A YEAR IN REVIEW 

FSIS Planning & Performance Agenda
           

           

             

         

One Team, 

One Purpose
 

We are one team, with one purpose,

and that is to protect public health.

FSIS employees take pride in the fact

that their work helps to prevent food‐

borne illness.

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Table of 

I. A Year in Review—Initiatives & Results

II. The Big Picture—Info Graphics

III. A Review by FSIS Strategic Plan Goal

CONTENTS 

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Section One 

A Year in Review 

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A YEAR IN REVIEW
 

2012

Planning &

Performance Agenda

NEW PERFORMANCE PROGRAM BETTER ENABLES
 

AGENCY TO FOCUS ON KEY PRIORITIES
 

OVER THE PAST YEAR, FSIS has rolled out a series of innovative planning and performance im‐

provement initiatives. This involved refining planning methods, developing progressive measurement

systems, and creating new forums to bring together leaders and key managers. This effort was initi‐

ated to better focus the Agency on its most important food safety priorities.

INITIATIVES

In September 2011, FSIS publicly released its streamlined FY 2011‐16 Strategic Plan—a results‐

oriented document that includes a clear line of sight between Agency vision, mission, and outcomes.

The Plan reflects the Under Secretary’s and Administrator’s vision and priorities.

§ The Plan focuses on: 1/aligning food safety inspection with existing and emerging risks,

2/maximizing domestic and international compliance, 3/enhancing public education and outreach,

4/strengthening collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, 5/effectively using science

to understand foodborne illness, 6/implementing effective policies, 7/empowering its employees,

and 8/using innovative methods to protect public health.

§ The Plan emphasizes prevention and public health and a ‘One Team, One Purpose’ approach. It

highlights the importance of collaboration across all parts of the Agency, inspectors, investigators,

scientists, data analysts, and policy developers, in achieving the Agency’s strategic goals. FSIS also

sees as paramount public education, outreach, and collaboration with food safety and public

health partners.

§ While working on the Strategic Plan, FSIS designated Goal Leaders to assist the Agency in crafting

discrete goals, strategies, and measures. The Goal Leaders and their respective teams were

charged with also reporting on the progress made against each goal’s performance measure tar‐

gets.

In January 2012, FSIS released its redesigned FY 2012 Annual Performance Plan (APP). Signifi‐

cantly shortened from previous years, the APP included only the most critical Agency results and out‐

comes for the year. Importantly, it provided Assistant Administrators with a document that bridged the

Strategic Plan to individual performance standards. As a result, it required managers to align their work

directly with Strategic Plan outcomes.

§	 The APP highlights year‐end results the Senior Executive Service (SES) aim to achieve, linking to the

Strategic Plan goals, outcomes, and performance measure targets. It also presents key results to be

achieved by the individual FSIS Program Areas and connects their actions directly to the eight FSIS

Strategic Plan goals. Anticipated Program Area results and outcomes included in the APP directly

inform all SES Individual Performance Standards.

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2012

Planning &

Performance Agenda

In March 2012, FSIS announced a roll‐out of its innovative, in‐house developed Strategic Plan

Dashboard. This online tool reports Agency‐wide progress made (via stop‐light colors and detailed

narratives) against the 8 goals and 33 individual performance measure targets included in the FSIS Stra‐

tegic Plan. The Dashboard is available to a limited community of users—leaders, senior managers, and

Goal Coordinators. In FY 2013, FSIS plans to enlarge the user base to all employees.

§	 The Dashboard provides the Agency with a performance GPS, revealing where we are and where

we need to go. Importantly, it also enables FSIS to better make mid‐course corrections.

§	 Goal Leaders and Goal Coordinators provide monthly updates on progress against their Goal’s

performance measure targets.

In July 2012, FSIS updated its Dashboard to also include the results of the Agency’s FY 2012 APP and

associated Program Area ratings. This Scorecard tool enabled FSIS Assistant Administrators to provide

monthly assessments of how well their respective Program Area’s have done in completing their key

results. This assessment provided the USDA’s Office of Food Safety and FSIS leadership with more

operational performance results in a clear, tangible manner on the Agency’s public health regulatory

mission.

In September 2012, FSIS created a Strategic Performance Working Group. The Group was estab‐

lished by the Administrator to conduct recurring critical reviews of FSIS information and data to help

the Agency identify deficiencies/successes that warrant particular attention from the Agency’s Man‐

agement Council. The first topic selected by the Group for examination was identifying potential inter‐

ventions or actions to decrease salmonellosis attributable to FSIS regulated products.

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2012

Planning &

Performance Agenda

RESULTS

The strategic and annual planning efforts significantly focused leadership and senior manager

attention on the Agency’s key goals and measures.

	 In FY 2012, 6 of 8 Strategic Plan goals were rated as green (met or exceeded FSIS Management Council

targets).

 Nearly 90% of the Agency’s measureable performance targets for the year were exceeded.

 While the Agency had circumstances that could not be predicted (e.g., in August 2012, quickly dealing

with a significant humane handling violation), the strategic vision and planning efforts enabled FSIS to

see the challenges in a broader context.

The planning and performance improvement work highlighted how the Agency directs its work on

food safety priorities.

	 The majority of FSIS Program Area APP key results were devoted to Goal 1: Ensuing that Food Safety

Inspection Aligns with Existing and Emerging Risks.

Having clear FY 2016 performance targets enabled senior managers to better determine the

necessary steps associated with realizing Agency longer‐term goals.

	 Discussions regarding the steps associated with educating the public about foodborne

illness, creating more effective regulation, and crafting a robust scientific agenda have resulted from a

better understanding of long term goals and targets.

	 Long term planning processes enabled FSIS to focus both on strategic issues (e.g., developing innovative

methodologies and processes) and address immediate concerns (e.g., annual inspection and enforce

ment priorities). Thus, the Agency applied a more balanced approach.

Having strategic, annual, and individual performance plans that align to common goals, measures,

and targets linked Agency work and provided employees with a clearer line of sight.

	 FSIS SES now include selected key APP Program Area intended key results and measureable performance

targets in their and their staff’s individual performance plans.

The new performance improvement regime continues to transform the culture of the Agency,

prompting greater exploration of new solutions to longer‐term issues, enhancing collaboration

within and outside FSIS, and renewing attention on achieving results.

	 Periodic re examination of the Strategic Plan, APP, and routine use of the Dashboard and Scorecard has

enhanced the synergy among Program Areas, senior managers, and operational staff.

	 Through routine intranet updates and review, Agency leadership and senior managers are increasingly

recalibrating tactical priorities from what were program centric actions into a more Agency centric per

spective.

The strategic and annual planning efforts have resulted in program managers better prioritizing their

intended key results, focusing more on cost and beginning to calculate return on investment (ROI).

	 Heightened FSIS Program Area examination of cross cutting activities and their related costs in FY 2013

will result in greater Agency focus on ROI.

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Section Two 

The Big Picture 

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Creation of FSIS performance program has linked Agency work

and provided employees with clearer line of sight

[Example of Link Between Plans & Employees] PLANS

Strategic Strategic Plan

Annual Performance Performance Plan

Individual Individual Performance Performance

Standard Standard

FSIS VISION (Trusted Public Health Agency...)

MISSION (Protect consumers...)

STRATEGIC THEME (Prevent Foodborne Illness)

GOAL 2 (Maximize Domestic & International Compliance...)

MEASURE 2.1.1 (Percent of Broiler Plants...)

KEY RESULTS (Implement New Policies regarding

Salmonella... Office of Policy and Program

Development (OPPD)

OUTCOME 2.1 (Domestic & Foreign Produced Products...)

(Improve Ability to Use PHIS Data... Office of

Data Integration and Food Protection (ODIFP)

PERFORMANCE ELEMENTS

RELATED ACTION (...Update

PHIS reporting functionality

(ODIFP) The FSIS FY 2011‐2016

Strategic Plan has

3 themes

8 goals

17 outcomes

33 measures

The FSIS FY 2012 APP has

75 key results

366 actions

EMPLOYEES
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FSIS was very successful in attaining its Strategic Plan Goals
 

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2

Number of

Strategic Plan

Goals that

scored green, yellow, or red for

FY 2012

0

For FY 2012, of the FSIS Strategic

Plan’s 8 Goals, 6 ended the year rated

green, with 2 yellow.

(Note: Color ranges for green, yellow and red were

recommended by Goal Leaders for all of their

measures and set by the FSIS Management Council

through the Agency Governance process. The two

yellow ratings reflect continued Agency attention

to its All Illness measure in Goal 1 and new meas

ures in Goal 7).

Apportionment of FSIS Program Area work covered all Strategic Plan Goals

(Measured by the number of FY 2012 APP key results supporting each goal)*

*Note: Each FSIS Assistant Administrator developed 3 to 4 key results for their Program Area to be achieved by the end of FY 2012,

some of which contributed to multiple Agency Strategic Plan goals. This diagram shows the distribution of the total—75 key results.

Based on the defined Agency business

needs, develop, maintain, and use innova‐ Goal 8

tive methodologies, processes, and tools,

including PHIS, to protect public health
 and goals effectively and to support Goal 1 defined public health needs and goals

—10 Key Results Ensure that food safety in‐ spection aligns with existing and emerging risks

—19 Key Results

Goal 7

Empower employees with the training, re‐ sources, and tools to en‐ able success in protect‐ ing public health

—11 Key Results

Goal 2

Maximize Domestic and

International compliance with Food Safety Policies Goal 6 —7 Key Results

Implement effective policies

to respond to existing and

emerging risks	 Goal 3

—10 Key Results	 Enhance Public Education and out‐ reach to improve Food‐handling

practices —2 Key Results

Goal 5 Goal 4 Effectively use science to understand foodborne illness Strengthen Collaboration Among Internal and External and emerging trends Stakeholders to Prevent Foodborne Illness

—7 Key Results	 —9 Key Results

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the year*

85%

0%

3%

3%

9%

28 Measures Rated Green

0 Measures Rated Yellow

1 Measure Rated Red

1 Measure Rated Black, as

data was still being collected

3 Measures Not Rated , as

they were new measures

added to the Plan ment Council.

FY 2012

In the FSIS Dashboard, Agency Goal

Leaders rated 85% of Strategic Plan

performance measures as green for

33 Strategic Plan

Performance Measures

* Based on Agency performance measure ‘actuals’ as measured against the FSIS Strategic Plan Dashboard meas‐ ure color ratings and range targets (i.e., green, yellow, red) as set by each Goal Leader and approved by the Manage‐

Nearly 90% of Strategic Plan performance measures with quantifiable
 

FY 2012 targets either “Met” or “Exceeded” end of year targets*
 

17 of FSIS’ 19 Performance Measures either

met or exceeded FY 2012 targets

* For FY 2012, 19 of 33 Strategic Plan measures had numeric targets; for the remainder, baselines were being established or new

measures introduced. Note: The percentages shown in this bottom diagram depict performance against end of year targets (see next

page), and NOT performance against the color rating ranges included in the FSIS Strategic Plan Dashboard.

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FSIS FY 2012 Strategic Plan Performance Measures
 

Actual Results vs. End of Year Targets
 

Symbol Key

Exceeded Target

Hit Target

Missed Target

Establishing Baselines/

Other

FY 2012 TARGET SCORE FY 2012 ACTUAL1

GOAL 1 Ensure that Food Safety Inspection Aligns with Existing and Emerging Risks

1.1.1

1.2.1

1.2.2

1.3.1

1.3.2

405,178

TBD

Remains less than 20%

85%

79%

479,6212

Establishing Baseline

14%

85.8%

87.06%

GOAL 2 Maximize domestic and international compliance with food safety policies

2.1.1

2.2.1

2.3.1

2.3.2

2.3.3

90%

32%

76%

91%

30%

90%

42%

77%

93.8% (2012 Q3)

31%

GOAL 3 Enhance public education and outreach to improve food‐handling practices

3.1.1

3.2.1

a/

b/

c/

d/

75%

19 Million

39,025

118,600

456,320

Unknown

Transition to new metric

171,544

332,600

669,711

GOAL 4 Strengthen collaboration among internal and externalstakeholders

4.1.1

4.1.2

4.1.3

Establishing Baseline

Establishing Baseline

Establishing Baseline

Baseline (18%)

Baseline (11%)

Baseline (66%)

GOAL 5 Effectively use science to understand foodborne illness and emerging trends

5.1.1

5.1.2

5.2.1

Establishing Baseline

Establishing Baseline

Establishing Baseline

Baseline (98%)

Baseline (100%)

Baseline (70%)

GOAL 6 Implement effective policies to respond to existing and emerging risks

6.1.13

6.1.2

6.1.3

40.33

75%

Quarterly

31.5%

73.8

Quarterly

GOAL 7 Empower employees with the training,resources, and tools

7.1.1

7.2.1

7.2.2

7.2.3

7.2.4

7.3.1

7.3.2

7.3.3

7.3.4

90%

Establishing Baseline

95%

New Measure

New Measure

6.20%

6.67%

86th of 224

New Measure

90% (2011 Survey)

Establishing Baseline

100%

New Measure

New Measure

6.20 (2012 Q3)

5.65%

69 of 240 (Nov 2011)

New Measure

GOAL 8

4 Develop, maintain, and use innovative methodologies, processes, and tools

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FSIS Met or Exceeded 2 of 3 Agency Corporate
 

Performance Measures for the Year
 (as reported in the FSIS Budget and USDA performance reports)

“MET” 90% Percentage of broiler plants who passed Salmonella verification testing (target 90%)

“EXCEEDED” 77% Of all official establishments possess a func‐ tional Food Defense Plan (target 76%)

“MISSED” 479,621 Total illnesses from FSIS product (i.e., Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes (Lm),

and E.coli O157:H7)(target 405,178)

During FY 2012, Salmonella illnesses increased 4.3%—
 

FSIS is addressing this issue head‐on*
 

Total number of Salmonella illnesses in FY 2012 from

products regulated by FSIS*

*As a result, FSIS is currently gather‐ ing ideas from Headquarters and field

staff to ensure creative and innova‐ tive ideas are being considered for

combating illnesses in a more effec‐ tive way.

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FSIS completed 71% of all FY 2012 APP Key Results
 

Program Area KEY RESULTS

71% FSIS Program Area Key Results were rated as 100% Complete

17% FSIS Program Area Key Results were rated as 75% Complete

Program Area SUPPORTING ACTIONS

58% FSIS Program Area Actions were rated as 100% Complete

20% FSIS Program Area Actions were rated as 75% Complete

FISIS APP Key Results Arranged by Strategic Plan Goal

Goal 1 KEY RESULTS

74% were rated as

100% Complete

21% were rated as

75% Complete

Goal 2 KEY RESULTS

71% were rated as

100% Complete

14% were rated as

75% Complete

Goal 3 KEY RESULTS

100% were rated as

100% Complete

were rated as 0% 75% Complete

Goal 5 KEY RESULTS

86% were rated as

100% Complete

14% were rated as

75% Complete

Goal 6 KEY RESULTS

60% were rated as

100% Complete

40% were rated as

75% Complete

Goal 7 KEY RESULTS

44% were rated as

100% Complete

44% were rated as

75% Complete

Goal 4 KEY RESULTS Goal 8 KEY RESULTS

78% were rated as 80% were rated as

100% Complete 100% Complete

11% were rated as 20% were rated as

75% Complete 75% Complete

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Section Three 

A Review by FSIS 

Strategic Plan Goal 

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Ensure Food Safety Inspection Aligns with Existing

and Emerging Risks

GOAL 

FY 2012 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Fully implemented FSIS’ Public Health Information System (PHIS) for in‐plant domestic inspection and import re‐inspection—

All 174 domestic circuits and all 110 import facilities covered.

Ensured 75% of investigative cases and 80% of enforcement actions addressed food safety violations.

Implemented non‐O157 Shinga toxin‐producing E.coli STEC verification sampling and testing, changed E. coli sampling &
 

testing.
 

Calculated new Salmonella performance standards in beef and market hogs, improved understanding of risk of Listeriosis.

Improved Inter‐Agency collaboration on foodborne illness attribution.

Worked with 4 countries to reduce consumer exposure to food safety hazards and performed 11 in‐country audits of
 

higher‐risk countries.
 

Published proposal to modernize poultry slaughter regulations; proposed new traceback and recall procedures for E. coli
 

O157:H7.
 

87% of FSIS follow‐up surveillances resulted in establishment compliance.

SINGLE GREATEST ASSET SINGLE MAJOR OBSTACLE

Implementation of PHIS opens the door to a more data‐driven food Difficulties associated with successfully reducing illnesses from
 

safety system. Salmonella, and thus on the FSIS ‘All‐Illness’ performance measure.
 

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GOAL 

Maximize Domestic and International

Compliance with Food Safety Policies

FY 2012 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

90% percent of broiler plants passed Salmonella verification testing in 2012.

Deployed 12 new PHIS data alerts to monitor public health priorities.

42% of slaughter plants identified by District Veterinary Medical Specialists (DVMS) as having an effective humane
 

handling system (all 4 elements of systematic approach implemented) (exceeded target by 10%).
 

77% of all official establishments possess a functional Food Defense Plan (exceeding target of 76%).

FSIS made 425 outreach phone calls to establishments across 14 states without food defense plans to encourage their
 

adoption of a written, functional food defense plan.
 

FSIS targeted outreach to 31% of eligible countries that can export to the U.S. to encourage implementation
 

of a system that protects product from intentional contamination (exceeded annual target of 30%) .
 

100% of countries receiving an outreach request from FSIS to implement a similar food defense strategy in
 

their own country prior to exporting to the U.S. who replied back with a preliminary response.
 

SINGLE GREATEST ASSET SINGLE MAJOR OBSTACLE

Employing effective outreach strategies and measures to assist Small and very small plants are not doing as well as larger plants in

domestic and foreign establishments develop and utilize food defense addressing Salmonella, humane handling and food defense. The

plans. challenge is to improve outreach to these plants.

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GOAL 

Enhance Public Education and Outreach to

Improve Food‐Handling Practices

FY 2012 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Launched Food Safety Counts! Campaign for English speaking audiences; worked with CBS Radio to educate Spanish
 

speaking audiences in Baltimore, MD and Houston, TX about food safety and risks.
 

Conducted more than 230 outreach events and distributed approximately 276,465 food safety education publications
 

and 58,975 promotional items.
 

In partnership with FDA, released booklets to inform at‐risk populations about preventing foodborne illness.

Partnered with the Ad Council to develop outdoor advertising concepts that promote the Food Safe Families
 

campaign.
 

Realized 10% increase over FY 2011 public education and outreach targets; In FY 2012, generated over 332,000 Twitter
 

followers, over 15 million Website visits, over 26 million Website views, over 171,000 ‐ YouTube views, and 669,000 ‐

Visitors to the Food Safety Discovery Zone.
 

SINGLE GREATEST ASSET SINGLE MAJOR OBSTACLE

FSIS has exceeded its outreach and public education targets through Lack of an effective means of assessing whether FSIS public

multiple media efforts, including: the Food Safety Discovery Zone; its education and outreach is producing better consumer handling

emphasis on reaching vulnerable and under‐served populations, tar‐ of FSIS product: Agency does not currently have a data collection

geting Spanish‐speaking audiences (e.g., print and radio campaign); method of its own with which to collect any consumer food

and, continued work with the Ad Council, Cook It Safe and Grill It Safe handling behavior data, either self‐reported or observational;

campaigns, FoodSafe families campaign, TwitterChats, food safety target was set using data, which is typically collected by a non‐

publications, promotional ítems, and videos. USDA agency every 5 years.

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GOAL 

Strengthen Collaboration Among Internal and

External Stakeholders to Prevent Foodborne

Illness

FY 2012 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Held annual meeting with Agricultural Research Service (ARS), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and CDC
 

to discuss research priorities.
 

Updated Agency research priorities and prepared for public release.

FSIS chaired Interagency Food Safety Analytics Consortium (IFSAC) steering committee.

IFSAC Strategic plan developed and public meeting held.

List of IFSAC projects developed for FY12‐14; one completed and used by FSIS and additional two completed at end of FY12.

In collaboration with Mississippi State, three food defense plan workshops were conducted.

Small Plant News Guidebook “Intro to Microbiology of Food Processing” were completed and prepared for public release.

Completed a number of key studies, including:
 

FSIS/Cornell study on Lm in retail grocery store environment.
 

FSIS/VA Tech Mock Deli Lm Transmission Study.
 

FSIS/FDA/ARS Retail Lm Market Basket survey.
 

Signed an MOU with FDA and piloted an exploratory study to conduct fecal sampling at the farm.

Initiated FSIS participation in the Genome Project with FDA and UC Davis to characterize outbreak strains isolated from FSIS

regulated products.

Finalized MOU that enabled more automated data sharing between FSIS and CDC; transferring data to FSIS Data Warehouse.

SINGLE GREATEST ASSET SINGLE MAJOR OBSTACLE

Increased collaboration with research and public health partners IFSAC projects have been found to be more complex and resource

through publicizing Agency research priorities and the IFSAC Strategic intensive than initially anticipated, leading to delays in the availability

Plan. of useful and complementary products to support Agency attribution

efforts and analyses.

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GOAL 

Effectively Use Science to Understand

Foodborne Illness and Emerging Trends

FY 2012 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

FSIS completed the majority of its FY 2012 scientific agenda to improve food safety.

FSIS, in a major collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), issued a Microbial Risk Assessment (MRA)
 

Guideline in July 2012. The MRA Guideline lays out an overarching approach for conducting meaningful assessments of the
 

foodborne risks to consumers posed by pathogen exposure.
 

Standardized and shared risk analysis methods internationally.

Completed several complex quantitative risk assessment models that provide the scientific basis for the Agency's policies and

allocation of inspection resources (including the Poultry Slaughter Rule, Mechanically Tenderized Beef Rule), revised the Poul‐

try Slaughter Risk Assessment in response to OMB and public comments; revised the RTE/Lethality Salmonella risk assess‐

ment with new data; expanded the new risk assessment for beef slaughter to include Salmonella in addition to E. coli O157;

developed a new risk assessment framework for the proposed HACCP 2.0 Rule, updated the risk profile for non‐O157 STECs

in beef based on public comments.

Completed microbiological baselines for chicken parts and market hogs.

Provided scientific support of pathogen reduction for Campylobacter and Non‐O157 STEC.

Revised the National Residue Program scheduling algorithm, implemented a new multi‐analytic method in a mid‐western

laboratory to identify (and quantify) chemical residues at much lower levels than the older technology, outlined final policies

on holding livestock carcasses that were targeted for chemical residue scheduled sampling.

Created a Hazards Investigations Team to ensure that science is independently developed, and provides the information
 

needed for FSIS to be more proactive in addressing emerging issues/hazards.
 

SINGLE GREATEST ASSET SINGLE MAJOR OBSTACLE

Creation and implementation of a comprehensive scientific agenda Because baseline values using FY 2012 data were only created re‐

that focuses on the Agency’s most significant needs, including the cently, it has been difficult to assess impact and effectiveness of

National Residue Program, environmental contaminants, developing a components of the scientific agenda.

plan to meet the Healthy People 2020 goals for Salmonella illness re‐

duction, communicating scientific measures to mitigate the risk of

Listerosis at retail, and addressing emerging issues such as the safety

of products containing chemicals that do not have a tolerance.

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Implement Effective Policies to

Respond to Existing and Emerging Risks

GOAL 

FY 2012 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Implemented a range of effective policies to respond to existing and emerging risks.

Calculated new Salmonella performance standards in beef and market hogs.

Completed actions to improve understanding of risk of Listeriosis at retail.

Implemented non‐O157 STEC verification sampling and testing and developed changes to Agency’s

E. coli O157:H7 sampling and testing program to improve its effectiveness.

Responded to public comments on non‐O157 STEC policy and announced final implementation plans in the

Federal Register.

Improving Agency ability to use PHIS data. Examples include:

Better able to target sampling task to establishments and improve sampling algorithms.

Creating approximately 100 PHIS reports that were used to help supervisors and inspectors track and monitor

inspection results.

PHIS reports were also used to research issues and improve on the clarity of current policies.

Developing a statistical sampling plan and identified veal plants for a new beef carcass baseline.

Developed 73 reports and updated reporting functionality to better inform Agency decision‐makers.

Published proposal to modernize poultry slaughter regulations and proposed new traceback and recall procedures for

E. coli O157:H7.

SINGLE GREATEST ASSET

Ability to issue a significant number of Federal Register Notices, FSIS

Directives and Notices, and guidance documents delivering key policy

initiatives including the Salmonella Initiative Program (SIP), expedited

Salmonella verification set, Salmonella sereotypes, Campylobacter,

E.coli 0157 sampling, HAACP system validation guidance, and compli‐

ance guidelines for small and very small meat and poultry establish‐

ments that produce Not‐Ready‐To‐Eat (NRTE) products.

SINGLE MAJOR OBSTACLE

Imprecise evaluation tools which make assessing how the policies are

working and their full impact difficult; development of better and

precise evaluation tools would help the Agency to better determine

which key public health related policies are not adhered to by indus‐

try and propose strategies to improve adherence to policies.

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GOAL 

Empower Employees with the Training,

Resources, and Tools to Enable Success in

Protecting Public Health

FY 2012 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In the most recent FSIS employee survey, top ten results indicate employees like their work, understand how it relates to
 

Agency’s goals, have a sense of accomplishment, and believe in being held accountable.
 

100% of all eligible FSIS employees have an Individual Development Plan (IDP) in place (Exceeded target by 15%).

% of workplace injury/illness cases dropped to 6.2% in FY 2012.

Heat study stress test and Knife sharpening safety measure study completed; new policies being developed as a result of
 

findings to improve in‐plant employee’ safety.
 

Two‐Prong Strategy –Launched in FY 2012 which includes: 1) reforming FTE database/tracking system and agreed upon
 

FTE limits, and 2) partnering with subject matter expert to lead an internal all‐Agency hiring reform initiative.
 

69th ‐ Ranking in the Partnership for Public Service's Annual Report, Best Places to Work in the Federal Govern‐

ment”(exceeded target by 17 slots).
 

SINGLE GREATEST ASSET SINGLE MAJOR OBSTACLE

Ability to effectively manage a diverse range of staff positions (e.g., FSIS needs to streamline the selection approval process, tracking

line functions in field and policy positions in HQ) and efficiently allo‐ and position management, as well as to update policy directives to

cate associated resource needs; working within fiscal restraints by be able to move forward in meeting the Agency goal of fully em‐

providing guidance to managers on effective position management powering Agency employees.

strategies to accomplish mission within established FTE ceiling; es‐

tablishing baseline benchmarks for supervisory ratio, and investment

in training and development.

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GOAL 

Innovative Methodologies, Processes, and

Tools, including PHIS, to Protect Public Health

Efficiently and Effectively and to Support

Defined Public Health Needs and Goals

FY 2012 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Created action plan, milestones and methodology to begin to collect baseline data assessing impacts of
 

major innovations on FSIS operations and performance.
 

Completed requirements gathering for data warehouse 2.0.

Provided up‐to‐date information in export library resulting in accurate export certification of U.S. meat,
 

poultry and processed egg products.
 

Developed PHIS import version 1.0 and identified 11 initiatives for inclusion in the baseline.

SINGLE GREATEST ASSET SINGLE MAJOR OBSTACLE

Significant progress in developing a mechanism for assessing how well Assessing progress against the established criteria, thereby having
 

the Agency is doing in becoming more innovative: FSIS has the ability to measure the effectiveness of the Agency’s efforts at
 

identified 11 potentially innovative projects to track using a new innovation will take time.
 

innovative measurement system, with baseline criteria (i.e., time effi‐

cient/savings, cost efficient/savings/avoidance, improved accuracy,
 

public health impact) covering short, medium, and long‐term projects.
 

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