Attendees

Richard Freed, NIAID
Susan Harrelson, NIDDK
Larry Chloupek, NCI
John Slanson, NINDS
Olive P. Childers, OD/OIR
Nadine Fonrose, OD/OIR
Mary Slagle, NEI
Edie Smith, CIT
Mary Affeldt, NIDA
Marsha Henning, NIAMS
Bruce Wiggins, NIEHS
Ana Ferreira, NINR
Rene Smither, NIDCR
Robert Dennis, NIMH
Carroll Hanson, NHLBI
Eve Barrell, NICHD

Meeting of Principal Administrative Officers (Closed Session):

Introduction

Rich Freed gave a vote of thanks to former IAO Chair, Robert Dennis and presented him with a cake for his forthcoming retirement.

Announcements were then made regarding:

Susan Harrelson, NIDDK as the new Co-Chair for IAO.

Sharon Gordon-Smith, NIAID as the new minutes taker for the IAO meetings.

Olive Childers introduced Nadine Fonrose as a new Administrative Officer within the OIR/OD.

I. DDIR and Scientific Directors Meetings…Olive Childers, OD/OIR Liaison

• From the DDIR Meeting, Dr. Gottesman has concerns regarding new scientists obtaining the mentoring they need.
  
• Budgets on the Principle Investigators level will be examined in comparison with other scientists the reference, BSC.
  
• Dr. Desimone presented to SD's finding from NIMH Administrative Review. The SD's determined that they would establish a committee made up of SD's, Exec. Officers, and Principal AO's. With the goal of sharing best practices across the Intramural Program. Olive will be serving on this committee and will be soliciting volunteers from the IAO Olive will be serving on this committee and will be soliciting volunteers from the IAO.
  
• There was discussion on the new Business System on how it may benefit the NIH and lesson paperwork. Unfortunately the system is far coming.
  
• Olive raised the question of how we can force Omega Travel to issue reduced fare tickets and proposed that we form a sub committee to work on the issue. Mary Schlagel with a backing from the group suggested that we talk with Joel Papier and Ellen Grant first. Mary Schlagel and Mary Affeldt volunteered to work on the sub committee.
  
  Susan Harrelson stated that due to the "Rule of Five" it is difficult to persuade Omega to issue reduced price tickets because AO's don't usually find out if the Department has approved a travel order until the last minute. Omega will not issue reduced price tickets (non refundable) because of the difficulty in justifying a change in ticketing and the cost factor.
  Nadine Fonrose mentioned that OIR types the statement "Subject to DHHS Approval" on all their travel orders.
  
• The issue of the best mechanism to bring scientists on sabbaticals at the NIH was also raised at the SD meeting. Currently we use mechanisms such as IPA's and Senior Research Fellows. The problem is, when the scientist's university funds them, how will the NIH pay?

II. J1 Visa Issue

Dr Chen is still projecting J1 Visa issue for the end of December: no one knows if current J1 holders will be grandfathered in.

III. Executive Officer's Meeting Update…Rich Freed

• The NIH travel proposal for a NIH domestic and foreign travel ceiling was not finalized as of 12/5/01 and the memo had not yet been forwarded to HHS. Once the memo has been signed, the IC's will have two weeks to put it into a formula.
  
• Performance contracts were discussed. Currently SES employees and I.C. Directors are the only employees that have Performance Contract requirements, it is unclear how far the requirement will trickle down.
  
• Recommended bonuses for NIH SES employees have not yet been forwarded to HHS.
  
• Although there is no HHS confirmation of a rumored hiring, it is suggested that if IC's have vacancies on GS-12 recruits and below, they move on them now.

IV. HHS Restructuring… Susan Harrelson

• Susan Harrelson distributed handouts on the HHS Restructuring and stated that each functional area was supposed to put together a plan on how they plan to restructure. So far the Human Resources working group has had their meeting and have put together their plan.
  
• Susan also distributed handouts from the Principal Travel Assistants meeting on 11/15/01.

V. NBRSS Handout and update… Carroll Hanson

• Carroll briefly gave an update on the New Business Research Support System (NBRSS) which is an ORACLE Off-The-Shelf product. The handouts were from a presentation given to the Functional Advisory Committee Co-Chairs on November 30. They included a timeline showing the proposed roll-out dates for each of the business applications. The financial module is scheduled first for late FY02. Carroll stated that many changes would occur in the way we do business at the NIH. Examples include: changes in terminology, workflow will be automated; budget information will be "real time"; tracking of purchase documents will be automated. The way the purchase card will be used still needs to be worked into the new system.
  
• The NBRSS presentation will be made to the NBRSS working groups, Executive Officers, IC Directors, Scientific Directors and the IAO's. Wide spread communication and frequent updates on the status of the NBRSS are key to the success of its implementation at NIH.

VI. Future Meeting Topics… Rich Freed

Rich asked the AO's to brainstorm ideas for next year's meetings and send their ideas to him by email.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 P.M., but AO's were invited to remain to view a training video on effectively conducting meetings.