United States Department of Agriculture 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

Directive 3300.1 3/19/07

Distribution: All AMS Employees Originating Office: C&A 

USE OF GOVERNMENT OFFICE EQUIPMENT

I. PURPOSE 

This Directive establishes Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) policy on the use of 

Government office equipment. 

II. REPLACEMENT HIGHLIGHTS 

This Directive replaces AMS Directive 3300.1, Use of Government Office Equipment, dated 

2/9/01. Changes are marked with asterisks. 

III. BACKGROUND 

A. Government office equipment (which includes e-mail and the Internet) is an important tool 

for carrying out the programs and activities of AMS. These resources provide for quick and 

efficient communication and access to a wealth of useful information. Under this policy, AMS 

employees have certain privileges and responsibilities. By authorizing limited personal use of 

Government office equipment, AMS regards its employees as responsible individuals, capable of 

balancing this privilege with Agency expectations. 

B. This policy does not supersede any other applicable law or regulation. Authorities related to 

this policy are listed in Section IV, below. 

IV. AUTHORITIES 

A. Departmental Regulation 3300-1, Telecommunications & Internet Services and Use, dated 

3/23/99. 

B. Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 2635, Standards of Ethical Conduct for 

Employees of the Executive Branch. 

C. Title 41 CFR, section 101-35.201, Authorized use of long distance telephone services. 

D. Executive Order 13011, Federal information technology. 

E. *-Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), 2002-* 
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V. DEFINITIONS 

A. Government office equipment includes, but is not limited to: personal computers, related 

equipment and software, Internet services, e-mail, library resources, telephones, facsimile 

machines, photocopiers and office supplies. 

B. Minimal additional expense means the expense incurred when the Government is already 

providing equipment, supplies or services and you use only limited additional amounts of 

electricity, ink, toner or paper. Wear and tear from normal use is also considered minimal 

additional expense. 

C. Non-work time means the time when you are not performing an activity for the benefit of the 

Agency and under the control or direction of the Agency. Examples of non-work time include 

off-duty hours such as lunch periods, authorized breaks, before or after your normal workday, or 

weekends and holidays. 

D. Personal use means uses other than official Government business. *- Use of Government 

equipment for negotiated grievances or other union business shall be considered personal use and 

subject to the provisions herein except to the extent that agreements between the Agency and the 

unions specify otherwise. Personal use policy is the same whether the Government equipment is 

used in the Government office or in a work at home (or other off site) environment. -* 

E. Privilege means that you have no inherent right to personal use of Government office 

equipment. 

VI. POLICY 

A. Generally, AMS employees may use Government office equipment for official purposes only. 

However, limited personal use is allowed in accordance with the following restrictions: 

1. Limited personal use is authorized only if it involves minimal additional expense 

to the Government. 

2. Limited personal use is authorized only during non-work time. 

3. Limited personal use must not reduce your productivity or interfere with your 

official duties or the official duties of others. 

4. Before limited personal use is authorized, the equipment must be available to you 

for official Government business. Furthermore, AMS is not required to supply you with 

equipment if it is not required for you to perform official Government business. 

5. Managers and supervisors may further restrict personal use based on the needs of 

the office or problems with inappropriate use in the office. In such cases affecting bargaining 

unit employees, the unions will be notified. 

B. AMS employees may not: 

1. Use Government office equipment for personal commercial purposes or in 

support of other external enterprises such as outside employment or businesses (e.g., selling real 

estate, preparing tax returns, trading stock). 
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2. View, download, store, transmit or copy materials that are sexually explicit or 

sexually oriented, related to gambling, illegal weapons, terrorist activities or any other prohibited 

activities. 

3. Use Government office equipment to engage in any outside fund raising activity, 

endorse any product or service, or participate in lobbying or prohibited partisan political activity 

(e.g., expressing opinions about candidates, distributing campaign literature). 

4. Create, copy or transmit any material or communication that is illegal or offensive 

to fellow employees or to the public, such as hate speech, material that ridicules others based on 

race, creed, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin or sexual orientation. 

5. Create, copy or transmit chain letters or other mass mailings, regardless of the 

subject matter. 

6. *-Use public instant messaging (IM) services such as AOL or Yahoo on a 

Government computer unless the use of the service has been approved by the Agency as an 

accommodation.-* 

7. Use large files while engaging in limited personal use of Government equipment. 

For example, sending or receiving greeting cards, video, sound, interactive games or other large 

file attachments may hinder the performance of an entire network. You should not subscribe to 

Internet services that automatically download *-personal information-*, such as sports scores, 

stock prices, or other continuous data streams, such as music or videos. 

8. Load personal software onto your computer or make *-unauthorized software or 

hardware-* configuration changes. For example, computer games and personal tax programs 

may not be loaded on Agency computers. 

9. Use Government equipment as a staging ground or platform to gain unauthorized 

access to other systems. 

10. Acquire, reproduce, transmit, distribute or use any controlled information 

including computer software and data protected by copyright, trademark, privacy laws, other 

proprietary data or material with other intellectual property rights beyond fair use, or exportcontrolled software or data. 

11. *-Use or install any Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing applications, such as Kazaa, 

Napster, Gnutella, and other P2P applications.-* 

12. *-Connect personally owned computer systems to any Government-owned networks 

or telecommunications equipment; without prior approval from your supervisor and the Agency 

Chief Information Officer (CIO)-*

13. Make personal long distance telephone calls. However, there are three exceptions: 

a. In an emergency, 

b. Brief calls within the local commuting area to locations that can only be 

reached during working hours (e.g., car repair shop, doctor), or 

c. Brief calls home within the local commuting area (e.g., to arrange 

transportation, check on a sick child). 

C. If you ever receive any prohibited material from someone else, you must reply to that person 

that the material is inappropriate and that the sender must not send this type of material to you 

again. You must also notify your supervisor; supervisors must exercise judgment, depending on 

the nature and offensiveness of the material, whether to refer the matter to the Compliance 

Office, Employee and Management Relations, and/or the Civil Rights Program for action. 
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D. You must ensure that your personal use does not give the appearance that you are acting in an 

official capacity. For example, you may not post AMS information to external news groups, 

bulletin boards or other public forums without AMS authorization. Further, you must not give 

the appearance that AMS endorses or sanctions your personal activities. If your actions leave the 

impression that your personal activities are endorsed by AMS, you may be in violation of the 

standards of ethical conduct for executive branch employees. 

If there is any potential for confusion, you should provide an appropriate disclaimer. Here is an 

example of a disclaimer: "The content of this message is mine personally and does not reflect 

any position of the Government or of AMS." 

E. These restrictions apply to all AMS employees regardless of duty location. For example, if 

you are a grader performing duties in a processing plant where a computer has been provided to 

you by either the plant or AMS for your use, or if you are co-located with State department of 

agriculture employees, the restrictions still apply. 

F. Contractors are not authorized limited personal use of Government office equipment, unless it 

is specifically permitted by contract or other memorandum of agreement. 

VII. PRIVACY 

A. You do not have the right to privacy while using any Government office equipment, including 

Internet or e-mail services. Furthermore, your use of Government office equipment, for whatever 

purpose, is not secure, private or anonymous. While using Government office equipment, your 

use may be monitored or recorded. If Government office equipment or services are involved at 

any point in the creation, transmission, or receipt of personal information, then this policy 

applies and your use may be monitored. For example, if you use a Government PC to read or 

respond to personal e-mail sent to you at a non-Government e-mail address (e.g., AOL, Yahoo), 

your use may be monitored. 

B. Official telephone calls may be monitored or recorded for legitimate business purposes such 

as providing training, instruction or protection against abusive calls. Any such monitoring must 

be in accordance with Federal statutes governing Wiretapping, Investigative Monitoring and 

Eavesdropping Activity (WIMEA). 

VIII. PENALTIES 

Unauthorized or inappropriate use of Government office equipment may result in the loss or 

limitation of your privilege. You may also face administrative action ranging from counseling to 

removal from the Agency, as well as any criminal penalties or financial liability, depending on 

the severity of the misuse. 

IX. SECURITY

A. *-A security breach on one AMS computer can potentially compromise the entire AMS network. 

As long as the AMS computers are attached to the Internet, they are at risk and will be attacked. We 

must all take the necessary precautions to defend against these attacks. If everyone does their job in 
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protecting our AMS information assets, we will be less vulnerable to these attacks. Attacks can range 

in severity from being a nuisance to a complete shutdown of the AMS network, leading to a 

significant loss in productivity, time, and money.-*

If you are using Government office equipment, particularly computer systems, you share the 

responsibility for protecting the security of this equipment with all other users. You must be 

aware of and follow appropriate security provisions concerning logging on or off Agency 

computer systems and networks. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your 

*-network ID and other Agency-issued passwords,-* and for *-protecting and preserving 

business information that you place on an Agency computer.-* Because most Agency computers 

and systems are protected from unauthorized users by passwords, it is particularly critical that 

you not divulge your passwords to anyone. 

B. You should report all security breaches, including compromised passwords, to your 

supervisor, and/or program security point of contact. 

X. QUESTIONS 

If you have any questions concerning use of Government office equipment, contact the 

Information Technology Group (ITG), Science and Technology Program, or the Compliance 

Office, Compliance & Analysis Program, AMS. 

/s/ 

Lloyd C. Day 

Administrator