1. ARC Briefing January 2007 Presented by the DCP - DCCPS ARC National Institutes of Health DHHS

2.

ARC Briefings areusuallyheld the 2 ndThursday of every month.

From 2:30 to 3:30pm

We encourage agenda submissions and active participation.If you have a topic for next months meeting, email Eric Graves in the DCP ARC.

Previous meeting presentations may be downloaded at http://www3.cancer.gov/prevention/arc/presentations.html

Welcome! 3. AGENDA

Welcome

• New Staff

General Information

• Continuing Resolution Information

• 2007 Payroll Calendar

• 2007 Pay Increase

Procurement

• Procedures when there is a Change in cost to a PSO

• Micro-Purchase Threshold has Increased

Travel

• Widely Attended Gatherings & Free Attendance

• Monday Returns from Travel & Annual Leave Issues

• NBS Travel & DELPRO Shutdown

• Ethics Office Deadlines

Information for Employees

• W2s Now Available for 2006

• Closure of NIH Facilities Information

4. Welcome New Staff

Joseph Miree:

• Joseph transferred from the DCTD DEAS to the DCP-DCCPS ARC as an Admin Tech and has now been with us for more than 4 months.Prior to joining the Federal Government, Joseph was employed as a Dean of Students in the District of Columbia Public School System.Joseph is sitting at the greeting station at the EPN 3053 suite entrance.

Marilyn Daly:

• Marilyn is the DCCPS ARCs newest Admin Officer. Marilyn comes to us from the private sector where she owned a Marketing and PR business.Prior to that, she was the Director of Marketing and PR at Hughes Network Systems.She has traveled extensively and speaks several foreign languages.

Angela Stallings:

• Angela just started with the DCP ARC this week as an Admin Tech.She is teamed with Vanessa Day and sits in the cubicle next to Antoinette Wills.

Amanda Hansborough:

• Amanda has joined the DCP DEAS from the private sector and will report Thursday 1/11.Amanda sits on the 3 rdfloor of EPN by Dr. Bergs office.

LTonya Frazier:

• LTonya is the new DCCPS DEAS Task Leader for EGRP.

Joan Harris:

• Joan is new to the DCCPS DEAS and is supporting BRP.

Miquel Sample-Jubilee:

• Miquel is new to the DCCPS DEAS and is supporting SRP.

5. General Information 6. Continuing Resolution (CR)

The President has signed a Continuing Resolution (CR) bill which will cover travel throughThursday, February 15, 2007 .

To address ticket reservations that may need to be issued subsequent to the above CR termination date, OFM is authorizing our Travel Management Center, OMEGA, to release refundable tickets to travelers departing throughMonday, February 19, 2007 .

Travelers may pick up their tickets, but must be advised that these tickets may not be used absent a new CR or appropriations bill extending funding beyondFebruary 15, 2007 . This policy is applicable to all travel including sponsored travel and trips covered by funds other than annual appropriations. Each Travel Authorization should be annotated to read, "Pending Availability of FY 07 Funds.

If it is at all possible, please try to minimize the number of trips that take place between the dates of February 16 and February 19.Especially if they are for conferences, meetings, etc., that can be postponed for a couple of days, or for invitational travelers. This would help reduce the chances of your travelers encountering travel arrangement problems.

7. 2007 Payroll Calendar

A 2007 Payroll Calendar is attached to your slides.

This calendar shows all Federal Holidays, Paydays, and Pay Period Numbers.

8. 2007 Pay Increase

A 2.64% pay increase for GS employees was approved and is effective the first full pay period in January 2007.

The 2007 Salary Table for the Washington-Baltimore area is attached to your handouts.

You may also access the new 2007 Salary Tables online at:https://www.opm.gov/oca/07tables/index.asp

9. Procurement 10. Change in Cost to a Professional Service Order (PSO)

A PSO may be received and funds released if costs end up being LESS than the original price.

However, if any of the 3 line items in a PSO end up being higher than projected, the PSO must be re-approved by the ARC:

When the priceincreasesfrom your original calculations on a PSO for:

• Honorarium

• Per Diem (hotel cost changes)

• Travel (for example, airfare),

the ARC must have

• a reason for the changeand

• a copy of the ticket or receipt .

Please remember your Admin Officer must approve this increase in funds.

• continued

11. Change in Cost to a Professional Service Order (PSO) continued

What to do when any of the 3 line items on a PSO have increased:

• Mark the changes on the vendors copy of the original PSO.

• Attach a copy of the ticket and/or invoice documenting the reason for the change.

• Send this to the ARC.

After the ARC makes the changes to the PSO in the ADB, the ARC will print you a new copy of the PSO for the vendor to sign.

12. Micro-purchase Threshold has Increased

The micro-purchase threshold has increased from $2,500 to $3,000.

This means we:

• No longer need Sole Source justifications for items or services less than $3,000 (for example, laptops or PSOs).

• No longer need documents on Price Reasonableness for items less than $3,000.

13. Travel 14. Widely Attended Gatherings (WAG) and Free Attendance

A "Widely Attended Gathering" is a meeting, conference, or other event which is attended by either a large number of people from throughout an industry or profession, or by those representing a wide range of interests.

The Ethics Office must become involved in those instances when an employee is invited to a Widely Attended Gathering (WAG) and offered free attendance. An offer of free attendance is considered a gift. The WAG exception to the gift prohibition permits free attendance at certain widely attended gatherings. Obtaining permission to accept these gifts protects the employee from possible accusations of accepting inappropriate gifts.

Attached is a print out from the NCI Ethics Website which provides more detail.

15. Charging Employees for Annual Leave on Monday Returns from Travel

If a traveler completes his/her official business on Friday or Saturday the traveler cant use Monday as a travel day because the traveler chose to stay over the weekend on non-duty leave.

The traveler must either take annual leave on Monday or report to work at least day.This rule applies only to Monday returns.*

*The relevant policies can be found in the NIH and HHS travel manuals:

• NIH policy is that employees are required to return by the"first available flight" upon completion of duties, even if this entails travel during the weekend. 1500-04-05 Leave Taken While in Travel Status

• Under no circumstances should a supervisor waive the annual leave requirement if the amount of time missed is more than half of the employee's regular daily tour of duty hours.( For additional information, see HHS Travel Manual Chapter 4-00-90.)

16. NBS Travel & DELPRO Shutdown

Travel system shut down: NO orders/vouchers can be entered, certified, reviewed, or approved during this period.

No cash advances or travel reimbursements can be issued during this period by OFM.

No new travelers can be entered in the system (guests, interviewees).

DELPRO will be shut down too.

• We will not be able to order paper or other stock items during this period.

• • Self Service Stores will be open for walk in use.

• • Standing orders from Warehouse & Stock will continue to be shipped.

• We will not be able to enter Purchase Orders or Professional Service Orders

6pm Friday, Feb 9Through 7am Monday, Feb 20 17. NBS Travel & DELPRO Shutdown(continued)

NCI will issue a contingency plan for the down time.The target date is January 29, 2007.

This plan will address Travel, DELPRO orders, and OFMs plans for conducting business.

Please plan ahead and make sure your customers are aware that the system will be unavailable during this time period.

6pm Friday, Feb 9Through 7am Monday, Feb 20 18. Ethics Office Deadlines

It will be much more difficult for the Ethics Office to process late packages (for example, sponsored travel).

Please keep this in mind when preparing packages for the Ethics Office.

Work closely with your ARC the moment your travelers alert you that they have a trip or activity requiring approval from the Ethics Office.

19. Information for Employees 20. W2s for 2006 Now Available

W2s for 2006 are now available on line in myPay,https://mypay.dfas.mil/mypay.aspx

DFAS will also mail a copy of W2s to all employees beginning 1/11/2007.

There is a function in myPay to turn off the mailed copy for anyone not desiring to receive a mailed copy at their home address.

Everyone is encouraged to verify their address in myPay to ensure it is correct.The Post Office will not forward W2s.

• Log into myPay

• Select Correspondence Address

• If your address is incorrect, make the change and select Save.

Please note:This year you will only receive 1 W2.You may recall last year you received 2 W2s due to the switch over to myPay.

21. Closure of NIH Facilities

If an emergency closure or dismissal occurs, the updated status will be posted on OPMs website,http://www.opm.gov/and a recorded message will be provided by OPMs Office of Communications on(202) 606-1900

(see attached handout for more detailed information)

22. OPEN DISCUSSION Problems?Issues? Concerns? Anything youd like to see on next months agenda? Do you have something youd like to present? Just let us know!