Bldg. 10, Clinical Center, Medical Board Room (10/2C116)
Thursday, July 7, 2005 - 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Next Meeting: August 4, 2005 - 1:00-3:00 p.m. - Bldg 10, Room 2C116
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Adams, Linda, NHGRI |
Welsh, Trudy |
Adams, Ronald, CC |
Young, Barbara |
Affeldt, Mary, NIDA |
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Betson, Ginger, NIDCR |
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Bortner, Don, NIA |
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Bullman, Laurie, ORS |
Cowling, Belinda |
Childers, Olive, OD/OIR |
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Chloupek, Larry, NCI |
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Dease, Debra, NINDS |
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Ferreira, Ana, NINR |
Fitzwater, Linda |
Grosman, Gail, NIGMS |
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Harrelson, Susan, NIDDK |
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Le, Truc, NINDS |
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Ng, Cathy, NCI |
Hill, Kristie |
Perry, Katy, NIAID |
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Sandler, Brenda, NIAAA |
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Simmonds-Barnes, Denise, NCCAM |
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Strickland, Marlyn, CIT |
Miles, Anita |
Tosten, Tim, NIMH |
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Unger, Gary, NHLBI |
Broadnex, Ina |
Wiggins, Bruce, NIEHS |
Minutes: Prepared by Francie Kitzmiller, NIDDK
Closed Session (1:00 - 2:15)
1) Discussion about status of ARAC Consolidated Operations
Acquisition Center (COAC) conversion and subcommittee reports
- Mary Affeldt and Susan Harrelson
A handout was provided which provides valuable information on the
implementation of the ARAC acquisitions implementation. All of the
COAC's are scheduled to be implemented by October 2005. The lead IC's
will have a general meeting with their own IC's and then schedule
another meeting for the other IC's to provide information as to how
the process will work.
2) AEA Travel - Susan Harrelson
Susan provided an e-mail from Richard Southers on this topic. In
summary, the Executive Officer's met and Ken Stith discussed the
issue of Actual Expense Allowance (AEA) travel. OFM is going to
conduct and audit due to the fact that 20% of all travel was done as
an AEA and there was an increase to the government of about $1.5
million above what the travel would normally have been.
Ken made several points about AEA travel as a reminder. One
particular point that is of importance to the AO community was the
statement that the AO should be checking the costs of the different
hotels - not the traveler or the approving official. Anne Rogerson
from NCI brought this to Joel Papier's attention and he changed the
procedures to allow for travel planners to also check the costs of
alternative hotels.
3) Mandatory Personal Security Training for Temporary Duty Travel
of 30 days or more - Susan Harrelson
Susan provided a handout for the above mentioned topic. Effective
January 1, 2005, this mandatory personal security training will be
required. Arrangements to comply with the training requirement must
be noted on the Notification of Foreign Travel (NFT) and it will be
approved until this training has taken place for any personnel
falling into this category. The training will be valid for a period
of five years.
4) New Critical Element for Performance Contracts - Weaknesses in
procurement and finance systems - Susan Harrelson and Brenda
Sandler
In accordance with the Improper Payment Information Act of 2002,
the HHS instructed the ICs in September 2004 to identify positions
where there are responsibilities for recovering and reducing improper
payments. Some ICs are adding the following objective in their
performance contracts to these positions:
"Identify and address weaknesses in grant system(s), procurement
systems, and finance offices to ensure recovery of improper payments
and to reduce the number of improper payments made by the
Department."
5) PRAT - Susan Harrelson and Gail Grosman
Gail Grosman is an AO with NIGMS and they run the Pharmacology
Research Associate (PRAT) program. They are considering changing the
procedures for the first year of a PRAT from and FTE appointment to
an IRTA appointment. The paperwork for the IRTA appointment would be
done by the gaining IC however the NIGMS would provide the CAN to
cover all the costs.
Gail asked everyone to look over this draft and provide her with any
comments or questions. She will look into anything brought forward
and work through the final draft of the procedures. Overall, it was
accepted by the AO community.
6) Ideas for focus group discussions - Mary Affeldt and Susan
Harrelson
At the last IAO meeting, Susan asked that the AO community
consider the idea for a focus group. The idea was that the AO
community would take the lead on the various issues affecting them,
establish a focus group to discuss how to present the issues, and
bring those issues to Joan Schwartz. Some examples would be
personnel, travel, and procurement. Susan didn't get any response so
she brought the issue up again to try to gain support. She asked
everyone to again consider the how useful this will be for the AO
community and please respond to her with ideas.
7) Open Discussions on controversial/urgent issues -
ALL
Handouts:
DRAFT - ARAC monthly progress report: Acquisitions Implementation Group
Model Office of Acquisitions Organization Chart
DRAFT - Service Level Agreement Between IC COAC and NIH Customer
Resource Subcommittee Overview
Email from Anne Rogerson on AEA Travel from her conversation with Joel Papier - dated June 21, 2005
Mandatory Personal Security Training for Temporary Duty Travel of 30 days or more, from Fogarty website: http://www.fic.nih.gov/pstrain.html
DRAFT Procedures for Tasks associated with the Pharmacology Research Associate (PRAT) program and IRTA Program
Office of Research Services Security and Emergency Response - Perimeter Security System (PSS) Activation NIH ID Badge Validation Project