Minutes of the NIH Intramural Administrat5ive Officer's Meeting

May 4, 2000

NIH Principal Administrative Officers:

Present:

Robert Dennis, NIMH, Chair Janice Carico, NIDA

Richard Freed, NIAID Terri Brown, NIDCR

Marsha Hennings, NIAMS

Carol Smith, NINDS

Brenda Sandler, NIAAA

Linda Adams, NGHRI

Evelyn Burrell, NICHD

Corrine Abbott, NIDCD

Susan Harrelson, NIDDK

Olive Childers, NEI

John Savannah, ORS

Anita Brooks, VRC

I. Meeting of Principal Administrative Officers:

1. AO study and NICHD contract Bob Dennis opened the discussion on this initiative. He said the document which would result from this effort would be a useful tool in comparing the structures of the intramural administrative offices within NIH. Nancy Saltzman provided a draft of the "Survey on Administrative Structure." She told the group that her handout was not the final survey document but she wanted to distribute it to the group to receive their feedback as soon as possible. She asked for comments on the survey format by close of business the following Monday and encouraged people to make suggestions regarding additional questions. Ms. Saltzman provided her e-mail address, FAX, and phone number. Mr. Dennis stated that this survey was not intended to create any anxiety over potentially negative impact on grade levels but rather it was hoped that it could be used as a possible leveling tool. It would not set benchmarks as such but rather present models for comparison.

2. Orientation of New Employees Mr. Dennis indicated that the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) had recently sent out a survey about what is being done to inform new employees about the EEO and Diversity program at the NIH. As a follow-up, he asked for discussion to get feedback from the group about the efforts of the Intramural community. Brenda Sandler offered that NIAAA is providing the information through Lab managers, with handouts which she would share with the group. Eve Burrell indicated that the Administrative Offices in NICHD played an active role in the orientation of new employees, with additional input from the Personnel staff. They also plan to add a web-based orientation. From the various comments, it is apparent that the division of responsibilities between Personnel and Administrative Offices is different from Institute to Institute. Some do not include this information in their orientation programs.

3. New Fellowship Payment System In response to a question regarding the pilot Fellowship Payment System, Eve Burrell said she thought it was going well and that it is an improvement over the current payment process. The new system allows for better control of funds, and this is particularly evident when deobligating funds because of early terminations. The 5% increase for IRTAs will be automatic. Ways of certifying earlier are still being explored

4. OMA's Evaluation of Controls of the Purchase Card Program BrendaSandler spoke about the OMA's purchase card assessment review and her participation in this process by reviewing 12 cardholders in NHGRI.

Since usage of purchase cards has greatly increased and is expected to increase even further, the Office of Management Assessment (OMA) has formed a review team consisting of staff from various ICs to assess the effectiveness of the management controls and benchmark the NIH policies and oversight of the purchase card program.

The OMA review will touch most ICs, but only randomly selected cardholders and card approving officials (CAOs) will be reviewed. The review will require brief interviews where cardholders and CAOs will be asked to produce documentation for certain selected purchase card transactions. The purpose of these interviews is to internally assess the overall management controls, see how this growing system is working, and determine what improvements are needed. OMA thanks the IC participants in advance for their time and cooperation in this process.

II. Open Session

Marvin Gibson, CIT, discussed CIT's efforts to identify a wireless voice and messaging telecommunications system, which would not only meet the current needs of NIH but also facilitate our future needs. CIT is working with the consulting firm of Booz-Allen & Hamilton to adequately assess the needs of the NIH community. Because the users of this system have such diverse needs in such diverse environments, finding the best solution will be difficult.

DISTRIBUTION

Administrative Officers (For distribution to staff members)

Scientific Director

Executive Officers