process reengineering and the centralization of certain business operations.

Many business operations employees were relocated to a new central service center in Albuquerque, N.M. The Albuquerque Service Center has become a hub of budget and finance service and human resource support. Redesigning, streamlining and centralizing processes enable us to invest a larger proportion of our budget in our mission-focused programs.

Acquisition Management

The Alaska Region faces unusual logistical challenges in the administration of contracts and purchasing. These challenges arise from the region’s sheer physical size, its cultural diversity, the remoteness of its communities, high business costs, and restricted access to local communities for much of the year.

The Acquisition Management staff recognizes, however, that the very aspects that are most challenging are also those which ensure Alaska’s preeminent place among the nation’s most treasured wild and scenic forests, mountains and coastlines. AQM overcomes these challenges by developing creative solutions and innovative strategies for providing good customer service. AQM manages contracts for buildings, roads, trails, transportation, and environmental documentation. They assist in writing, awarding, negotiating and administering agreements that allow the Forest Service to work effectively with other government agencies and private organizations. They establish leases for housing, office and warehouse space, and land for log transfer facilities. They track and account for personal property such as computers, radios, guns and boats. AQM enables the

Region to use the resources needed to fulfill the Forest Service mission.

The Regional Agreements Service Center in Ketchikan assists in writing, awarding, negotiating, and administering over 100 agreements annually with a staff of two agreement specialists. Specialists monitor over 170 active agreements with an aggregate value of over $5 million. The Alaska Region is currently a party to 25 memorandums of understanding with various Native organizations throughout the region. AQM continually seeks common ground with partners and communities and ways to broaden their collaborative efforts.

AQM services extend to the regional office, the forest sciences labs and the units of the Pacific Northwest Research Station. AQM accounts for Forest Service badges, keys and identification. They work with State & Private Forestry to provide excess federal government property to the State of Alaska and municipalities and to ensure proper use of that property. The Property Management Unit oversees national, state and local recycling efforts and provides technical assistance to the forests.

Performance & Budget Accountability

While many of the budget and finance duties across the agency have been relocated to the Albuquerque Service Center, the Alaska Region retains two groups. The Alaska Region Performance & Budget Accountability Service Center handles budget and financial duties for the regional office and the Chugach National Forest. The Tongass National Forest Budget Service Group handles the Tongass workload. Functions of these two groups include:

Finance work resident in the field

Strategic business planning

Program evaluation

Data quality assurance

Competitive sourcing

Workforce planning.

The ongoing process of changing the way that we do business will improve customer service, reduce internal inconsis-tencies, and produce a significant return for the investment.

The key benefits of transforming our business operations include:

Access to accurate budgetary, cost and performance information

More time for the regions and field offices to focus on land management issues

One-time data entry at the source

Improved controls and subsequent reduced errors and re-work

Expected significant annual savings to be redirected towards land management issues

Continued clean audit opinions.

As part of the national Performance Accountability System, the Alaska Region is leading the nation in development of a region-wide strategic business planning process. When fully implemented, work will be driven by the region’s strategic priorities and accountability will be tracked in terms of outcome-based performance measures, not just in dollars spent.

Information Management

Information Resources Management (IRM) support services is the third program area to be reorganized and is the product of a competitive sourcing study. Most services are now provided by the Information Solutions Organization (ISO), the new service delivery arm of IRM. The organization is national with virtual employees spread throughout the agency. Services are primarily provided through a helpdesk ticket initiated by a call to the End User Support Center hosted by IBM in Boulder, CO.

   Other IRM services will be provided by the Continuing Government Activities (CGA) staff. These services include enterprise architecture design, policy and oversight.

    Some services are still provided by the local units, under the title of Information Management (IM). These services include web support, Domino database design, GIS, and some training.

Database Management

Desktop Support

Infrastructure Design

Integration, Testing, and Delivery

Management

Security

Server Support

Telecommunications

To find additional Information about the IRM and the ISO, visit: http://fsweb.wo.fs.fed.us/irm.

Human Resources

The new look of Human Resources is one of self-reliance. In the new model, Forest Service employees will use the Web and a call center to handle pay issues, change beneficiary information and sign up for training. Supervisors will use the new software to fill positions, prepare performance reviews, and access tools to manage their workforce. These and other changes are scheduled to be carried out in three stages through 2007, with training provided to everyone at each stage of transition.

Occupational Health & Safety

The mission of the Occupational Health and Safety Office is to support the Forest Service by providing safety, occupational health, and environmental services in the prevention of injuries and illnesses to personnel and damage to property; thus enhancing the quality of life and readiness of the agency and our partners living and working within the Alaska Region.

Risk Management
Managing risk in the Alaska Region is truly a unique, challenging and rewarding experience. Risk management is the process of analyzing exposure to risk in the workplace and determining how to best handle such exposure. Each job we do has some level of risk, and the process to mitigate this risk is the key to getting work done in a safe manner.

Workforce/Types of Work
The makeup of the workforce—permanent, part-time, or seasonal—ranges from young, inexperienced workers to workers at the end of their careers who retain vast amounts of knowledge and experience. Volunteers from all walks of life come to Alaska from across the U.S. and the world, bringing their own individual values that shape their attitudes about safety.

Fulfilling our mission of caring for the land and serving people demands a wide array of job skills. While some workers sit in offices, others work in laboratories, at hazardous material sites, on wildfire firefighting lines, at rock blast sites, and on timber sale sites. Interpretive education programs take employees to visitor centers, marine ferries, wilderness areas, and bear viewing platforms. Employees are involved with work on trails, streams, and remote cabins

Employees who work with minerals, geology, and mining are required to have an indepth understanding of mining safety and health operations. Employees who maintain communication towers on mountaintops in support of field communications face risks. Boating, diving, and aviation programs along with their specific safety protocols require special training. Reducing the risks associated with such a variety of work programs can become quite complex.

Work Locations/Conditions
Some employees travel great distances in aircraft or boats over ocean waters that, even in the peak of summer, have temperatures in the 50s. Water conditions can deteriorate quickly. Water travel can be dangerous. Chance encounters with bear or moose while boating are remote, but employees must be prepared. Environmental conditions must be taken into consideration by employees traveling on foot or in vehicles over rough terrain.

Promoting a Safe Workplace
The Occupational Health and Safety Health Office promotes safety and awareness training programs to provide employees with the skills they need to face hazards and return to camp or home each night. The office works with various federal and state agencies to assure that appropriate safety regulations are followed in the workplace.

Our door is always open—we believe open communication is essential for recognizing and mitigating risk. A culture of safety encourages all employees to be mindful of the risks they may encounter and how to best handle those risks. The end result is a safer workplace for all.

Civil Rights

The Civil Rights staff enforces compliance with federal laws such as the Civil Rights, Age Discrimination and Americans with Disabilities acts, and other policies of the USDA and the Forest Service. CR ensures that every customer and employee is treated equitably, with dignity and respect. CR helps the Alaska Region to maintain its status as a multicultural organization, and to provide equal opportunity for everyone to participate in the agency’s employment program, and goods and services. CR ensures that no applicant for employment is denied equal opportunity because of race, color, national origin, age,

gender, religion, or disability. CR reaches out to historically under-served populations and communities.

To ensure nondiscrimination, the region must compete in the national marketplace for diverse applicants. CR helps the region to retain employees, develop a leadership succession plan that includes diverse candidates, develop an aggressive recruitment/retention plan for a diverse labor force, and build accountability into workforce planning.