Freedom of Information Act Office
IC Directors' Meeting Highlights
December 17, 2003
| To: | IC Directors |
| From: | Director, Executive Secretariat |
| Subject: | IC Directors Meeting Highlights—November 25, 2003 |
FTE Allocation
Dr. Kington said the goal of the discussion was to review recommendations for the FY 04 FTE allocation process, a process that is meant to be flexible, transparent, fair, and responsive.
Because its relevant working group had not been finally established, the NIH Steering Committee named an ad hoc committee to develop recommendations to be considered. At the 11/20 Steering Committee meeting, Drs. Alving, von Eschenbach, Hodes, Katz, and Volkow presented the recommendations for the FY 04 FTE operating ceilings and the process for managing NIH FTE hires for FY 04. The Steering Committee unanimously approved these recommendations to be presented today.
Basing its work on the FY 04 President's Budget level, the ad hoc committee worked with Roadmap Implementation Chairs to develop the FTE estimates for the recommended allocation plan. Mr. Turman and Mr. Leasure clarified that the FY 04 operating ceilings will enable NIH to reduce FTE usage as required by HHS while also allowing additional allocations to high-priority areas (newest ICs, Roadmap, etc.).
Each IC will soon be asked to submit a plan for staying within its FTE ceiling to Mr. Leasure. ICs developing additional unanticipated FTE needs during the year can apply to the NIH Director for a higher operating ceiling, and OB will distribute estimates of operating ceiling projections regularly through FY 04. It is possible that additional FTEs might be available or that instead hiring controls might have to be instituted.
After discussing specific questions, Dr. Zerhouni stressed that the process must be agile. He asked that the working group of the Steering Committee concerned with these issues be prospective in looking at best practices, developing benchmarks for a flexible process that makes sense in the NIH's increasingly dynamic operating environment, and even examining the rationality or irrationality of NIH's current FTE ceiling.
Dale Johnson
cc: OD Staff
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