November 17, 2000
                                        DO-00-043


MEMORANDUM        
                                                        
TO:       Designated Agency Ethics Officials, General Counsels
          and Inspectors General

FROM:     Amy L. Comstock
          Director

SUBJECT:  Program Plan of Agency Reviews for Calendar Year 2001


     Attached for your information is the program plan of agency
ethics reviews scheduled by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE)
for calendar year 2001.  This is to inform you of our schedule for
the year and to allow you time to make revisions to your program as
may be necessary.  There will also be an opportunity for you to
meet with OGE staff to discuss our program review objectives and
procedures. 

     We are sensitive to your increased workload during the coming
transition year.  We have scheduled military units and agencies
with fewer political appointees in the first half of the year,
leaving most departmental reviews for the second half. The
Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) will be contacted by phone
approximately one month prior to our entrance into the agency.  If
our review would unduly disrupt your transition workload, please
call Ed Pratt, Chief, Program Review Division, at 202-208-8000,
extension 1115, to discuss rescheduling.

     We will attempt as much as possible to follow the schedule set
forth in the attachment.  However, as past experience has shown,
the schedule may change due to complex issues that occur during
reviews, transition workload, or other priority work within OGE. 
If reviews from the first quarter are rescheduled, we may pull 
agencies from later quarters and review them earlier. Certain
reviews that were not completed last year are included for review
early in 2001.

     To assist those of you who wish to become more familiar with
our program review procedures, our analysts will hold two brown-bag
luncheons to discuss procedures and answer any of your questions. 
If you are interested in attending one of these luncheons on either
Wednesday, January 10, or Thursday, February 1, 2001, please call
Ilene Cranisky on 202-208-8000, extension 1218.  Attendance is open
to all agencies, whether or not the agency is scheduled for review
in 2001.

     One element we will be examining this year is whether all
public financial disclosure reports for Presidential appointees
have been filed, reviewed and certified, and where applicable, have
been transmitted to OGE. This will include past annual and
termination reports filed in the prior year (2000), as well as
reports for new officials.  We also will examine whether new
Presidential appointees have received their initial ethics
training.

     Our usual practice, once a review has been completed, is to
send a report to the DAEO with recommendations for improving the
program.  We ask that the DAEO respond to our recommendations
within 60 days as to the actions he/she has taken or plans to take. 
We do not send our reports to the Congress, but occasionally a
Congressional committee will request a report of an agency under
its jurisdiction.  These requests are granted and the agency DAEO
is informed that we have received such a request. 

     We do not send copies of our reports to the news media, nor
issue press releases concerning the reports.  Periodically, we do
release reports to the news media in response to Freedom of
Information Act requests.

     We are continuing our program review evaluation form for you
to complete after you receive the report.  We ask that you take a
few moments to provide us with feedback on the usefulness of our
reviews and reports, and identify areas for improvement.  Thank you
for all the comments you gave us this past year; they have been
extremely useful in modifying our review techniques.

     We hope that this answers some of your questions concerning
our program review process. Should you have any other questions,
please call Jack Covaleski, Senior Associate Director for Agency
Programs, at 202-208-8000, extension 1120.

Attachment

___________________________________________________________________








                   OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS



                        CALENDAR YEAR 2001        
               
                  PROGRAM PLAN OF AGENCY REVIEWS




__________________________________________________________________

                    PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE
                     JANUARY - MARCH 2001


1.   Appalachian Regional Commission

2.   U.S. Army - Aberdeen Proving Ground (MD)
           Test and Evaluation Command
           Chemical and Biological Defense Command
           Garrison

3.   Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA)

4.   U.S. Army - Fort Irwin (CA) 
           National Training Center
           Garrison

5.   Robins Air Force Base (GA)
           Air Force Reserve Command
           Air Logistics Center

6.   Social Security Administration

7.   National Security Agency/Central Security Service

8.   McGuire Air Force Base (NJ)
           305th Air Mobility Wing
           Air Mobility Warfare Center
           21st Air Force

9.   Federal Emergency Management Agency

10.  Department of the Navy Activities (Jacksonville, FL)
           Navy Public Works Center
           Fleet Industrial Supply Center
           Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair
           Naval Region Southeast


___________________________________________________________________
                   
                   PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE
                     APRIL - JUNE 2001


1.   Federal Housing Finance Board

2.   Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission

3.   Department of the Navy Activities  (WA)
           Naval Submarine Base Seattle (Bangor)
           Naval Engineering Field Activity Northwest (Poulsbo)
           Fleet Industrial Supply Center (Bremerton)

4.   Trade and Development Agency

5.   Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AZ)
           355th Wing
           12th Air Force Headquarters
           Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC)

6.   Commission of Fine Arts

7.   Federal Trade Commission

8.   Inter-American Foundation

9.   American Forces Information Service (AFIS)

10.  Kelly Air Force Base (TX)
           Air Force News Agency
           San Antonio Air Logistics Center   
           Air Intelligence Agency
           Joint Electronic Warfare Center
 

______________________________________________________________________



                     PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE
                      JULY - SEPTEMBER 2001


1.   National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Commerce)
     
2.   Department of Agriculture
           Office of the Secretary
           Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
           Food and Nutrition Service
           Agricultural Research Service
           U.S. Forest Service

3.   Consumer Product Safety Commission

4.   Department of the Army
           Office of the Secretary
           Office of the Chief of Staff
           U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command

5.   Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation (AZ)

6.   Department of the Air Force
           Office of the Secretary
           Air Staff
           Air Force District of Washington

7.   Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations

8.   African Development Foundation

9.   Department of the Treasury
           Office of the Secretary
           U.S. Mint
           Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
           Financial Management Service

10.  Patent and Trademark Office (Commerce)



________________________________________________________________

                     PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE
                     OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2001


1.   Department of the Navy
           Office of the Secretary
           Naval District of Washington
           Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
           Naval Facilities Engineering Command
           Strategic Systems Program Office

2.   Department of Defense
           Office of the Secretary
           Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
           Joint Chiefs of Staff
           Defense Science Board
           Office of Inspector General

3.   Commodity Futures Trading Commission

4.   Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board

5.   Bureau of Labor Statistics (Labor)

6.   Federal Election Commission

7.   Defense Intelligence Agency

8.   Bureau of Prisons (Justice)

9.   National Institute of Standards and Technology (Commerce)

10.  Department of Transportation
           National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
           Federal Railroad Administration
           Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation


__________________________________________________________________






                         SPECIAL PROJECTS



1.   Review of agency use of 18 U.S.C. &#167; 208(b)(1) and (b)(3)
     waivers, and the consultation process with OGE. 

          This review will be an overall assessment of the waiver
     process, including OGE's role.  We will examine criteria for,
     and agency concerns with, the issuance of waivers.  We will
     examine unique problems agencies encounter when issuing
     waivers for advisory committee members.  While we will review
     some waivers, this is not an attempt to determine the
     appropriateness of agency waivers, but an in-depth look at the
     process and how it can be improved.
     

2.   Review of ethics issues surrounding the 2001 transition
     process.

          In this review we want to interview  ethics officials  to
     determine what unique issues they faced during the transition
     process and how the process may be improved.  This will
     include not only the nominee financial disclosure process, but
     also the collection of termination reports from the outgoing
     administration, the initial ethics training of new
     Presidential appointees, and other issues.