Updated August 31, 2004

Where will DEAS staff be located physically?
Almost all DEAS staff members will be located in office space within the Institutes and Centers (ICs), just as extramural support staff is now. The DEAS management team will be based in headquarters space in the Rockledge One building.

Decisions on where to locate individual DEAS employees will be finalized in early September. NIH applicants for DEAS positions were asked to indicate their preferences for hub assignment and location. To the extent possible, DEAS managers will accommodate those preferences. At the same time, they also must balance employees' preferences with the needs of the organization and its customers.

How will DEAS managers determine which staff and activities will be located in each institute or center?
DEAS managers will consider a number of factors, including IC workload, space and equipment available in the IC, and DEAS operating procedures (e.g., not every activity currently performed on-site in an IC would necessarily be performed by on-site staff under the new business model). To inform their decisions, the DEAS leadership gathered information from the ICs about what space and equipment extramural support staff is currently using and to whom the support staff is providing services. As much as possible, DEAS managers will accommodate employee preferences for hub and location, thus providing continuity in the partnerships between DEAS employees and the program directors, scientific review administrators and grants management specialists in the ICs.

Will I be trained for my DEAS job?
Yes, employees will be trained to perform successfully in their new positions. While some operating procedures in DEAS will remain essentially the same as current procedures, others will be new to some or all DEAS employees. Similarly, there will be a new information technology system to learn. DEAS employees will receive a combination of formal training and on-the-job training. A timeline for training will be available in early September.

When will DEAS be operational?
DEAS will begin operations on October 3, 2004, the first day of the new fiscal year.

What does the delay in the DEAS startup mean for in-scope employees and other extramural staff?
Employees will continue to sit in their current locations, report to their current supervisors and perform their current duties until they are notified otherwise (sometime before October 3). Employees will be informed in advance of changes to their organizational status, reporting relationships, job duties, and location (if there is a location change). The goal is to make the transition to DEAS as smooth as possible for employees and to ensure that services to the ICs continue without interruption.

How many employees will DEAS have?
DEAS will have approximately 637 employees in its first year, making it the largest Division at the NIH.

How many FTEs were identified as doing the work described in the Performance Work Statement (PWS)?
The MEO development team collected information from the ICs, the NIH Human Resources Database, and relevant service contracts that indicated 751 government FTEs (not people) and 158 contract "FTEs" were devoted to work described in the PWS.

How many government FTEs were in the winning MEO?
The MEO bid estimated a need for 677 FTEs in the first year. At the suggestion of the NIH Extramural MEO Transition Team, NIH has reduced that number by 40 FTEs (bringing it to the number proposed for the third option year). The purpose of the reduction was to save costs so that all current in-scope employees grades 7 and below can join DEAS without a reduction in grade.

Did NIH get down to 677 positions in the MEO by eliminating contractors?
No. The team that developed the MEO first determined how the work described in the Performance Work Statement could be performed most cost effectively and efficiently, then estimated how many FTEs would be needed to perform the work in that manner.

What's the timeframe for phasing out contracts for extramural support services?
Existing contracts for extramural support services will end on or before September 30, 2004.

What is the timeframe for the existence of the MEO and what happens after the timeframe ends?
The MEO is awarded for one year, with four one-year options—for a total of five years. Current A-76 rules require NIH to re-compete with the private sector in five years to perform the functions described in the Performance Work Statement.

How many DEAS staff will be assigned to work on-site at each IC?
The number varies among ICs, and will be adjusted as DEAS managers monitor the workload after October 3. The ICs were notified in August of the number of DEAS employees initially assigned to them and the methodology used to arrive at the numbers.

Are there a minimum number of positions assigned to each IC?
No. Staffing levels were determined according to workload requirements.

If more DEAS staff is needed than was assigned—to cover a heavy workload period, for example—how will that be handled?
Managers and staff in DEAS will work cooperatively with the IC customers to schedule and distribute workloads within the hubs so that heavy workloads are anticipated and managed properly. If a particular hub has trouble handling an unexpected or unusually heavy workload, it is possible that the other hubs could share the work.

What happens if an IC disagrees with the amount of DEAS staff time provided to the IC?
Given that DEAS is a new organization with a new way of doing business, an adjustment period is to be expected. To help ensure that their staffing needs are met, extramural customers in the ICs were encouraged to provide the new Division's management with information about the sites, characteristics and timelines of service needs across their IC. Some ICs formed steering committees to collect and provide such information for DEAS before it opens for business.

If the proposed DEAS staffing appears insufficient to perform specific tasks described in the Performance Work Statement, who will certify the insufficiency and what can be done about it? Can staffing be increased, or must the tasks in question be deleted from the task list?
DEAS will document workloads, including the numbers of tasks requested and performed, so the requirements of the Performance Work Statement (PWS) can be validated. If the numbers of certain tasks prove to be much higher than predicted in the PWS, then the DEAS director can request a corresponding increase in staffing for the Division. Tasks described in the PWS would be performed by DEAS unless a particular task became obsolete because of changes in NIH business practices.

What recourse does an Division/Program have when a DEAS employee with insufficient training or skills is assigned to support them?
The IC Division/Program staff should alert the appropriate Employee Supervisor in DEAS, who would be responsible for examining and remedying the situation.

What's the alternate plan if DEAS does not prove effective?
If DEAS fails to meet the standards outlined in the Performance Work Statement and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, extramural support services will be put up for private sector competition. To ensure that DEAS performs effectively, a Division of Quality Assurance in the NIH Office of Extramural Research will monitor quality assurance.

I currently work part-time. Will there be part-time positions in DEAS? What about other alternate work arrangements such as job-sharing?
It is not possible for the Transition Team to address individuals' questions about their work schedules. It will be the responsibility of DEAS managers, particularly the director and hub managers, to make decisions about employees' work schedules. That said, there is nothing in the design of DEAS that precludes use of part-time work schedules, job-share appointments or other alternate work arrangements that exist throughout NIH. When DEAS managers begin placing staff in positions and evaluating workload needs, they will be in a better position to determine the extent to which the organization can offer alternate work schedules.

My Institute has paid for various courses and workshops I have taken in the past. Will DEAS consider requests to pay for training? If so, how should we make such a request of DEAS?
NIH is generally supportive of training opportunities for its employees, and DEAS will be no different. It will be up to DEAS managers to consider individual training requests and decide if the training will enhance the employee's ability to do their job and if there are sufficient funds to cover the training. DEAS will not be able to consider training requests until the Division is operational.