secretariat staff.