In this Issue

Metrocheks
FOIA Requests
Report Lost, Stolen, Missing Laptops Promptly
National Business Center Contact Points Lockbox Procedures

Features

Purchase Card Corner
Where Do I Find
ITA Comings & Goings

Metrocheks

Metrocheks will be distributed to participating employees in Room 4813 on October 25 and Room B841B on October 26-27, 2006 from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. Please note that on October 27, 2006, the Department of Transportation (DOT) representatives will be at HCHB from 8:30 to 11:00 am only. Employees are reminded to be sure to check that the Metrocheks given to them by the DOT representative are correct before departing the distribution site. Those employees who are unable to pickup their Metrocheks during the designated times can go to the Department of Transportation (DOT) headquarters, located at 400 7th Street, SW. Take the Metrorail to L’Enfant Plaza, exiting at 7th and D. The Metrocheks pickup window is located on the Plaza Level, Southwest corner of DOT in Room 206. The office hours are Monday thru Friday, 8:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. with full coverage during lunch hours. If you have questions, please call Sharon Russell at (202)482-3267.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests

If you have been tasked with responding to a FOIA request and find that you have classified material that is responsive to the request, you must include the classified material when providing your input to the FOIA Officer. We do not release classified documents, but they must be reviewed to determine if they can be declassified and released in whole or in part. Several officials in ITA have the authority to declassify documents. Please contact Linda Bell at (202)482-3032, or e-mail Linda.Bell@mail.doc.gov , if you have any questions regarding FOIA.

Report Lost, Stolen, Missing Laptops and PDAs Promptly

If a laptop or PDA is lost, stolen, or missing, you should report it immediately to ITA's Property Management Officer (PMO), Jeff Scherr; your office's Property Custodian; the Office of Security; and OCIO. If a laptop or PDA is lost or missing, your Property Custodian should complete a CD-52, Report of Review of Property, explaining the circumstances surrounding the loss of the piece of equipment. The Property Accountability Officer will complete, sign, and date the Recommendation section at the top of the second page. The Property Custodian should send the form to the PMO who will check it for accuracy, sign it, and email the Custodian that the CD-52 has been received and that the asset can be removed from that office's inventory. If a laptop or PDA is stolen, as soon as the theft is discovered, the Property Custodian should contact Security and file a report. If building security does not contact the local police or if you are located in the Field and do not have building security, contact your local police immediately for them to come and make a report. Your Property Custodian will complete a CD-52, Report of Review of Property, and will attach a copy of the police report if available or type in Police report on file. If you have questions, please contact ITA's PMO, Jeff Scherr, at (202)482-3266.

National Business Center Contact Points

The National Business Center has gone through a reorganization. As a result, a few contact names and numbers have changed. A new listing can be found at: http://www.ita.doc.gov/ofm_guidance/nbc_contacts.pdf . If you have any questions contact Roxanna Allen at (202)482-8363.

Lockbox Procedures for Depositing Fees Collected

Whenever fees are collected domestically or overseas, they must be deposited as soon as possible. Use of lockbox processing has been adopted and established by Treasury as a means of accelerating deposits to the Treasury General Account. Citibank provides the lockbox service utilized by the International Trade Administration for foreign and domestic fee collections. The lockbox mailing address is: ITA, Post Office Box 11750, Philadelphia, PA 19101-0750. Note that for deposits sent by an overnight delivery service, such as FedEx, UPS, etc., the lockbox address is: ITA – Box 6395, 1615 Brett Road, New Castle, DE 19720-2425. This information was previously provided as ITA Accounting Memorandum 2006-12 (Revised) dated June 27, 2006. It can be found on the OUR PLACE Website http://www.ita.doc.gov/ofm_guidance/acctg_memos/2006/2006-12-acctg.pdf
/2006/2006-12-acctg.pdf . Please feel free to address any questions to Crystal Bush at (202)482-8365.

Purchase Card Corner

Question: How does a Cardholder change information on their purchase card?

Answer: To change information on your existing Purchase Card, access the ITA2061, Government Purchase or Travel Card Maintenance Form, available on the ITA Intranet, “Ourplace”at http://ourplace.ita.doc.gov.

To change information on the purchase card complete:

1. SECTION I. Identify the account to be updated Type cardholder number, Type name of cardholder as it appears on the card.

2. SECTION II. Type of Cardholder maintenance request Indicate an ‘X’ by the type of maintenance requested.

3. SECTION III. Cardholder Information Complete in Section III only the information to be changed in the cardholder account.

4. SECTION IV. Reporting Parameters Leave Blank

5. SECTION V. Authorization Parameters Leave Blank

6. SECTION VI. Account Closure Instructions Approving Official Signature

7. SECTION VII. Agency Organization Program Coordinator Signature

Return form to Robin Carpenter in Room 4001 who will sign as ITA’s Program Coordinator.

Where do I find ….Information on Federal Salaries

Employees can find information on the current Federal salary tables, which were effective in January 2005, for General Schedule (GS) employees on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website. The salary tables are by locality. The link is http://www.opm.gov/oca/05tables/indexGS.asp . Employees working in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area are covered in the Locality Pay Area of Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-PA-WV. If you have any questions regarding pay, please contact Lorese Green on (202)482-5232 or via email at Lorese.Green@mail.doc.gov .

ITA Comings and Goings 08/06/06 – 10/02/06

Arrivals – WELCOME!

ADMIN – Michael House, Pamela King; MAC – Jeffrey Buck, Robert Lee, David Olsen; TP & USFCS – Matthew Baker, Christina Bishop, Eric Crowley, Jonathan Holland, Lisa Leyser, Patrick McRae, Heidi Pichler.

Departures

OUS – Tiffany Smith; ADMIN – Dottie Bowling, Rosemary Plummer, Hamilton Humes, Leslie Hyland; MAC – Peter Hale; MAS – Susan Simon; TP & USFCS – Nealton Burnham, Rajendra Dheer, Paul Gaspari, August Maffry Jr, Jana Nelhybel, Dan Xiao. If you have questions contact Diane Evans at (202)482-4382 or via email at Diane.Evans@mail.doc.gov .