1. Describe how agency maintains an ongoing dialogue with interested parties to find innovative ways to use IT (include state, local, and tribal governments, private and non-profit sectors, and the general public). Sec. 101, 3602

Commerce pursues numerous and varied activities to maintain an ongoing dialogue with interested parties to fine innovative ways to use IT. Examples follow:

NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) participates in numerous formal and informal meetings and workshops with both private sector participants as well as the university and research communities, the general user community, and the public. Examples include twice yearly NWS Family of Services and Partners Meeting; the annual Cooperative Opportunity for NCEP Data Using IDD Technology (CONDUIT) User Group Meeting; and the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting. NWS conducts meetings with Emergency Management Organizations, at the local, state and national levels, and with local media, support organizations, special user groups and the general public. Exchanges at these types of events have led to improvements in NWS Web content with prominent links to items such as, the “Turn Around Don’t Drown” Web site, which was developed in concert with the Federal Alliance for Safe Home (FLASH) organization.

NWS ensures open communications through Weather Forecast Offices (WFO), which provide a Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) to interact with the agency’s partners and customers. This coordination and collaboration includes input on requirements, especially service delivery requirements and innovative ways to use Information Technology (IT). Similar staff fill this role at NWS’s River Forecast Centers (RFC) and Center Weather Service Units (CWSU). NWS conducts workshops for weather dissemination partners and technical staff to maintain a dialog regarding innovative product and user access plans and collects feedback on new Internet based products via a standardized process that includes evaluation of citizen feedback.

NOAA Fisheries holds regular and ongoing dialogues with constituent groups and stakeholders to discuss the innovative use of technology. To better understand constituent concerns and potential solutions to address those concerns, the Assistant Administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) recently held special constituent sessions in the ten fishery management areas of the US. The sessions directly involved state, local, and tribal governments, private and non-profit sectors, and the general public. In conjunction with these sessions, NOAA Fisheries solicited comments from the public, using the e-Comments Web forum, on innovative ways that we could keep them informed about changes within NMFS and fisheries management.

The NOAA/NOS Coastal Services Center (CSC) works extensively with other Federal agencies; state, local, and tribal governments; and public organizations to develop tools and procedures for using Geographic Information Systems in coastal zone management. CSC also trains employees from these various organizations in the use of GIS to further the sharing of knowledge and data throughout the coastal zone management community.

The NOAA/NOS National Marine Sanctuaries Program is involved with Dr. Robert Ballard’s Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium to develop a visual presence at each Marine Sanctuary in the country. This innovative use of technology involves underwater cameras, microwave links and multicasting to bring the underwater world to museums, Sanctuary visitor centers, and classrooms.

The NOAA Ocean Explorer Web site, which won a prestigious award from Scientific American, involves NOAA with several scientific exploration organizations to bring their research to public via the Internet. The Ocean Exploration Web site incorporates video, text, diagrams, and pictures to bring the explorations alive.

NOAA/NOS has collaborated with a private company and its network of private chart agents to develop a method to disseminate updated nautical charts to the public. Charts that are printed on demand for users are up-to-date within a week of receipt and verification of the corrections. Because of the cost of a print run, traditional printed charts are updated much less frequently and the user is required to apply the corrections by hand.

NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) uses data and metadata from the Satellite Environmental Processing System (SATEPS) as an important source of environmental and climatic data. SATEPS strives to expand electronic government and enhance service to the National Weather Service and other government agencies, United States citizens, and worldwide users. Examples include adding geographic information system (GIS) capabilities so that NESDIS customers with GIS capabilities will be able to combat emergencies by overlaying their local data (e.g., local roads, rivers, emergency stations) on the NESDIS products; and making available a GIS-compatible fire and smoke product that depicts fires and associated smoke plumes throughout the continental United States.

NESDIS’s Search and Rescue Satellite-aided Tracking (SARSAT) Program utilizes various customer outreach modes such as regular formal and ad-hoc meetings with its interagency partners, the United States Air Force, United States Coast Guard, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as with the SARSAT’s international partners. SARSAT meets annually with the distress beacon industry and regulatory bodies at the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services’ Beacon Manufacturers Workshop. SARSAT performs public outreach at various public events (e.g., Oshkosh Air Show and commercial fishing expos) as well as through publications in targeted magazines.

NOAA’s Office of Atmospheric Research (OAR) supports a public Internet Web site (http://www.oar.noaa.gov), which focuses on providing oceanographic and atmospheric science research partners and the public access to all activities conducted by the organization. The Web site provides a central portal to OAR’s laboratories and program home pages. Research data sets that can be searched online and downloaded include the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set, real-time dynamic displays (e.g., real-time meteorological observational network), weather alerts and warnings (e.g., real-time solar wind), and software (e.g., data graphics and analysis as well as Web and Internet applications, such as the Live Access Server designed to provide flexible access to geo-referenced scientific data).

NOAA/OAR supports a “Newsroom” section on its public Web site where information is posted to keep research partners and the public informed and engaged in OAR products and services. Additionally, OAR maintains an “Education” portal page specifically targeted to OAR online resources to provide research and investigation experiences for middle school science students and teachers. The site also links to other NOAA online resources in all science areas within the NOAA mission (Climate, Oceans and Coasts, Weather and Atmosphere, the Environment), the NOAA Photo Library, and NOAA Research Opportunities and Grants.

The U.S. Census Bureau partners with state, local, and tribal governments and the private sector to achieve Census Bureau missions and functions at a reduced cost and burden to the public. These partnerships utilize information technology to share information and data, thereby reducing errors and redundant processing and improving efficiencies.

Examples of these partnerships include working with state, local, and tribal governments to share data to improve the accuracy of addresses contained in the MAF/TIGER database in support of the 2010 Census and the Geospatial One-Stop initiative by accepting voluntary and ad-hoc contributions of geospatial files. Collaboration with the private sector has improved the usefulness of data for key economic indicators and reduced the burden of reporting statistics, thereby producing more timely and accurate data.

For the 2002 Economic Census, the Census Bureau offered electronic reporting to all 3.5 million participating businesses. In an innovative use of XML and a meta data repository, businesses were able to download forms from the Internet, and file them on the Census Bureau’s Web site. More than 50,000 online requests for extensions, re-mails, and additional form requests have been made using the Census Web site.

NIST utilizes multiple methods in maintaining its dialogue with interested parties regarding its use of IT in scientific and standards research and information dissemination. The actual dialogue is conducted between the many NIST scientists and their related communities of interest. This exchange of information occurs through many different mechanisms such as one-on-one meetings, electronic mail, and discussions at scientific forums and meetings.

NIST also considers proposals from the general public made through NIST Web master e-mail sites and other e-mail sites such as the one for the NIST CIO. When a new method of use for IT is determined to be useful it is made known to the various segments of the NIST organization by electronic distribution via e-mail, Web sites, newsletters, and technical bulletins. NIST has recently implemented a Web Customer Satisfaction Survey relative to its external Web sites. Input to that survey could lead to innovations in how NIST utilizes IT to best serve its customer base.

The International Trade Administration supports three types of private sector groups that maintain ongoing dialogue: (1) The Industry Functional Advisory Committees (IFACs), e.g., IFAC on Electronic Commerce, (2) The Industry Sector Advisory Committees (ISACs), e.g., ISAC on Electronics and Instrumentation, and (3) the 56 District Export Councils (DECs), which are closely affiliated with the U.S. Commercial Service's U.S. Export Assistance Centers and involve more than 1,500 exporters and private and public export service providers throughout the United States. DEC members sponsor and participate in numerous trade promotion activities that include discussion of innovative ways for small and medium businesses to use IT for exporting.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) works with the Federal Economics Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC), which presents advice and makes recommendations to Federal statistical agencies including BEA, from the perspective of the professional economics and statistics community. The Committee examines the statistical agencies' programs and provides advice on statistical methodology, research needed, and other technical matters related to the collection, tabulation, and analysis of Federal economic statistics. The annual BEA Customer Survey -- available on BEA’s Web site and in paper form -- is used to gather feedback from all of BEA’s customers and users of its Web site and data products.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) recently held its national conference, “Engines of Economic Growth for the 21st Century.” The conference addressed topics that included Entrepreneurship in Economic Development, Optimizing Comprehensive Development Strategies for the 21st Century, Opportunities and Challenges in a Global Economy, and many other topics, including technology led programs. Over 800 economic development practitioners, Federal, state and local government officials and representatives of profit and non-profit organizations, attended the three-day conference in Washington, DC. EDA plans to hold another national conference in FY 2004.

EDA continues to implement new ways of utilizing technology to reach audiences that normally might not have access to cutting edge economic development. Two initiatives that were extensively enhanced during FY 2003 are the re-designed EDA Web site and EDA’s Satellite Broadcasts.

EDA supports the Administration’s commitment to transform the Federal Government into a more productive “E-Enterprise” that will better serve citizens. EDA’s new Web site was designed to improve service to its customers. The new Web site provides a higher quality of information regarding investment programs, investment guidelines, and economic development resources, as well as recent speeches, economic development research studies, and news on current and upcoming events.

Recognizing that large portions of rural America do not generally have access to leading experts and current economic development information, EDA produced three satellite broadcasts during FY 2003 in partnership with the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC). An estimated 2,500 viewers throughout the nation have benefited from each of the broadcasts.

BIS hosts several seminars with potential exporters throughout the year, and uses these opportunities to obtain program feedback from the general public. BIS’s inter-agency partners also provide ongoing process design suggestions to assist the bureau in meeting its statutory deadlines.

2. Briefly describe agency E-government initiatives, addressing the following for each initiative:

a. Identify performance measures that demonstrate how electronic government enables progress toward agency objectives, strategic goals, and statutory mandates.

b. Identify other agency partners who collaborate on the initiative.

c. If agency can quantify the cost savings created by implementing the initiative, identify savings and describe methodology used.

Sec. 202

The International Trade Process Streamlining (ITPS) is an ongoing multi-agency project involving member agencies of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC). The ITPS project is a response to repeated requests by the U.S. business community to unify and consolidate government-sponsored export assistance programs and market information into an agency-neutral information portal. ITPS directly supports the achievement of both the goals of the International Trade Administration (ITA) and the TPCC statutory mandate. ITA’s goals for U.S. firms are to: 1) increase trade opportunities; 2) broaden and deepen participation in international trade; 3) ensure fair competition; and 4) advance U.S. international commercial and strategic interests. ITPS, through its Web portal www.export.gov, implements Section 2313(b)(2) of Public Law 102-429, dated October 21, 1992, which states that the TPCC will “provide a central source of information for the business community of Federal export promotion and export financing programs.”

2a. Relevant performance measures include:

• 15% increase in US exporters entering new market.

• 10% increase in # of first-time US exporters

• 20% increase in $ value of trade advocacy projects

• 20 % increase # of trade opportunities accessed via Export.gov

• 80% of visitors rating Export.gov usability “good” or higher

• 10% increase in # of visits per year to Export.gov

• 10% decrease in time required to fill out forms & apply for programs.

2b. The agencies involved in this initiative are the Departments of Commerce (including many of its components) and Agriculture, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Small Business Administration, the Trade Development Agency, and the Agency for International Development.

2c. By streamlining the trade information process, agencies will be able to provide exporters and potential exporters with more timely and accurate information. It will reduce the cost and time that U.S. businesses spend trying to get accurate information and also reduce the amount of time they spend filling out applications and forms. Additionally, this investment will allow ITA to refocus staff resources intelligently toward the functions for which they were trained. Trade specialists will be able to focus on trade issues rather than having to be Web developers. This initiative will streamline systems and maintenance functions and allow ITA to build upon a common data/systems platform and enable its divisions/offices to consolidate IT resources. In the end, this proposal will lead to a significantly improved Web presence, a more efficient utilization of human resources, improved efficiencies in systems management and database development, and improved data security.

3. How does your agency ensure availability of Government information and services is not diminished for those without access to the Internet? Sec. 202(c)

All Commerce operating units make information available in hard copy format, over the telephone, and by FAX and CD-ROM. Additionally, examples of other non-Internet services are provided as follows:

NWS makes its observations, forecasts, and warnings available to the mass media for widespread distribution through the NOAA Weather Radio and via the Family of Services (FOS), which provides external users access to weather information through a collection of data services. Text products are disseminated to NWS partners using the Satellite Broadcast Network, NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), and the NOAA Weather Wire System (NWWS). NWS’s Alaska region operates a system called the “Alaska Weather Line” (AWL). The AWL is an interactive system that provides toll-free telephone access to weather information throughout the state. There is no Internet dependency for the AWL operation.

NOS maintains nautical charts and related products in paper form through the Office of Coast Survey network of chart agents; the National Geodetic Survey publishes paper data sheets on its vertical control stations.

OAR distributes varied print campaigns at professional trade shows, as well as participation in face-to-face educational and outreach events for K-12 and university level students.

NESDIS offers offline customer service staff the same E-government systems used by its external customers. These customer service representatives process requests for those users who do not have Internet access. Using these Web systems, NESDIS customer service staffs provide NESDIS users with immediate access to weather information ranging from observations taken less than a few hours ago to those taken in past centuries. Data requests are taken by telephone, , and from walk-ins. Popular information products are distributed as charts, posters, 35 mm slides sets, film, CD-ROMs, and paper copies. TTY service is provided for customers who are hard of hearing. Partnerships with libraries have been developed to provide community access to selected NESDIS products and services.

The Census Bureau has established a Customer Liaison Office (CLO) to facilitate the access to and use of data collected and to ensure two-way communication between customers and the Bureau. The CLO utilizes a variety of methods for disseminating data to users without Internet access. They provide data reports, mail lists, paper reports, and CD ROMs and conduct data workshops at national conferences, provide briefs, data tables, and maintain a Marketing Services Office call center.

Teams within the CLO specifically work with state and local governments, tribal governments, and nongovernmental entities to keep them abreast of Bureau activities, program updates, and product announcements by operating State Data Centers, Business and Industry Data Centers, Governors Liaison Program, Census Information Centers, and Nongovernmental Communications Program. The goals of these centers/programs are to develop, coordinate, and implement partnerships and plans for communicating between the centers and state, local, and tribal governments and nongovernmental organizations.

All BEA estimates are published not only on the Web, but also in paper form through the printed releases and the Survey of Current Business (BEA’s monthly publication). While all active BEA international investment surveys are available for electronic reporting, reporters may continue to file via paper forms.

EDA, through its headquarters public affairs office, and its six regional offices located throughout the country, widely disseminates information using a number of traditional mechanisms. These traditional mechanisms include hard copy directories/personnel locators and specific agency program publications that provide information on EDA’s programs and investments. EDA also uses innovative new tools such as the satellite broadcasts to help deliver services and information to our customers that do not have access to Internet resources.

ITA operates a Trade Information Center, which provides by phone and FAX, trade information and services on behalf of Federal agencies involved with promoting trade (toll free 1-800-USA-Trade). ITA also operates 270 offices and export assistance centers worldwide – most located in urban centers - providing walk-in and phone inquiry.

When NIST implements an Internet-based request mechanism it typically continues to utilize older mechanisms to receive requests for its various products such as through phone calls, letters, and FAX.

4. Please describe any other areas of progress by your agency to implement provisions of the E-Government Act.

All Commerce Web sites will have updated privacy policies to be compliant with Section 208 of the E-Government Act at the time this report is submitted.

EDA, NOAA, NTIA, and MBDA are collaborating, with the coordination of the Commerce OCIO, on development of a NOAA Grants Online system that EDA, NTIA, and MBDA will migrate to, shutting down their current duplicative backend systems. This system will serve as a single backend system to Grants.gov.

NOAA Fisheries is actively involved in supporting key President’s Management Agenda Initiatives, especially for electronic rulemaking. NOAA Fisheries is working closely with the Environmental Protection Agency, the initiative managing partner, to conduct rulemaking electronically. Plans are to start taking e-mail comments on proposed and final rules in Quarter 2 of FY 2004; a Web-based tool is being piloted to support the analysis of electronic comments.

NOAA/NWS is partnered with the Disaster Management and Recreation One-Stop E-gov projects and is working to provide data feeds of our products to these programs. NWS is also working to develop local All Hazards announcement access to NOAA Weather Radio.

NOAA/NOS is a major collaborator in the effort to build the E-Government Geospatial One-Stop portal effort. NOS has developed a mirror Geospatial One-Stop for internal NOS data, which follows the guidelines and will be included in the broader implementation of the Geospatial One-Stop. NOS is also chairing a NOAA-wide Enterprise Geospatial Information System (GIS) committee to examine the use of GIS within NOAA, identify ways to share GIS resources, and develop a framework for GIS in NOAA. Once developed, the NOAA geospatial portal will also follow the guidelines of the Geospatial One-Stop portal and will be an integral part of the final implementation.

The NOAA/NOS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products (CO-OPS) is working with a private company to develop data delivery techniques for cell phones and personal data assistants. While still in the experimental stages, it is expected that tides and water level data will be available to users who can simply download the information to their personal electronic devices.

The Census Bureau directly supports the E-Government Act by improving citizen access and customer service, making government more open and accountable, cutting operating costs, and reducing reporting burdens on businesses. The Bureau provides one-stop access to the most popular Bureau data and data products. The Bureau will support local "One-Stop Centers" to reduce the duplication of surveys by coordinating the data gathering efforts of federal, state, and local governments.

NIST is working to utilize the Internet to make it possible for both scientific communities of interest and the general public to monitor the ongoing work of various projects at NIST such as its research into the probable cause (or causes) of post-impact collapse of the World Trade Center Towers. NIST is also seeking to use the Internet as a mechanism to solicit and collect input from the public regarding other projects such as its investigation into the Rhode Island Nightclub fire. NIST is continually seeking to improve the public’s access via the Internet to services such as calibrations, standards reference materials, and conference registration.

In FY2003, BIS developed several of its export license-related and defense program-related forms in downloadable PDF format; these forms are now available from the BIS Web site.

BIS offers the Export Administration Regulations electronically, allowing the public the ability to ‘cut and paste’ key excerpts for use in official certifications associated with the export license process.

Providing Web-based forms and data enables the public to have effective access to services critical to their business processes. BIS benefits from this effort by receiving data that is easily processed with less need to contact the applicant for corrections or clarifications. Ultimately, this will lead to faster processing of requests for exporting authorization and assistance to the public, enabling BIS to achieve its performance objectives. BIS is also working to develop electronic forms that will enable the public to submit and track their submissions of Reports of Request For Restrictive Trade Practice or Boycott Transactions, for both single and multiple transactions.

In July 2003, BEA launched a redesigned Web site to better serve its customers. The new design includes improved navigation that allows users to locate familiar data and gain a better understanding of the full breadth of BEA's data products; "fingertip" access to economic indicators, providing quick links to frequently reported estimates; and other new features such as an A-to-Z index and FAQs.

Eighty-two per cent of the significant products and services ITA delivers to its external customers are now provided with either maximum practicable or significant electronic capability. The target for FY 2004 is to surpass 85%. As part of an e-forms initiative, ITA has redesigned its electronic forms program. Public use forms were redesigned, and business processes associated with those forms were revamped and integrated with Web activities.

(I) Answer questions a, b, and c. for each system identified below:

• List system and unique identifier for IT systems or information collections, for which a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) was conducted.

System and Unique Identifier

a. How will the PIA be made publicly

available after the President’s budget is finalized (i.e. website, Federal

Register, other).

b. Was the PIA made publicly available in full, summary form or not at all (explain if summary or not at all).

c. Provide the publication date if made available with a System of Records (SOR) or Information Collection Request (ICR).

1. The Census Bureau Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamic Program

00608012401201500202070

Web Site

Will be made publicly available if the project is funded in the FY 05 budget process.

This system is not subject to SOR or ICR requirements.

2. The ITA Client Management Database Initiative

00625011801652000114043

Web Site

Will be made publicly available if the project is funded in the FY 05 budget process.

This system is not subject to SOR or ICR requirements.

3. The Management Application for Security (MAPS)

00605016002101200401121

Web Site

Will be made publicly available if the project is funded in the FY 05 budget process.

This system is not subject to SOR or ICR requirements.

(II) Persistent Tracking Technology. Is persistent tracking technology used?

a. What need compels the use of such technology?

b. What safeguards protect the information collected

c. What agency official (provide contact info) approves tracking technology?

d. Provide the actual privacy policy notification of such use.

a.

b.

c.

d.

(III) Agency goals for machine readability. Answer a, b, c and d:

a. Identify agency goals for machine readability of privacy policy.

a. Complete implementa-tion of standard, machine-readable format (HTTP &/or HTML ) by 12/15/04

b. Describe technology or standard to be adopted.

b. P3P 1.0 Specification as published by W3C

(http://www.w3.org/P3P/)

c. Identify timetable and milestones for progress toward achieving compatibility of privacy policies with machine readable privacy protection methodology.

c.

1. Education/Familiarization – 1/30/2004

2. Research P3P Tools – 2/27/04

3. Development (Prototypes) – 3/31/04

4. Testing – 4/30/04

5. Recommendation – 5/31/04

6. Management Approval – 6/30/04

Implementation – 12/15/04

d. What process or standard has the agency identified to enable machine readable privacy protection?

d. A P3P Preference Exchange Language 1.0 (APPEL1.0) as published by W3C

(www.w3.org/TR/P3P-preferences/)

(IV) Contact Information. Provide contact information of individual(s) appointed by the head of the Executive Department or agency to serve as the agency’s principal contact(s) for information technology/web matters and the individual (name and title) primarily responsible for privacy policies

Thomas N. Pyke, Jr.

Commerce Chief Information Officer

TPyke@doc.gov

a. OPM outlines workforce planning by the following five steps (see http://www.opm.gov/workforceplanning/wfpmodel.htm). Please use these steps to describe your agency’s IT workforce planning efforts to date. Indicate which steps you’ve completed and where you are currently focused.

Step 1: Set strategic direction

In April 2002, the Department of Commerce issued an interim Workforce Restructuring Plan in response to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin Number 01-07, “Workforce Planning and Restructuring.” The Department's interim plan was based on initial efforts to predict and analyze its workforce requirements for the five-year period between fiscal years (FY) 2003 and 2007, and to strategize on how best to meet those needs. The Department's Aggregate Submission for FY 2003 – FY 2007 supplements and builds on the groundwork laid by the interim plan, and represents the final portion of the Department's Workforce Restructuring Plan. The Plan is aligned with the Department’s Strategic Plan and fiscal year budgets.

The Plan provides an overview of the crosscutting workforce issues facing the Department and the steps that the Department needs to take to address them. The Plan explains that the most urgent and formidable human capital challenges facing the Department are: (1) the high turnover in key occupations, (2) the impending retirement wave at all levels of the organization, and (3) the significant gaps in the general, technical, and leadership competencies. Turnover in mission occupations and addressing critical the skills gap are surfacing as the most critical challenges among many offices at the Department level. It is evident that filling positions, or allowing positions to remained filled with employees who do not possess the necessary skills mix to accomplish expanded performance priorities in today's automation era, serves as a disservice to the employees and a hindrance to the organization.

Step 2: Analyze workforce, identify skills gaps and conduct workforce analysis

The Department identified twenty mission critical occupations through an analysis of mission requirements, hiring and separation trends, competencies, and projected retirements. The 2210 series for IT specialists was identified as a mission critical occupation. All thirteen bureaus were surveyed to identify recruitment, retention, training, and/or succession needs for this series at the GS-5 through SES level.

Step 3: Develop action plan

The Department developed a FY 2003-FY 2007 Recruitment and Retention Plan designed to reinvigorate the recruitment programs to identify highly qualified and skilled technical personnel. The Department identified programs and HR flexibilities to improve the retention of employees in mission critical occupations. The Department also developed and piloted a Learning Management System (LMS), which offered substantial training courses for the development and advancement of IT professionals.

Step 4: Implement action plan

The Department began recruitment activity in FY 2004 at majority and minority serving institutions. The LMS was brought on line in Q4 FY 2003 for all of the Department to implement IT Security Awareness training. The Department also implemented automated and/or electronic Individual Development Plans for identification and closure of skill gaps.

Step 5: Monitor, evaluate and revise

b. From the lists available under “What’s New” at http://www.cio.gov, identify the job categories and specialty areas, skills, and competencies that are most critical to your agency's Strategic Plan, Enterprise Architecture, and IT Investment Portfolio (Exhibits 53 and 300s).

The job categories that are critical to our Strategic IT Plan, Enterprise Architecture, and IT Investment Portfolio fall under the 2210 job series. Critical specialty areas, skills, and competencies are those identified in (c.) below.

c. Based on coordination with your Agency's Human Capital Planning Officials, what job categories and specialty areas, skills, and competency gaps has your Agency identified in the IT Workforce area that require a plan of action to close? (Consult the following sources: CCA IT Workforce Assessment results, CIO Council Project Management Survey Results, HR Department, FEDSCOPE (http://www.opm.gov/feddata/), etc)

The Department’s CIO Council, CFO Council, HR Council, and the Workforce Restructuring Counterpart share progress information and work closely together to monitor the execution of Departmental Plans. The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) have, through a coordinated effort, developed a list of job categories and specialty areas, skills, and competency gaps that require a plan of action to close. Some of these job categories and skill areas include:

• Project Management

• Web development and Internet expertise

• Contracting Officers Technical Representatives (COTR) skills

• IT Security

d. What strategies have you identified to help close the competency gaps? Such strategies may include:

• Learning/development activities (GOLEARN (http://www.golearn.gov), STAR and formal training such as CIO University (http://www.gsa.gov); Scholarship for Service (www.sfs.opm.gov) Project Management

Institute and/or equivalency, developmental

assignments to industry or other government

agencies;

• Recruitment Plans; such as use of USAJOBS and virtual job hiring;

• Retention strategies; such as, financial and non financial (time off) awards, etc.

• Competitive Sourcing Strategies

Strategies for closing these skill gaps include:

• Expanded use of GOLEARN and, through DOC’s Learning Management System, a full suite of IT curriculum for all of the job categories and skill areas identified as critical.

• Recruitment and retention bonuses at both the Bureau and Departmental levels.

• Competitive sourcing for the Help Desk, system maintenance, and network administration functions.

e. What measures of success are critical to your IT Workforce Planning effort?

Critical performance measures are used to monitor ongoing accomplishment of objectives in the Workforce Restructuring and Recruitment and Retention Plans. Specific performance measures adopted for Fiscal Year 2004 and beyond include:

• Ensuring that every Project Manager assigned to an IT project submitted to OMB on an Exhibit 300 (Capital Asset Plan and Business Case) is fully qualified. The Department has conducted its first training class in support of this effort and is in the process of sponsoring Project Management Institute (PMI) certification testing for the first round of trainees.

• Ensuring that all COTRs are properly trained and certified before assignment to a DOC contract. To this end, the Department has instituted a COTR certification program, which includes a full training curriculum.

• Ensuring that all IT personnel within the Department receive current, role-based IT security training, including Security Awareness training for all DOC and contractor new-hires.

• Continued participation in the annual Clinger-Cohen survey and improved analytical use of the survey results to detect trends in the IT workforce that could require reshaping of our strategic plans.

Agency

Total Transactions (Please provide total numbers only)

Transactions Completed As of Last Data Call (Prior to 10/01)

Transactions Completed Since Last Data Call (11/01-10/02)

Transactions Completed By 10/03 (11/02-10/03)

Transactions to be Completed Post 11/03

Transactions that will not be Completed

Commerce Dept.

267*

29

37

102

41

58

Source: 2003 GPEA Data Collection Tool, Completion Status Report. View by “Count”.

Transaction ID

Name

Agency

Revised: Date of Completion*

320

Short Supply Regulations, Petroleum Products

Commerce

BIS

Determined to be Impracticable

322

Application for a Duplicate License

Commerce

BIS

9-30-04

342

Firearms Convention

Commerce

BIS

Determined to be Impracticable

347

Prior Notification of Exports Under License Exception AGR

Commerce

BIS

Determined to be Impracticable

271

Proposal for Federal Assistance and Application for Federal Assistance

Commerce

EDA

9-30-04

272

Guidelines for Revolving Loan Fund Grants

Commerce

EDA

9-30-04

275

Award for Excellence in Economic Development Data Collection for Compliance with Government Performance and Results Act of 1993

Commerce

EDA

9-30-04

Source: Non Completed Transaction Report, Your 2003 GPEA Data Collection Tool

*If completion date is unknown, mark as TBD.