Freedom of Information Act

If you are responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and the responsive documents contain personal information, e.g., the home address and telephone number of an individual, you don't have to worry about violating that person's privacy.  Personal information is withheld under FOIA exemption (b)(6), which permits the government to withhold all information about individuals in "personnel and medical files and similar files" when the disclosure of such information "would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."  If you have questions about exemption (b)(6), or any other aspects of FOIA, please contact Linda Bell, ITA's FOIA Officer, at (202)482-3032 or Linda_Bell@ita.doc.gov

Information Collections

Packages submitted for a renewal or extension of an OMB approved information collection (hereinafter "collection") must be submitted to the Office of Organization and Management Support (OOMS) a minimum of 30 days in advance of the expiration date in order to meet the Department's processing requirements.  If the renewal is not received at least 30 days prior to expiration, the collection may expire before OMB acts on the renewal and will be considered a violation of the Paperwork Reduction Act.  In addition, effective immediately,  heads of program units will be notified if a collection is allowed to expire due to late submissions.  This new reporting process should enable program units to comply with deadlines.  Please direct your questions via email to Jacqueline_Harris@ita.doc.gov or (202)482-4011.

ITA FY 2006 Congressional Budget

ITA is in the final stages of preparing the FY 2006 President's Budget. This budget will be submitted to Congress in early February. Once it has been submitted, the budget, in its entirety, will be posted on the CFO Admin website. For additional information, please contact Ed Meyer, Acting Budget Director, OFM at (202)482-3304.

Restoration of Forfeited Annual Leave

The 2004 leave year ended January 8, 2005.   Heads of operating units may authorize restoration of annual leave when the forfeiture of leave is caused by illness, administrative error, or an exigency (or extended exigencies) of public business.  To request the restoration of forfeited annual leave, an employee must have scheduled the use of annual leave in writing by November 27, 2004 and must document that the request for leave was approved.  Additional information, requirements and procedures on scheduling and restoring annual leave are available at http://ohrm.doc.gov/handbooks.leave.htm Requests for annual leave restoration may be initiated after January 8, 2005.  For additional information or questions, please call Lorese Green at (202)482-5232.

Elimination of the TSP Open Seasons:  July 1, 2005

On December 21, 2004, Public Law 108-469 was signed into law.  It eliminates the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) open seasons and the restrictions on contribution elections, which are tied to open seasons. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board will implement this law on July 1, 2005.  There will be one more open season-April 15 through June 30, 2005.  Participants may file contribution elections with their agencies at any time beginning April 15. Through June 30, these elections will be processed under the current rules.  Beginning July 1, contribution elections will be processed under the new rules-that is, the elections must be made effective no later than the first full pay period after they are filed.  Participants must continue to file contribution elections with their agencies, and the agencies must continue to implement the elections by deducting contributions from participants' pay and reporting these amounts to the TSP each pay period.  To learn more about TSP, go to www.tsp.gov.  You can also call Vanessa Lewis at (202)482-8327 or Dottie Bowling at (202)482-3504.

Federal Pay Raise 

In December 2004, the President authorized the 2005 Federal pay raise.  For employees in the Washington, DC area, the raise is 3.71 percent of which 2.5 percent is an across the board increase and the rest is for locality pay.  The pay raise is effective of the first full pay period after January 1, 2005.  For most employees, that is January 9, 2005.  To view the pay tables for all localities, go to www.opm.gov/oca/05tables/.   If you have questions, contact Lorese Green at (202)482-5232 or Brenda Bradley at (202)482-0652.

Learning Management System

In cooperation with the Department of Commerce, ITA's Office of Human Resources Management recently launched the new Learning Management System (LMS) to aid in employee development. The LMS is a fully integrated training and development system that features online training, but has the ability to maintain all training reports and data.   The system allows users to monitor their training, register for online and instructor-led courses, and take online courses, as well as a multitude of other functions, including the ability to develop Individual Development Plans.  A training plan for the Learning Management System is forthcoming. Please take the time to see how this system can facilitate your personal and professional growth. If you have any questions, or would like more information on how to gain access to the system, please feel free to contact Tarik Pierce, LMS Program Lead, at (202)482-3571, or by email at Tarik_Pierce@ita.doc.gov.

Administrative Procedures for New Supervisors/Managers Workshop

ITA's Office of Human Resources Management is sponsoring a one-day workshop titled "Administrative Procedures for New Supervisors/Managers". This no-cost workshop will take place on February 23, 2005 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, room number to be determined.  This workshop is the first of a series of courses designed for new supervisors/managers.  Current Federal regulations no longer require a specified curriculum for new supervisors/managers; however, they are encouraged to attend. To register for this workshop, please submit the ITA 2051 form to SWG/OHRM, Room H7412 by February 8, 2005.  If you have questions, please call Anesia Robinson at (202)482-1380. This class is physically accessible to people with disabilities.  Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Anesia Robinson at (202)482-1380 or (202)482-2030 (TDD-for hearing impaired employees only).

ITA performance targets for FY 2005 have been reviewed by ITA management and adjusted based on prior year actuals and external factors likely to impact the targets. Although all performance targets remain ambitious, the revised targets reflect the impact of budget rescissions. Listed below are ITA's goals, measures and targets that will be reported in the FY 2006 ITA Annual Performance Plan:

Strengthen U.S. industries
Customer perception of ease of access to export and trade information and data: 74% Satisfaction Rate 

Expand the U.S. Exporter Base
Percentage of undertaken advocacy actions completed successfully: 10% Success Rate
Number of U.S. exporters entering a new market: Range of 4,760 to 5,500
Number of U.S. firms exporting for the first time: Range of 700 to 850
Number of export transactions made as a result of ITA involvement: Range of 11,385 to 13,500
Percentage of TP/USFCS program base funded by fees: 2%

Ensure Fair Competition in International Trade
Percentage of antidumping (AD)/countervailing duty (CVD) cases completed on time: 100%
Number of market access and compliance cases initiated: Range of 160 to 170
Number of market access and compliance cases concluded: Range of 75 to 85

For additional information on performance management in ITA, please contact Ed Meyer in the Office of Financial Management at (202)482-3304.

Office of Financial Management Operational Improvements

Effective January 3, 2005, the Office of Financial Management implemented new business processes that are intended to enable operational improvements and improve the reliability of the financial information reported internally and externally.  Under the President's Management Agenda, federal agencies are required to initiate management reforms.  With this in mind, OFM has identified a number of improvements that will bring the office more closely in-line with financial management best practices and should enhance both efficiency and customer service.

A number of tasks that had been performed by the OFM Budget staff have now been shifted to the OFM Accounting and Financial Systems staff including: (1) management of accounting codes, (2) processing of MOUs/MOAs within OFM, (3) review and validation of accounting code strings included within obligating documents, (4) fund allocation cables issued to overseas locations and (5) validation of fund usage for a particular financial document, to name a few.  An integral part of this transition is the resulting staff realignment within OFM.   Stephen Palmer and Vanessa Barksdale have been transferred to the Accounting and Financial Systems staff.  For more information, contact Leslie Hyland at (202)482-5434.

Traveler's Corner

Question: Are expenses for laundry, cleaning and pressing of clothing reimbursable?

Answer: Yes, the expenses incurred for laundry, cleaning and pressing of clothing are reimbursable after 4 consecutive nights on travel as a miscellaneous domestic travel expense within the limits of the conterminous U.S. (the 48 states plus the District of Columbia). If you have questions, please call your travel contact or Sharon Russell at (202)482-3267.

 Where Do I Find....The Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, The Judiciary and related agencies appropriations Act, 2005?

You can find the appropriations act at 

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?

dbname=108_cong_reports&docid=f:hr792.108.

pdf#page=50

Please be patient when opening the above link as it is large document in acrobat format.  If you have questions, contact Melanie Hazlett at (202)482-1027.