**MINUTES**

**ASSET MANAGERS MEETING**

**TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2001**

**METROLITIAN SQUARE**

**BOARD ROOM-6^TH^ FLOOR**

**10:20 AM - 12:20 PM**

**PURPOSE:**

This is our second quarterly meeting. The primary purpose of this
meeting was to continue the exchange of information between bureaus, and
foster the forum as a decision making body. This meeting highlighted
several projects within the Office of Asset Management.

**DISCUSSION:**

Carolyn Austin-Diggs began by thanking the bureau members and speakers
for attending the meeting. This meeting was to bring attention to the
ongoing/future efforts of projects that might have a potential impact on
their operations.

At the previous meeting held in February 2001, there had been a
presentation of the U.S. MINT gold dollar coin program, the safety and
health initiative, an introduction of the Office of Asset Management
programs and a formalizing of the Asset Management Directors forum.

The agenda for the meeting consisted of the Treasury Building and Annex
Repair Renovation, U.S. Customs Service Personal Property Management
System, Personal Property Assistance Visits, Asset Management Study,
Treasury Capital Investment Review Board (CIRB), Share in Savings, and
the Telework Program.

[Renovations of the Main Treasury and Annex Buildings]{.underline} --
Dave Lingrell, from the Office of Management and Administrative
Programs, provided some history regarding the building and an update on
the renovating efforts. The building dates back to 1836, where the
building had been constructed in phases between 1836 and 1869. It is the
oldest federal office building still housing the Executive Department
for which it was originally built.

The goals are to modernize the building to meet all existing safety,
energy, legislative requirements as the American Disabilities Act, and
last for approximately one hundred years. The purpose for the renovation
is to remove asbestos, update the air conditioning system, create energy
efficiency as well as replace the telecommunications infrastructure and
restore historic features. Dave is leading a team of about ten employees
and many contractual employees. The budget for the renovation is about
\$ 198 million. The project is being implemented in phases, with
re-occupancy of phase I to occur in August and be completed by October
2001. Phase II is to occur in September with relocating staff of the two
top floors into swing space.

[Personal Property Management System]{.underline} - Judy Coleman of the
U.S. Customs Service gave an overview of their upcoming SAP system.
Their current system was becoming archaic from a technology standpoint,
and the system was not providing adequate service to the customers nor
to the people that needed to use the system. A group was formulated to
look at the current processes including the Office of Finance and also
procurement, real property, personal property, et al. It was decided
that an enterprisewide solution was preferable, and as a result the SAP
software was purchased in 1999. A pilot was conducted to ensure that the
package performed as designed. The pilot was a tremendous success, i.e.,
able to meet the needs of the functional areas. SAP will be implemented
in phases. It will incorporate functionality/modules for asset
accounting, real estate management, funds management, materials
management, plant maintenance, and others. In March 2001, the
implementation planning and business blueprint phases for Release 1 and
2 were completed. Release 1 and 2 would include all of procurement and
replacement of personal property tracking systems. Release 3 would be
the replacement for the core financial systems. The 'go live' date is
scheduled for April 2002 for Release 1.

The benefits of SAP are to provide the tools for a more knowledgeable,
skilled and empowered Asset Management workforce, avoid future cost
escalations due to expanding resource requirements, and more easily meet
JFMIP property requirements, etc.

[Personal Property Assistance Visits Program]{.underline} - Steve Sosson
discussed the Office of Asset Management personal property assistance
visit program. He explained that this program was a revitalization of an
existing program, and also the outgrowth from an Office of Inspector
General audit conducted on the Treasury personal property program, which
recommended that these assistance efforts be re-instituted. Steve
further provided the benefits of the visit, varying types of visits that
are employed and the intended frequency. There were several questions
raised as to the intent and basis of the programs, and potential results
for the bureaus. A couple of visits had been completed with the bureaus
and had resulted in addressing/resolving procedural questions for
certain assets. To more fully address the formation and implementation
of the program, U.S. Secret Service; Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and
Internal Revenue Service volunteered to work with the Office of Asset
Management.

# Asset Management Study -- Carolyn thanked the bureaus for their willingness to participate in the study of the asset management activities to help determine the current status of our efforts, to assess their effectiveness, to recommend ways to improve coordination amongst the bureaus and the Department. A questionnaire had been devised by the contractor, Diversified Capital, Incorporated, to be distributed to the bureaus asking for responses to approximately 20 questions. The bureaus as customers provide very valuable input for the assessing and improving the program.

[Share in Savings Presentation]{.underline} - Garland Green very briefly
discussed the share-in-savings project. There is schedule on may 16^th^,
a National Summit on this topic to describe how both the Federal and
state governments have utilized the concept to improve their operations.
Garland explained that the share-in-savings is a new contract and
funding strategy that provides increases in new opportunities and no
restrictions on use of savings. He mentioned that as budgets are
reduced, there are challenges to justifying and devoting resources to
improve the management of non-information technology assets. This
concept is one such tool that can be used to provide a source for funds
in concert with a contractor. As an example, the Department of Education
has partnered with Accenture for the recovery of payment on defaulted
student loans.

[Telework Pilot]{.underline} - Adrianne Thormahlen from the Internal
Revenue Service gave a presentation on the use flexiplace and hoteling.
She stated that a pilot program for the IRS Information Technology
Services organization had started in June and ended in October 2000. The
three primary business goals were to increase employee satisfaction,
maximize space and identify the recruitment and retention strategies. To
implement the pilot, employees were equipped with laptops, cell phones
and e-mail access; which would be everything they would use in the
office environment. The pilot findings included better space
utilization, saving in real estate costs, and customer satisfaction.
Other key findings were that the managers were satisfied with the
flexibility, stress was reduced, morale was improved, employees were
more motivated and there was increased ability to balance professional
and personal lives. She stated that the next steps were to develop a
Information Technology Services 'roll-out plan, conduct a Systems
Development pilot with remote access to IRS network, resolve Information
Technology Services' issues, and distribute toolkit to Information
Technology Services' functions.

[Capital Investment Review Process]{.underline} -- The discussion on the
capital investment review process was deferred.