Management Analysis Working Group (MAWG) Presentation: Katy Perry/Kathleen Stephan

1. Katy and Kathleen described the purpose and objectives of MAWG, which is to provide a forum to educate and share best practices and resources in areas of common interest across the NIH.

2. MAWG membership is open to management and program analyst staff, as well as other administrative professional staff from all 27 ICs and the OD, NIH. They are involved in a wide array of subject matters, such as A-76 Competitive Sourcing, Alternative Work Schedules, Census, Delegations of Authority, and Emergency Preparedness.

3. Each IC is responsible for assigning a principal analyst and an alternate. Only one vote per IC.

4. The MAWG voting members will cast ballots; the next election is in January 2008.

5. The Management Analysis Steering Committee (MASC) is the planning forum and decision making body for the MAWG and is charged with: formulating the MAWG agendas, assessing potential training needs in the MAWG community, and facilitating the sharing of best practices.

6. The MASC is comprised of a maximum of 10 MAWG members. It is chaired by the current sitting MAWG Chair(s). Its members serve on 1-year appointments, rotating off so that only 1/3 are appointed each year.

7. The hot topics for 2008: A-76, Risk Management, Emergency Preparedness, Telework, and the Student Loan Repayment Program.

8. MAWG has partnered with the IAMC and EAO groups to form a new "Tri-Group" in order to better share information. We plan to hold meetings - all three groups - each quarter of the year.

Vendor Pay Solutions: Ken Stith

1. Ken announced that Federal agencies must comply with the Prompt Payment Act (PPA). The PPA requires payment within 30 days- latter of when goods/services are received or receipt of proper invoice.

2. There are three matching components that must be present in order to be payable: The order, receiving, and invoice must all match to be payable.

3. Ken explained there is a "Three-Bucket" Process Relationship which is the IC, Vendor, and OFM all working together to get invoices paid.

4. IC "Bucket" Responsibilities:

• Receiving, order/obligation-timeliness, sufficiency, propriety, identification, appropriate system
• Identifying the specific vendor billing requirements in the order.
• Validating and timely entering of the goods/services received.
• Working with vendors to explain and work invoicing issues.
• Requesting additional system access/training where needed.
• Utilizing available reports to show the status of unpaid invoices.
• Assisting in solutions for on-hold invoices.

5. Vendor "Bucket" Responsibilities:

• Working with the contracting official to ensure understanding of deliverables and what is needed to assure proper invoicing.
• Assuring understanding and complying with invoicing instructions.
• Cascading invoicing requirements to "field level" billing offices.
• Accessing the NIH SILK website to determine the status of invoice payments.
• Attending various NIH Vendor information forums.

6. OFM "Bucket Responsibilities:

• Deploying additional staff, where possible, to assist in the validation/payment of invoices.
• Working with the ICs and Vendors to assure understanding of receiving/invoicing issues.
• Working the backlog of work in the MarkView and ViewStar scanning queues.

7. OFM is making great efforts. OFM has contracted with Booz Allen to review/provide recommendations on the overall payment process. They have added additional staff to help index/reduce the backlog. They have also deployed additional staff to work various other compartments like ViewStar, and Oracle/MarkView PO Matching/Paying duties.

8. Focused IC effort to address current invoice backlog:

• OFM is recommending appointment of "IC Invoice Specialists" to address existing invoice backlog within each IC.
• The Invoice Specialist will be responsible for analyzing invoice issues at the individual IC level.
• IC Invoice Specialists will be equipped with training and a variety of tools to help them perform these activities.
• The IC Invoice Specialists were appointed by the EO of each IC. These are higher level (GS-12) employees with strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Hands-on training will be provided. Specialists will be provided with access to all required systems. The ICs are to determine unique role of Invoice Specialist and the IC Invoice Specialist position should be identified by 11/27/07. Training is to be executed week of 12/03/07.

Blackberry/Cell Manage Presentation: Charles Kriete/Christine Lewis

1. Charles gave background information on their services and explained that CellManage is offered by government focused value-added resellers (VARS) to alleviate the hassles regarding the billing, deployment, asset tracking, and procurement of NIH cellular devices. This is an online database, where you could potentially never see a paper bill again.

2. Benefits of CellManage:

• Managed, annualized services, which include basic surcharges and alleviates the hassle of monthly carrier billing.
• A unique web portal provides clear tracking capabilities for budgeting, auditing, renewal, deployment, assets, and billing purposes.
• The ability to procure a complete solution from a single source with a single purchase/task order.
• Can take over/transfer existing services for a small transfer fee.

3. CellManage is powered by OTBT, a company that exists as a distributor for wireless services between the wireless carrier and reseller. OTBT is contracted by the wireless carriers and resellers to provide these services and maintain the CellManage platform. CellManage is the first platform designed exclusively for the Government customer and the first platform managed by a company that is focused on nothing more than it's functionality.

HR Update: Cheryl Wild

1. Cheryl discussed Quick Classification. She explained there are many standard PDs available in which the position doesn't require classification.

2. There are two places to search for a PD in QC:

• PD Library
• PD Archive/Search

If there isn't a PD in the PD Library, then the HR Specialist should be contacted to look in the PD Archive. The PD Archive may provide a PD to work with rather than starting a new PD from scratch. PDs from the PD Library do not have to be classified except for the GS-14/15 Administrative positions.

3. The PDs are not yet available to the AOs. We will have to contact our HR Specialist to see these PDs.

4. The AO competencies have been mapped in the GS-12 PD and the vacancy announcement for recruitment purposes. This is in draft and will be shared with the AO community for review.