**Competitive Sourcing Team Meeting Minutes**

**Thursday, June 23, 2005**

**FY05 FAIR Act Inventory:**

1\. The FAIR Act Inventory is completed and we expect to deliver it to
OMB on or before June 30, 2005. We really appreciate all the hard work
that went into the inventory and thank you all for a job well done.

2\. FWS and BLM are making some last minute adjustments -- other bureaus
and Office of the Secretary are complete.

3\. Based on the numbers available to date, we expect an 11% increase in
commercial FTE over FY '04. The increase is not due to OMB or anyone
else prescribing quotas or ratios that we have to meet. Rather, the
increase is due to a more accurate, consistent look at FTE. Requiring
justifications of inherently governmental and commercial FTE are other
reasons why DOI offices took a closer look this year.

**Green Plan:**

1\. We have achieved Green status on the competitive sourcing scorecard
for the past two quarters. We now have the opportunity to revise the
plan and submit minor changes to OMB by the end of August. We will be
sending a formal request for changes around the middle of July with
responses due mid-August. We plan to have our revised plan over to OMB
by the end of August.

2\. As bureaus prepare any revisions to the plan, please keep in mind
that substitutions of studies should include roughly the same number of
FTE as the original proposed study. OMB is still requiring a balanced
plan consisting of studies and management reviews.

3\. The Green Plan is not just a stand alone document. It is tied to
GPRA, Organization Assessment, SES performance standards and is used by
offices such as Budget and HR as a management tool. Please keep this in
mind when considering revisions to the Plan.

**HPO:**

There is some frustration in not having official OMB guidance in order
to submit requests for HPO designation. However, we do have DOI and OMB
draft guidance. Both NPS and USGS have submitted HPO requests. NPS has
two requests in (Golden Gate & Cultural Resources) and USGS had one
(Visual Information) for review but was missing some important
information. We are submitting the two NPS requests as deviations to the
Circular. We need more input from USGS and will be working with them in
order to process their request.

VSIP/VERA and the HPO request should come in together.

**FAIR Act Lessons Learned:**

1\. Next year DOI will provide guidance earlier in the year -- possibly
by September.

2\. We hope to begin meeting on the '06 inventory in July or August.
Meetings will focus on accurate, consistent inventories.

3\. Next year's inventory preparation will focus on better definitions
of inherently governmental FTE as well as common definitions of function
codes and areas where we can code consistently (i.e. administrative
functions).

4\. Bureaus need more time to prepare their inventories and our office
need more time for review and consultation. Hopefully, by starting in
July/August, we can produce a better inventory next year.

**Green Status:**

Secretary Norton is pleased that DOI has achieved Green Status in
competitive sourcing. It is the first green score DOI has achieved under
the President's Management Agenda and the competitive sourcing team
should be proud of this accomplishment.

**Newspaper Article:**

BLM was asked to write an article in newspaper style no longer that
150-200 words without beltway speak for the Maintenance study completed
in Washington/Oregon. The purpose for this article was to address a
question "What we have been up to with PMA?" The purpose of the article
was to give an update on the success of the MEO.

**New Director of Human Resources:**

There is a new HR director, Marilia Matos. Marilia will be making
several trips to visit each bureau. Marilia last worked in the
Department of Commerce. If there are examples of successful MEO
operation in the field, we will try to plan a visit for our new HR
Director as she visits other DOI sites around the country.

**From the Bureaus:**

We need to answer the following questions raised by the bureaus:

Next year we all need to understand how terminology and HR
classification affects the inventory. Are specialists, analysts,
technicians really doing inherently governmental work?

Work on consistency with coding FTE into function codes and possibly
fewer function codes.

Write definitions for function codes as needed by each bureau.

Why are there 4 definitions of inherently governmental in the Circular
but 5 definitions in the FAIR Act language?

Can't we add some columns in the FPPS system to help us perfect the
inventory process?

What is the status of the IG audit of DOI competitive sourcing study
savings?

Next year give us your inventory check list so we know what you are
looking for.

When will OMB's new inventory tracking system be up and running?