A Bi-Weekly Newsletter from ITA Administration | |
Office of the Chief Financial Officer |
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 |
Sign Up for QuickPro Escape Hood Training
Sessions Your Quick2000 Emergency Escape Hoods are expiring, and ITA is offering training on the new QuickPro Emergency Escape Hoods from Monday, November 26 through Tuesday, December 11. Emergency Escape Hoods are masks that protect you from hazardous fumes, gasses, and other poisons in the event of an emergency. The training vendor, Critical Incident Solutions, will conduct training daily from Monday, November 26, through Tuesday, December 11. Sessions will be held each day at 9:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, and 2:30pm. Each session is scheduled to last 45 minutes, and all sessions will be held in Room 4224. You must attend these sessions to get a new Escape Hood, even if you already have a Quick2000 Escape Hood. Please bring your old Quick2000 Escape Hood to the training. You may discard your blue practice hood. To sign up, please email Safety@mail.doc.gov. and include your extension and top three session preferences in the email. You will receive a return email confirming your registration. There is no charge for this class, but you must register in advance and each session is limited to 20 people. If you have questions, please contact ITA's Safety Officer, Jeff Scherr, at 202-482-3266 or Safety@mail.doc.gov. Notices are published in the Federal Register (FR) to provide general information of public interest. They may announce meetings, grant application due dates, rulemaking documents, notices with information collection activities or other information requiring public notice. If you have any questions on how to prepare an FR notice, please contact Jacqueline Harris at (202) 482-4011 or via email Jacqueline.Harris@mail.doc.gov. You may also click on the following link: http://www.ita.doc.gov/ooms/ooms29.htm to learn more about the process. Security Clearance
Certification Requests
When visiting another
government agency for a classified meeting or going for temporary duty
you may be required to have your security clearance certified to the
other agency. Form CD-414
is used to certify clearances.
When completing the form, include all personal information
requested as well as contact information for the agency that is
requiring your clearance.
Include the point of contact, such as the Manager or Security
Officer, who will be receiving your clearance information. Bring the completed form to the
ITA Security Office in Room 4109.
The ITA Security Manager will verify your clearance and fax the
form to the agency to be visited. Update on FY 2008 Congressional Appropriations and Operations The Administration continues to threaten to veto the Commerce Justice Science Appropriations Bill for FY 2008 and all pending appropriations legislation for FY 2008. In the meantime, ITA will continue to operate under a Continuing Resolution (CR). On Tuesday, November 13th, the President signed a $471 billion Defense appropriations bill that includes a second continuing resolution that extends funding for the government through Dec. 14. The CR requires that bureaus within DoC operate and incur obligations that mirror the same time frame in the previous year (also operating under a CR). This extension also provides an additional $1.0 billion to the Bureau of the Census to support preparation for the Decennial Census. As a result of this “exception”, ITA will get back its loan of $1.9 million provided during the last CR. For the duration of the continuing resolution all procurements, including MOUs that would obligate ITA to $100,000 or more must be approved by the Resource Coordinator and the Budget Officer. For more information on operations during a CR please call Mr. Michael House at (202) 482-5739. |
FY 2007 Performance and Accountability Report (PAR)
The
following are fast facts on the Thrift Savings Plan: 1) Elective Deferral Limit – The elective deferral limit for 2008 is
$15,500. The limit for 2007
was also $15,500; 2) Catch-up
Contributions – The limit on catch-up contributions for 2008 is
$5,000. It remains the same
as the 2007 limit; 3)
Loan interest rate for new loans is
4.500%. Health Benefits Open Season –
Reminder The
Federal Employees Health Benefit Program Open Season closes on December
10, 2007. If you have any
questions on the above programs, please call Karen Brown at (202) 482-8065
or via email at Karen.Brown@mail.doc.gov.
Can
you answer the trivia question?
Be featured in our bi-weekly Administrivial Pursuits by answering
or providing trivia questions.
Questions and answers may be submitted to Nina Harris via email Nina.Harris@mail.doc.gov.
Trivia
Question: If your laptop or BlackBerry/PDA is lost, stolen, or missing,
who do you need to report this to and how long do you have to do
this? Answer
to Last Issue's Question: Where
can you find a one stop resource for business applications and
information? Where Do I Find... Information on the Federal Benefits
Programs? The following are links to the
major Federal Benefits programs: |
Approved by the ITA CFO/Director of Administration
Send your suggestions or comments about this newsletter to Nina.Harris@mail.doc.gov