Minutes of the NIH Intramural Administrative Officers' Meeting July 6, 2000 NIH Principal Administrative Officers Alternates Present Robert Dennis, NIMH, Chair Nan Freas, NINDS Richard Freed, NIAID Trudy Welsh, NHGRI Ana Ferreira, NINR Mary Slagle, NEI Brenda Sandler, NIAAA Evelyn Burrell, NICHD Corrine Abbott, NIDCD Rene Smither, NIDCR Susan Harrelson, NIDDK Bruce Wiggins, NIEHS Anthony Pirrone, NLM Edie Smith, CIT John Savannah, ORS Elaine Ayres, Clinical Ctr Janis Mullaney, OD/OIR I. Meeting of Principal Administrative Officers Robert Dennis opened the meeting and reminded the group that there would be no IAO meeting in August. NIH Enterprise Directory System Brenda Sandler briefly discussed her earlier concerns with NEDS regarding EOD dates and duplicate entries for the same person. She said that most of the earlier problems in this area have been corrected. Survey on Administrative Structure Bob reported that most ICs have submitted their data for this survey and that Nancy Saltzman had created a set of tables. He cautioned that drawing conclusions at this time from these charts would be premature, since there has been no analysis of the data. Also, it is apparent that responses for a number of items are reflecting incorrect or distorted data. This may be due to the significant differences in administrative structures within the ICs. While these data must be used cautiously when comparing one IC to another, it may be a useful tool for examining relevant similarities or differences. It may also be useful for exploring possibilities and validating new positions. It should also be noted that this data is not intended to detract from position classification requirements. It was agreed that the draft versions of these surveys should have limited circulation, but the final version should be circulated to all IAOs for whatever use they find appropriate. When this draft data is provided to the ICs, they will be able to compare their input with other ICs and correct and refine the data they provided. The development of a career ladder for administrative positions was part of the charter for the IAO, and the data from this survey should help the IAOs accomplish that goal. Issues from DDIR Fellowship Payment System Janis Mullaney told the group that October 1 was a target date - not a mandatory date, for all ICs to be on the new system. She identified NICHD, NHLBI, NIDDK and NCI as the pilot ICs for contacts for ICs coming "on board." The pilot groups can be helpful in advising others on how to set up the required infrastructure for the various processes (initiation, certification, activation). NIH Academy Post-Baccalaureate IRTA Fellows Dr. Gottesman approved the $21,000 initial stipend, plus travel to and from NIH, for the post-baccalaureate IRTAs who are part of the NIH Academy. The higher stipend was necessary so that these fellows can live in their assigned apartments with other NIH Academy Post-Bac IRTAs. Appointments involving Fogarty Janis mentioned that "J-1 renewals for a 4th/5th year must be received by the JVERC Committee no later than 120 days prior to the expiration of the Exchange Visitor's Form IAP-66. In those instances where the Exhcnage Visitor has a J-2 spouse who works, the package should be sent to the JVERC even earlier, i.e., 180 days prior to the expiration of the IAP-66." Credit Card use for Contract Purchases During a recent OMA review it was pointed out that when credit cards are used for purchases relating to a contract, these expenditures do not get tracked to the contract and, therefore, are not included in contract expenditures. II. Open Session Shipment of Household Goods James Baker, Chief, Transportation, NIH, discussed the new BPA with Associates Relocation Management Company, Inc.(ARMC) for the movement of household goods. Michelle Goldin and C.C. Cairns, from ARMC, provided more detail regarding the services available through ARMC. The contact person for this BPA will be Pat Baughman (202-626-5001). ICs will have the choice of using the new BPA or continuing to process their household moves through NIH's relocation office. Joel Papier has done an analysis comparing the two methods, and Jim Baker will send a draft of this analysis to Bob Dennis for distribution to the IAOs. Purchase Card Reconciliation for FY 2000 Wayne Berry discussed the procedures for closing out credit card purchases for FY2000. Bob Dennis had e-mailed a copy of these procedures prior to the IAO meeting. OFM staff have reviewed the year-end closing process every year to make improvements. And, a group was formed consisting of IC budget and administrative staff, and OFM, OPM and CIT staff to review this process. One of the areas that has needed improvement is related to year-end credit card obligations. Two important improvements are: 1) cardholders will be able to enter pre-obligation amounts for up to 10 different CANs; and 2) each IC will identify an individual who will have the authority to change pre-obligation amounts after the end of the year. It is hoped that stopping the daily downloads the night of Sept 26, will enable each cardholder to more easily identify the orders which need to be included in their pre-obligation total. A formal memo detailing these changes would be provided in August. The group was interested in any other proposed changes. NIH Intramural Database (NIDB) Dale Graham, from the CIT Division of Enterprise and Custom Applications, stated that Phase 1of the Scientific Directory will start August 1 for organizational information. Later, phase 2 will be coordinated with words in Annual reports - a more difficult aspect of the project. She offered to visit any IC that would like to have her help organizing this effort. NIH Intramall An NIH IntraMall was presented by Pam Robbins of NCI. She introduced Adina Kaiden from BioSpace, the new CRADA partner since December 1999. Ms. Robbins gave an invitation to all present for the NIH IntraMall 2000 tent show on Wednesday, July 12 from 10:00 - 3:00. Since BioSpace has become the new CRADA partner, the IntraMall has increased its product volume from 90,000 to its present volume of 550,000 and will have 1 million products by mid-September . Ms. Robbins described the new features and enhancements developed by BioSpace and the NIH Usersgroup. Some of those features were Rapid Order Entry; Logging of non-mall orders, which allows all orders to be logged in one place; Automated Reconciliation, which will allow orders placed and logged on the IntraMall to be automatically matched up with US Bank charges presented through the ADB saving valuable time. Also described were reporting capabilities within the IntraMall such as a CAN Summary Report. As orders are logged and placed in the Mall, a record is kept by CAN indicating dollars spent. As the charges are reconciled, dollars are automatically updated in the CAN Summary. This will enable Administrative Officers to have access at the click of a button to a record of dollars outstanding for purchase cardholders. Ms. Robbins said this will be extremely valuable for budget reporting and with the end of the year pre-obligation process. The Advanced Search process of the Mall has also been enhanced. Training is available for all cardholders as well as shoppers. For training, please contact Pam Robbins, 496-3688, BioSpace 1-888-NIH-MALL (1-888-644-6255) or the CIT training site at http://training.cit.nih.gov. Training can be conducted one-on-one or as a group. If you have any questions regarding the NIH IntraMall, please contact BioSpace or Jeff Weiner 301-496-7058.