ADMINISTRIVIAL PURSUITS

In this Issue

Procurement Cutoff Dates
Freedom of Information Act
Escape Hood Training
Leadership School Courses
FY 07 Secretary Budget

Features

Procurement Corner
Where Do I Find?

Procurement Cutoff Dates

NOAA's Acquisition Management Division (AMD) has adopted the following cutoff dates for receipt of FY 2005 procurement requests from ITA. NOAA must receive a complete procurement request package with all necessary approvals and documentation by the cutoff date. Any requirement received after the cutoff date must be accompanied by either a hard-copy memo or an e-mail from the unit head (Assistant Secretary, CIO, CFO) to the Director of AMD, Gary Rice, indicating the requisition number, description of service/supply, project officer, purpose and criticality of acquisition, priority of acquisition and reason for late submission. All contracts on GSA schedule must be sent to NOAA no later than June 30 and supply orders no later than August 1. All other orders must reach NOAA as follows:

Under $24,999.99 - August 31
$25,000 - $100,000 - July 18
Over $100,000 - May 2

We recommend that, where possible, you use the purchase card. If you have questions, or need additional information, contact Robin Carpenter at 202-482-4989 or via email at Robin_Carpenter@ita.doc.gov.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), specific exemptions allow the federal government to withhold information from FOIA requesters. Exemption (b)(4) protects trade secrets, commercial or financial information. This exemption can be used only if releasing the information could cause substantial competitive harm to the firm that provided the information. A list of the FOIA exemptions can be found at http://www.ita.doc.gov/foia/faq.htm#exempt For additional information, please contact Linda Bell at 202-482-3032 or e-mail linda_bell@ita.doc.gov.

ITA Escape Hood Training

On Thursday, May 5^th, the ITA Safety Council will conduct two Escape Hood training sessions, at 10:00 and 2:00, in Room B841-A. The sessions will last one hour and will train users how to properly wear the emergency Escape Hoods provided by the Department. These Escape Hoods have been certified as the best commercially available protective hoods, and will protect the user in case of a disaster. At the conclusion of the session, each participant will receive an Escape Hood. There is no charge for this training, but you must register in advance. If you have questions or wish to sign up for one of these sessions, contact ITA Safety Officer Jeff Scherr at 202-482-4356 or by email at Jeffrey_Scherr@ita.doc.gov.

FY 2007 Secretary's Budget

The Budget Office is beginning to work in earnest on the FY 2007 Secretary's Budget submission. The Secretary has issued his guidance on preparing Bureau budgets which echoes the President's desire to reduce the budget deficit during this Administration. The ITA's FY 2007 Secretarial budget proposal will be delivered to the Secretary on May 16th. For more information on the FY 2007 Secretarial budget, contact Amy Duncan at 202-482-5739.

Upcoming Leadership School Courses

The Leadership School is offering four no-cost courses in May and June. The courses have been designed around the Senior Executive Service (SES) executive core qualifications. The courses are:

Presentation Skills on 5/3 - 5/5/05
Leading Change on 5/11 - 5/12/05
Communications and Conflict Management on 6/ 1- 6/2/05
Supervisory Leadership on 6/ 6 - 6/10/05

Qualified instructors will present these useful and informative courses. For a description of these and other courses offered by the Leadership School, go to http://www.ita.doc.gov/ita_admin/ohrm/training and click on Leadership School Course Calendar. If you want to sign up for these courses, complete an SF-182 and submit it to Room 7412. If you have any questions about the Leadership School courses, contact Anesia Robinson at 202-482-1380.

Procurement Corner

Question: How do I apply for a $2,500 purchase card?

Answer: A new Cardholder must complete form ITA 2058, "Government Purchase Card Set-Up Form", available on AOurplace@, take the GSA on-line training located at http://apps.fss.gsa.gov
/webtraining/trainingdocs/smartpaytraining/index.cfm
and take the Section 508 training located at www.section508.gov. Both the applications generate certificates of completion from the on-line training. These certificates must be submitted to Robin Carpenter, room 4001, with all required forms and signatures. If you have questions, contact Robin Carpenter at 202-482-4989.

Where Can I Find....the Right Human Resources Contact?

Have you been unsure if you have completed the required benefits form? Do you know who you should contact about filling a vacancy? Who do you call when you have a question about your pay or leave? Who should you call when you move from one state to another and need to change your tax withholding forms? Who do you call if you are interested in taking a training course? Anytime you have a question about a Human Resources (HR) matter, you can easily find out the appropriate person to contact by going to the ITA/OHRM website at http://www.ita.doc.gov/hrm/tele.htm. There are functional staff charts that list names of HR staff, their phone numbers, email addresses and assigned areas of responsibility. Please contact the appropriate HR staff member, or their backup, when there is a need for HR services. ITA/OHRM 's commitment to its customers is backed by an ITA/OHRM approach called C3Q: Cooperation - Collaboration - Communication with an overall focus on sustained Quality service. If you have any questions about the information on this website, contact Ruben Pedroza at 202-482-3072.