**Interagency Committee on**

**Federal Advisory Committee Management**

**September 14, 2006**

**Minutes of Meeting**

**9:30 a.m. -- 11:30 a.m.**

**9:30 a.m. Welcome and General Introductions (Mr. Robert Flaak,
Director, Committee Management Secretariat (CMS), General Services
Administration (GSA))**

The meeting was called to order at approximately 9:30 a.m. by Robert
Flaak, Director, Committee Management Secretariat (CMS), who welcomed
attendees and thanked everyone for coming. Mr. Flaak then asked that all
attendees introduce themselves.

**9:40 a.m. Committee Management Strategic Planning Topics, Status of
IAC Task Forces, EPA-GSA Joint FACA Conference (Mr. Flaak)**

Mr. Flaak directed everyone to look at the attachment "Interagency
Committee on Federal Advisory Committee Management Subcommittee Charters
(rev. September 1, 2006)" that was located in the information packet. He
stated that these task forces will cover four generalized areas. He said
that he wants these groups to start work sometime in late October 2006.
The chairs of these groups will be contacting the members of these
groups to set up dates for these initial meetings. These groups will
provide advice to CMS, and will report to the IAC on their findings. Mr.
Flaak then asked for additional people to volunteer for each of these
groups, and these individuals' names were added to the lists. Mr. Flaak
stated that he and Chuck Howton will work with each group initially at
the first meeting, and then he expects that the groups will continue the
work on their own, with CMS staff chairing each group. He then gave a
brief description of each group, and what results he expects out of each
group.

The first group, the Task Force on Federal Advisory Committee Training
Development, will evaluate the current status of training by CMS. The
task force will look at the basic FACA Course itself, and explore other
areas of training which CMS could conduct. These areas could include: a
Committee Management Officer (CMO) course curriculum; evaluation
techniques and feedback for courses; and a seminar series that would
include legal issues, public participation, ethics, recordkeeping, and
committee balance. Mr. Flaak stated that the group would have a long
duration, and he expected that members would probably come and go at
various times.

The second group, the Task Force on Federal Advisory Committee
Regulatory Development, will study FACA regulatory and best practices
issues. The group will be gathering information and recommendations for
changes to the FACA guidelines, which will be revised beginning in
approximately two years. In the interim, this group will evaluate the
establishment, renewal, and chartering processes, and consultations with
CMS generally, evaluate existing templates for chartering, and develop a
standardized template that provides suitable information and reduces
workload (or amendments).

The third group, the Task Force on Federal Advisory Committee
Performance Measurement, will be advising CMS on how best to measure the
performance of Federal advisory committees by looking at the current
ways in which CMS and agencies are using performance measures. This
information will then be used to develop generic performance measures
for use by agencies to evaluate their advisory committees, develop a
Governmentwide measurement system for CMS evaluation use, and develop
best practices that can be used by agencies in their own performance
measurement programs.

The fourth group, the Task Force on Federal Advisory Committee
Information Systems, will be an advisory group on the FACA Database.
This group will be advising the FACA database team on how to enable the
database to give agencies more information that will help them perform
their FACA duties easier and faster. Important issues will include
output measures and reporting functions that are needed to help agencies
obtain the most current and accurate information on advisory committees.
In essence, this group will help agencies do their job better. The group
will provide advice on what types of information agencies need, which
they may not be getting at the current time.

Mr. Flaak concluded this discussion by saying that each task force chair
will be in contact with his or her members to set up an initial meeting
in the next few weeks.

Mr. Flaak then announced that a one and one-half day FACA Conference is
being planned for (a date to be determined in) 2007. The conference will
be a joint effort with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's)
Office of Cooperative Environmental Management, which includes EPA
committee management staff. He stated that there will be more
information on this conference at the December 7, 2006, Interagency
Committee (IAC) Meeting.

**10:00 a.m. Top Down Review Status of DOD's Federal Advisory Committees
(Mr. James Freeman, Program Manager, Washington Headquarters Services,
Department of Defense (DOD))**

Mr. Freeman began by discussing DOD's Federal Advisory Committee program
size. He said that DOD has 52 committees, with 22 being
non-discretionary (three being FACA exempt) and 30 being discretionary.

The Top-to-Bottom Review is a two-year effort directed by the Secretary
of Defense. The first phase is completed effective October 1, 2006. It
consisted of legislation that was submitted to consolidate two actuarial
committees into a single committee. A Defense Health Board is to be
established which will disestablish three discretionary committees and
re-establish them as subcommittees. One subcommittee (non-discretionary
requirement) will be disestablished and will be re-established as a
subcommittee of the Defense Health Board. Two discretionary committees
will be disestablished and re-established as subcommittees of the
Defense Science Board.

The second phase will be conducted in the spring of 2007. This phase
will reevaluate the Army's long-term engineering advisory committee
requirements (currently, 2 non-discretionary and one discretionary
committee). After this reevaluation, the Navy educational advisory
committees (currently two discretionary committees will be evaluated.
Then a review will take place of the long-term placement of the Navy
Ocean Advisory Panel. Additional reviews will consist of the feasibility
of disestablishing one non-discretionary advisory committee and
re-establishing as non-chartered subcommittees of the Defense Health
Board. An evaluation of the long-term personnel-related advisory
committee requirements will entail the feasibility of disestablishing
one discretionary and one non-discretionary advisory committees and
re-establishing as subcommittees. Additionally, the long-term Reserve
Forces advisory committee requirements will be evaluated also.

Mr. Flaak asked Mr. Freeman whether there were any lessons learned from
this exercise. Mr. Freeman said that there were two lessons learned. The
first one was to allow for leadership changes in recommendations. One or
two efforts were unacceptable to the Secretary of Defense. This incurred
an additional two to three months of time for the entire effort. The
other lesson learned was that internal communication on the project
could have been better. This would have allowed easier accomplishment of
goals for the project.

In conclusion, Mr. Freeman stated that recent DOD FACA policy actions
have included: the delegation of agency head duties; the changing of
Designated Federal Officer (DFO) appointments and duties; and alternate
DFOs appointments and duties.

**10:20 a.m. Annual Comprehensive Review (ACR) for FY 2006 (Dr. Ken
Fussell, Committee Management Specialist, CMS, GSA)**

Dr. Fussell began his discussion by asking everyone if there were any
questions on the July 27, 2006, ACR Memorandum that was sent out to
CMOs. He stated the final due date was moved up this year to December 8,
2006. He said that all of this information will be available on the FACA
portal, and he asked everyone to direct their staff to look at this
portal. He noted that some agencies have already started their internal
ACR process, and he suggested that other agencies should try to do the
same, as it makes completion of the entire Governmentwide process more
efficient.

Dr. Fussell stated that there was significant improvement with the
agencies last year in completing their ACR submissions. He expects
greater improvement this year. He advised everyone to direct their DFOs
to click on the "Current Status" icon in the FACA Database. This will
tell the DFO about potential problems with committees, i.e., costs with
no meetings, costs with no reports, and members with no e-mail, etc.

A question was asked about appointment dates for members of committees.
Dr. Fussell said that everyone should look at the Help section about
this item and this will provide additional guidance about this issue. He
advised everyone to use the original

start date for the member. If people are unsure of what to use for this
date, Dr. Fussell will put October 1 of the current fiscal year. If
people are unsure of what to use for the end date, they can put in the
expiration date of the charter itself.

Dr. Fussell concluded his discussion by stating that when he rolls over
the FY2006 committees, FY2007 committees may be created, but until an
agency has completed their FY2006 submissions, no data can be added to
the FY 2007 module.

**11:00 a.m. Committee Management Updates**

**Committee Areas of Interest (Ms. Maggie Weber, Committee Management
Specialist, CMS, GSA)**

Ms. Weber briefed everyone on the new FACA Database fields for Committee
Areas of Interest. She said that these entries should be made when a
committee is being established. She said that there are more than one
hundred interest Areas within more than 30 Categories. She gave an
example using the subject of "children". She said that agency DFOs
should go into the search link, and click on "children". There will be a
display of multiple committees for children. Agency DFOs should see if
anything is similar to the committee that they are establishing. If the
committee addresses or investigates an interest Area that the agency DFO
does not find on the list, then the agency DFO should forward the "new"
suggested Category and Area to the agency CMO. If the CMO agrees that
the "new" interest Area belongs on the list, then the CMO should contact
Dr. Fussell. The agency should review this list every year, as a
committee may become either broader or more constrained in its interests
over time. This will ensure that it reflects the committee as it is
formulated currently and not as it was formulated historically.

**Member Designation Review (Mr. Chuck Howton, Deputy Director, CMS,
GSA)**

Mr. Howton informed everyone that there is a new element in the database
in the on-line consultation module which requires an overall, one-time
member designation review when a committee is next up for renewal. He
said that what is required is to enter the date that this was done by
the agency in the appropriate column. This only needs to be done once,
between this year and FY 2008. This is to be done only for committees
being renewed, not for new committees, the presumption being that all
new committees are subject to this scrutiny. Committees exempt from
renewal may be done at any time during this timeframe.

**Performance Measurement Alternative for FY 2007 (Ms. Deborah Connors,
Committee Management Specialist, CMS, GSA)**

Ms. Connors began her presentation by stating that CMS was going to
conduct a Performance Measurement Survey in 2007. She said that the CMS
was going to cover all of the costs for this survey. She said that the
similar types of questions that were used for the Advisory Committee
Engagement Survey (ACES) would be used with some modifications. These
questions will be reviewed by the Task Force on Performance Measurement
and they will offer recommendations to the CMS if changes to the
questions should be made. They will also recommend a new name for the
survey.

Ms. Connors emphasized since CMS is paying for this survey, CMS will
expect a very high response from the agencies. The survey will be issued
using the 2006 ACR member e-mail list, so it will be very important to
have the correct e-mails input into the system. She announced that CMOs
will be provided with an information package about the survey at the
December IAC Meeting. She reiterated that CMS is asking for CMO support
in encouraging their committees to participate in the survey.

Ms. Connors concluded the discussion by stating that there would be two
survey vehicles. The first one is the Performance Measures Survey, and
the second will be a survey vehicle which will be a query type of
vehicle. The way this survey works, is that if CMS needs some quick
input on performance measures from the CMO's, this survey can query a
small audience of people in a very time efficient manner, if information
is needed quickly for consensus on a timely issue.

**Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) Training and Specialized FACA
Training (Mr. Howton)**

Mr. Howton also mentioned that CMS will plan to conduct some specialized
agency onsite FACA training in FY2007. This would be in addition to the
five regularly scheduled FACA training courses. He said the timeframe
for this would be fairly limited, probably in the May, June, or July
timeframe. The minimum number of participants for an onsite course would
be 20 -- 25 participants. Agencies may use their own staffs to conduct
some of the training (for example, the legal, recordkeeping, and ethics
sessions). Agencies should contact Ms. Tabitha Dove for further
information on the feasibility of these types of specialized training
courses. CMS would like a six month advance notice, if possible.

Mr. Howton also reiterated that CMS and EPA's OCEM are in the planning
stages about holding a joint FACA conference later in 2007. This would
be done off-site locally in the Washington area.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 11:30 a.m.

Action Items:

Agencies should complete their ACR submissions by the due date of
December 8, 2006, or sooner.

Agencies should contact Ms. Tabitha Dove regarding their FACA training
needs.

Agency CMOs or DFOs who are not currently a member of a Task Force
should consider volunteering to become a member of one.

**Handouts:**

1.  IAC Task Force Mission Statements

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1.  ACR Guidance Memorandum

2.  FACA Training Dates

3.  IAC Meeting Dates

4.  Roster of Committee Management Staff

5.  FACA News clips

**List of Attendees (as indicated on the sign-in sheet):**

[Name]{.underline} [Agency]{.underline}

1\. Linda Anadale DOC

2\. Sarah Coe DOC

3\. James Freeman DOD

4\. Karen Akins ED

5\. Rachel Samuel DOE

6\. Melanie Gray HHS/NIH

7\. Sharon Norman DOI

8\. Nalini Close DOL

9\. Phyllis Jordan DOS

10\. Cynthia Roscoe DOT

11\. Angel Saumure TRES

12\. Phil Riggin VA

13\. Lisa Fairhall ATBCB

14\. Austin Holland CNCS

15\. Fred Butterfield EPA

16\. Charles Jackson FASAB

17\. Maryann Hadyka NARA

18\. Patrice Murray NARA

19\. Kathy Dakon NASA

20\. Kathy Plowitz-Worden NEA

21\. Andy Bates NRC

22\. Susanne Bolton NSF

23\. Katherine Stanley NWBC

24\. Daniel Peterson ONDCP

25\. Donna Wood SBA

26\. Robert Flaak GSA

27\. Chuck Howton GSA

28\. Kennett Fussell GSA

29\. Deborah Connors GSA

30\. Maggie Weber GSA

31\. Lesly Wilson GSA

32\. Hank Gioia FACA Training Facilitator