November 16, 2004

REGION 5 ETA WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT LETTER NO. 002-05

TO:              STATE WORKFORCE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS

FROM:         Byron Zuidema
                   BYRON ZUIDEMA
                   Regional Administrator

SUBJECT:  Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES)

1.  Purpose.  To provide information to State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) on participating in the FEDES project.

2.  References.  FEDES Pilot Project Fact Sheet

3.  Links.  This Workforce Development Letter is in the Region 5 website library at http://www.doleta.gov/regions/reg05.

4.  Background.  The U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $500,000 grant to the State of Maryland in July 2003 to establish a common data exchange environment that would provide States and other grantees with access to Federal civilian and military employment records. The FEDES Pilot Project is focused on providing access to employment records maintained by the following agencies: Office of Personnel Management, Department of Defense, and the United States Postal Service, which are not covered by the nation's UI system.

5.  Action Required.  Program Administrators are encouraged to participate in the FEDES pilot project.

6.  Contact.  To receive more information about FEDES or to participate in the project, contact Sarah Harlan on 410.230.6120.  General questions about FEDES may be directed to Cheryl Svee on 312.596.5459.  Questions or comments about the format of this Letter may be directed to Tom Coyne on 312.596.5435. 

7.  Effective Date.  Immediate

8.  Expiration Date.  Continuing

9.  Attachments.  Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES) Pilot Project Fact Sheet.

Attachment

Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES)
Pilot Project Fact Sheet

BACKGROUND

• The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) awarded a $500,000 grant to the State of Maryland (July 2003) to establish a common data exchange environment that would provide states and other grantees with access to federal civilian and military employment records.
• The FEDES Pilot Project is focused on providing access to employment records maintained by the following agencies: Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Defense (DOD), and the United States Postal Service (USPS).
• Access to federal civilian and military employment records is critical to assisting states in meeting reporting requirements under current program reporting systems as well as the common performance measures by capturing wage record data for a population which are "uncovered" by the nation's UI system.
• In its Federal Register Notice dated July 16^th, 2004, the Department specified that it will "continue its financial commitment for the national Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS) as well as other mechanisms [i.e., FEDES] that  will support grantee access to wage records maintained by Federal agencies" in order to reduce the burden associated with implementing common measures.  
• FEDES project operations began on November 2, 2003.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO DATE

• Twenty (21) states are participating in the FEDES Pilot Project: Alabama, Alaska, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

• Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

-          Data sharing agreement between the DLLR-OPM executed in March 2004.
-          States may use OPM data to support Federal and State performance measurement, consumer reporting, and evaluation research activities required by Federal law or regulation, State law or regulation, or the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
-          5 states (Alaska, Kansas, Maryland, Texas, and Washington) participated in a pilot data exchange with OPM using approximately 4 million client SSNs.

• US Postal Service (USPS)

-        Data sharing agreement between the DLLR-DOD executed in November 2004. 
-        States may use OPM data to support Federal and State performance measurement, consumer reporting, and evaluation research activities required by Federal law or regulation, State law or regulation, or the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

• US Department of Defense (DOD)

-          Data sharing agreement between the DLLR-DOD executed in August 2004. 
-          States may use OPM data to only support Federal performance measurement, consumer reporting, and evaluation research activities required by Federal law or regulation, or the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

• Attachment I contains a listing of the employment data that participating states can expect to receive through the FEDES pilot project for each Federal agency.
• At this time, there are no direct costs associated with matching state client records with Federal employment records.
• A quarterly data exchange schedule for 2005-2006 has already been established with the Federal agencies and is expected to commence on the third week of January 2005.

CONTACT INFORMATION

• If you would like to receive more information about the FEDES Pilot Project or participate in any manner, please do not hesitate to contact the following individual:

Ms. Sarah Harlan, Assistant Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, State of Maryland
Phone:  410-230-6120
Email:   sharlan@dllr.state.md.us

ATTACHMENT I

List of Data Elements to be Provided by Federal Agencies

I.                   Office of Personnel Management

Social Security Number
Agency of employment/sub-element name (and its translation)
Occupation code/name (and its translation)
Pay plan (and its translation)
Grade
Adjusted basic pay
Basic pay
Total pay
State of employment (and its translation)
Work schedule code (and its translation)
Begin date
End date

II.                United States Postal Service

Social Security Number
Location of Postal Employment (City, state, zip code, zip-4)
Occupation title
Pay grade (grade level)
Base rate of pay (annual salary, salary rate code)
Date entered on duty

III.             United States Department of Defense

Social Security Number
Flag identifying whether matched record from Active Duty or Civilian file or no match found

Active Duty:
Last Name (Surname)
First Name (Forename)
Middle Name
Suffix or Cadence (Cadency name)
Date of Birth
Uniformed Service Pay Grade Code (Pay Grade) (Rank)
Taxable wages
Primary DOD Occupation Code
Primary Service Occupation Code (Primary MOS)
Duty DOD Occupation Code
Duty Service Occupation Code (Duty MOS)

Secondary DOD Occupation Code
Secondary Service Occupation Code (Secondary MOS)
Accession Training Service Occupation Code (MEPCOM MOS)
Service Branch Classification Code (Service)
Duty Unit Location Country Code (Duty Location Country Code)
Duty Unit Location US State Alpha Code (Duty Location Alphabetic State Code)
Duty Unit Location US Postal Region ZIP Identifier (Duty Location ZIP Code)
Active Federal Military Service Years Quantity (TAFMS Years) (Years of Service)
Uniformed Service Initial Entry Calendar Date (Date of Initial Entry)
Enlisted Active Service Agreement Begin Calendar Date (Date of Current Enlistment)
Active Military Service Base Calendar Date (BASD) (Active Duty Base Date)
(Basic Active Service Date)
Transaction Effective Calendar Date (Loss Date/Accession Date)
Enlisted Active Service Projected End Calendar Date (ETS of Minimum Service)
   (Estimated Time of Separation Date)

Civilian:
Service (Agency)
Bureau
Pay Plan
Rank or GS rating
Occupational Series
Duty Location - Country
Duty Location - State
Separation Date