December 12, 1995
DO-95-040
MEMORANDUM
TO: Designated Agency Ethics Officials, General Counsels
and Inspectors General
FROM: Stephen D. Potts
Director
SUBJECT: Program Plan of Agency Reviews for Calendar Year 1996
Attached for your information is the program plan of agency
ethics reviews scheduled by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE)
for calendar year 1996. This is to inform you of our schedule for
the year and the opportunity for you to meet with OGE staff to
discuss our program review objectives and procedures. It also
allows you time to make revisions to your program prior to our
review. The program plan may be of some assistance as you address
budget issues within your agency.
We will attempt as much as possible to follow the schedule set
forth in the attachment. However, as past experience has shown,
the schedule may change due to complex issues that occur during
reviews, staffing problems, or higher priority work within OGE. If
reviews from the first quarter are cancelled, we will pull up
agencies from later quarters and review them earlier than
anticipated.
To assist those of you who wish to become more familiar with
our program review procedures, our analysts will hold two brown-bag
luncheons to discuss procedures and answer any of your questions.
If you are interested in attending one of these luncheons on either
January 17 or 18, 1996, please call Phyllis Hoffer on 202-523-5757,
extension 1184, by January 12. Attendance is open to all agencies,
whether or not the agency is scheduled for review in 1996.
_______________________________________________________________________
Designated Agency Ethics Officials,
General Counsels and Inspectors General
Page 2
OGE also will perform two single issue reviews in 1996. If
you have any thoughts on issues you would like to see included
within these reviews, please call Jack Covaleski at 202-523-5757,
ext. 1120.
The first review will focus on the structure of ethics offices
within the executive branch. We will explore such issues as:
--Should there be a career path for ethics officials?
--Should there be a certification program that clearly defines
training courses for ethics officials?
--Where should the ethics office reside--in a department or
agency?
--Are there several model ethics programs which appear to work
best in certain types of agencies, such as small or large
agencies, or scientific or military agencies?
--What other protection, if any, is needed by the Designated
Agency Ethics Officials?
--How can ethics offices be protected when agency budgets are
cut?
--Is there a correlation between the size of the ethics staff
and the size of the agency?
Much of this review will focus on interviews with DAEO's in the
executive branch. Please be thinking about these issues.
Our second single issue review will focus on the ethics
education and training program. We want to evaluate how well this
program has operated since OGE's training regulations went into
effect. Part of this review will include interviewing groups of
employees to measure the impact of ethics training.
Our usual practice once a review has been completed is to send
a report to the DAEO with recommendations for improving the
program. We ask that the DAEO respond to our recommendations
within 60 days as to the actions he/she has taken or plans to take.
We do not send our reports to the Congress, although about twice a
year a Congressional committee will ask for a copy of a report for
an agency under its jurisdiction. These requests are granted and
the agency DAEO is informed that we have received such a request.
Past experience has shown that these requests normally are made a
year or more after the review has been finished.
We do not send copies of our reports to the news media, nor
issue press releases concerning the reports. Periodically we do
release reports to the news media in response to Freedom of
Information Act requests.
_______________________________________________________________________
Designated Agency Ethics Officials,
General Counsels and Inspectors General
Page 3
The agency DAEO will be contacted by phone approximately one
month prior to our entrance into the agency. Should there be a
serious reason as to why you cannot receive us at that time, please
call Ed Pratt, Chief, Program Review Division, at 202-523-5757,
ext. 1115, to discuss rescheduling.
In the past we have found the review process to operate very
smoothly. In many instances agencies use our report to get more
support, staffing and funding for the ethics program. Please
inform us the problems you may have in this regard, as such
problems will be brought to the attention of the agency head.
We hope that this answers some of your questions concerning
our program review process. Should you have any questions or need
assistance other than that listed above, please call
Jack Covaleski, Associate Director for Program Assistance and
Review, at 202-523-5757, ext. 1120.
Attachment
_______________________________________________________________________
OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS
1996 PROGRAM PLAN OF AGENCY REVIEWS
PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE
JANUARY - MARCH 1996
1. Department of the Air Force
--Office of the Secretary
--Office of the Assistant Secretary for Acquisition
--Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics
2. Department of the Army
--Office of the Secretary
--Office of the Surgeon General
--Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research, Development,
and Acquisition
3. Department of Defense
--Office of the Secretary
--Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs
--The Joint Chiefs of Staff
4. Department of the Navy
--Office of the Secretary
--Naval Sea Systems Command
--Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
5. Drug Enforcement Agency (Department of Justice)
6. Department of Veterans Affairs
-- Office of the Secretary
-- Chicago Regional Office and the Chicago Medical Center
at 333 E. Huron Street
-- Philadelphia Regional Office and the Philadelphia Medical
Center at University and Woodland Avenues
-- Baltimore Regional Office and the Baltimore Medical Center
at 3900 Loch Haven Road
7. Office of Science and Technology Policy
8. Newport, Rhode Island
--Naval Undersea Warfare Center
--Naval Education and Training Center
9. Los Angeles, CA
--Naval Air Weapons Station (China Lake, CA)
a. Naval Research and Development Facility
--Edwards Air Force Base (Rosamond, CA)
a. Air Force Flight Test Center
b. Air Materiel Command
10. Naval Base, Norfolk, VA
--Naval Air Station Norfolk
--Naval Station Norfolk
--Naval Surface Forces, Atlantic
--Naval Submarine Forces, Atlantic
11. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
12. Executive Office of the President - The White House Office
13. Naval Facilities Engineering Command
_______________________________________________________________________
PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE
APRIL - JUNE 1996
1. Department of Justice
--Office of the Attorney General
--Civil Division
--Land and Natural Resources Division
--Tax Division
--Civil Rights Division
2. Department of Housing and Urban Development
3. Fine Arts Commission
4. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (OH)
--Air Force Materiel Command
5. Fort Rucker (Daleville, AL)
--U.S. Army Aviation Center and School
--U.S. Army School of Aviation Medicine
6. Department of Labor
--Office of the Secretary
--Mine Safety and Health Administration
--Occupational Safety and Health Administration
--Employment and Training Administration
--Employment Standards Administration
7. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (HHS)
8. Department of Transportation
--Office of the Secretary
--Maritime Administration
--Federal Highway Administration
--Bureau of Transportation Statistics
9. Scott Air Force Base (Belleville, IL)
--Air Mobility Command
--Air Force Communications Command
--U.S. Transportation Command
SINGLE ISSUE REVIEW:
1. Review of the structure and staffing of agency ethics programs.
_______________________________________________________________________
PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE
JULY - SEPTEMBER 1996
1. Department of the Interior
--Office of the Secretary
--Bureau of Land Management
--U.S. Geological Survey
--National Park Service
2. U. S. Sentencing Commission
3. Ft. Knox (Louisville, KY)
--U.S. Army Armor Training Center
4. Kirtland Air Force Base (Albuquerque, NM)
--Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center
5. Department of Agriculture
--Office of the Secretary
--Foreign Agricultural Service
--Agricultural Marketing Service
--Rural Housing and Community Development Service
--Rural Business and Cooperative Development Agency
6. Department of the Treasury
--Office of the Secretary
--U.S. Secret Service
--Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
--Bureau of Public Debt
7. Office of Management and Budget
8. Office of National Drug Control Policy
9. Naval Training Center (Great Lakes, IL)
--Recruit Training Command
--Service School Command
10. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
SINGLE ISSUE REVIEW:
1. Review of department and agency ethics education and training
programs.
_______________________________________________________________________
PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE
OCTOBER - DECEMBER 1996
1. Department of Commerce
--Office of the Secretary
--National Technical Information Service
--Bureau of Economic Analysis
2. Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals
3. Office of Special Counsel
4. Andrews Air Force Base (Camp Springs, MD)
--89th Airlift Wing
5. Peterson Air Force Base (Colorado)
--U.S. Air Force Space Command
--21st Space Wing
6. African Development Foundation
7. D.W. Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center
(Bethesda, MD)
8. Department of Health and Human Services
-- Office of the Secretary
-- Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (HHS)
-- Administration on Aging
-- Health Resources and Services Administration
-- Indian Health Service
9. Department of Energy