Commerce Learning Center NOW offers “Live” Desktop Support to ALL ITA Employees

Need assistance logging into the Commerce Learning Center (CLC)? Having problems launching a web-based training course? Need assistance registering for a course? You can now instant message a “live” help desk professional and receive immediate assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere in the world! Knowledgeable support professionals are available to answer all your questions and provide assistance in navigating the CLC. For live assistance simply click the “Contact Us” or “Help” link located on any CLC page. At the Support Contacts page click the “Live Support” link located in the International Trade Administration section.

You are immediately linked to an instant message utility where you will see a welcome message in the chat room message area and a list of online live instructors. Within seconds an instructor’s message asking how they can assist you displays in the message area. Type your inquiry in the box located just below the message area and click the “Send” button. As you and the instructor communicate a continuous dialog displays in the message area. Continue the dialog until your issue is resolved.

The Commerce Learning Center web page is located at: http://learning.doc.gov/.

For questions about the new "Live" desktop support, please contact CLCSupport@mail.doc.gov.

Citibank Travel Card

ITA Citibank travel cardholders are reminded that the travel card is to be used for expenses associated with official government travel only. The card is not intended for personal use. If you have questions, please call Sharon Russell, ITA Travel Program Officer, at (202) 482-3267.

Ensure Your Office's Sunflower Inventory is Accurate and Complete

Property Custodians must review office inventories within the Sunflower Personal Property Management System to ensure that the Sunflower inventory accurately and completely represents the office's property inventory. If there are discrepancies, Property Custodians must take action to correct the inventory, by adding new property, requesting deletion of surplused property, or making corrections to property currently in Sunflower. Property Custodians should also assign each piece of property to specific users by updating the "User" field on Sunflower's Maintain Inventory Assets screen. It is important that Property Custodians make any changes necessary prior to inventory time. As a reminder, you can find your Property Report by logging into Sunflower https://www.sflwrdocprod.ocs.doc.gov/pls/snflwr_04050000_dbauth_osppsp3, selecting Management Reports, and entering your Custodial number and, if outside of Headquarters, your location. If you have questions, please contact your Property Accountability Officer (L.A. Lawson- IA; Earl Brake- OCIO; Carol Crane- MAC; Annette Henderson- MAS; Yvette Johnson-Jones- USFCS) or ITA's Property Management Officer, Jeff Scherr, at (202) 482-3266 or Jeffrey.Scherr@mail.doc.gov .

FY 2008 Annual Financial Audit

The accounting firm, KPMG initiated the FY 2008 annual financial audit of the Department on March 13^th. ITA has been very successful in these audits in the past, due to the excellent preparation by OFM Accounting and the efforts of the program staffs here in Washington DC, as well as Commercial Service offices in the field. Auditors will be reviewing one ITA Headquarters Office and traveling to a domestic and an overseas Commercial Service location to conduct a comprehensive review of operations. As in the past, to help prepare for the audits, OFM Accounting will be sending to the resource coordinators and each field location a detailed Financial Management Checklist to be completed and returned for review. The KPMG auditors will announce their targeted audit locations within the next month so that travel arrangements and country clearances can be arranged. In future editions of Admin Pursuits, CFO-Admin will address specific audit topics spelling out tips for a successful audit. The first topic will be – bank card auditing. For more information call Cathy Roberts, ITA’s Director of Accounting at (202) 482-3153.

ITA Second Quarter Performance Health

During the second quarter on FY 2008, ITA achieved the majority of its key performance targets.

US&FCS reported 3,750 Export Successes (ES), exceeding its second quarter target of 3,400 by ten percent. US&FCS challenged itself this year with an ambitious 30 percent increase in its overall ES target for the second quarter. This was a deliberate effort to change traditional ES filing patterns and avoid the usual fourth quarter rush to meet ES quotas. As a result, total ES production was 29 percent higher than the same period in FY 2007 and represents the highest second quarter ES volume in the past five years.
Import Administration (IA) exceeded its target for “Percentage of AD/CVD determinations issued within statutory and/or regulatory deadlines” by six percentage points. IA undertook 67 determinations during the second quarter of FY 2008 of which 64 determinations were issued within statutory and/or regulatory deadlines. The second quarter continued to highlight IA's work of applying the U.S. CVD law to China. Since March 30, 2007, when Commerce departed from its 23-year practice of not applying the U.S. CVD law to non-market economies such as China, IA has issued six preliminary determinations in subsequent CVD investigations of products from China, all in FY2008. IA has completed one, and initiated an additional eight CVD China investigations. Two preliminary determinations and three final determinations will be issued during the third quarter of FY 2008. IA was also well below its targeted error rate of 12% for the “Percent of ministerial errors in IA's dumping and subsidy calculations”. MAC performed exceptionally well and continues to exceed its annual target for the “Percentage of Market Access and Compliance Cases Concluded Successfully”. A strong showing during the first quarter of FY 2008 more than offset being slightly under the second quarter target for this measure. During the second quarter of FY 08, the “Value of MAC Cases Resolved Successfully” exceeded its target by over 30%. The planned target value for MAC cases resolved was $375 Million; the actual result was over $3B. MAC has already exceeded its annual target for this measure.

Please contact Ed Meyer at (202) 482-3304 or Dondi Ojeda at (202) 482-5204 for additional information on ITA performance and results.

Question of the Day

What would you like to see featured in the Admin Newsletter? Please email your comments to Nina.Harris@mail.doc.gov

Traveler’s Corner

Question: What is the new mileage rate for operating a privately owned vehicle for official travel?

Answer: Effective March 19, 2008, the new mileage rate for operating a privately-owned vehicle while on official travel is 50.5 cents.

If you have questions, please call your travel contact or Sharon Russell at (202) 482-3267.

ITA Comings and Goings 02/22/08 – 03/25/08

Arrivals – Welcome!

ADMIN – Lisa Gibson MAC – Charles George Schott II, Jennifer Boger; IA – Alicia Wintston Green, Shelly Atkinson; USFCS – Brian Casterline, Danielle Rust, Patricia Cook, Theophilus Samuels-Hunte, Gilbert Gerken.

Departures

IA – Brianne Riker, Lawrence Norton, Christian Hughes OUS – Aaron Nguyen, Alexander Feldman; MAC – Jennifer Baker MAS – Louise Marinaccio, Eric Holloway; USFCS – Stephen Madden IV, Patricia Holt, Terance Fisher, Philip De Leon, Evelyn Coloma, Alice Chan, Daniel Bloom, Shirley Askey.

If you have any questions, please contact Brad Lockett at (202) 482-6342 or via email at Bradford_Lockett@ita.doc.gov.