United States Department of Agriculture 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

WS Directive 4.402 12/01/08

OUTSTANDING SUPERVISOR AWARD

1. PURPOSE 

The purpose of the award is to recognize the outstanding leadership and management 

accomplishments of Wildlife Services (WS) supervisors. 

2. REPLACEMENT HIGHLIGHTS 

This is a new WS Directive. 

3. BACKGROUND 

APHIS Directive 4451.2 (9/11/08) establishes the APHIS Outstanding Supervisor Award 

(AOSA) and the Outstanding Supervisor Award (OSA). The OSA recognizes deserving 

supervisors at all grade levels who demonstrate the behaviors and accomplishments that are 

critical for employee development, organizational performance, and for achieving the 

organization’s mission and goals through its employees. The WS OSA recipient who has 

distinguished himself / herself by his / her exceptional leadership and management 

accomplishments will be nominated for the AOSA. 

4. ELIGIBILITY/CRITERIA 

a. All WS supervisors are eligible for the OSA based on an exceptional / outstanding, or the 

current equivelent, performance rating on their current performance evaluation and an 

exceeds fully successful element rating for human resources management and/or a related 

element. 

b. Members of the Senior Executive Service are not elegible to be nominated for the OSA. 

c. Only the recipients of the OSA are eligible for the AOSA. 

d. Nominees who receive an OSA or AOSA will not be eligible to be nominated again for 3 

years. 

e. An assessment of these criteria will be made by the appropriate Director following 

nominations. 
5. REQUIREMENTS 

a. Nominations will reflect the broad spectrum of supervisors in WS’ workforce. All 

supervisors based on the criteria are to be given equal consideration, regardless of duty 

station, grade level, or other non-merit factors. 

b. Nominations for the OSA may be submitted by subordinate employees, colleagues, other 

peer supervisors, and managers. 

c. Nominations are nondiscriminatory from the standpoint of race, color, national origin, 

age, disability, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual 

orientation, protected genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or source of income 

(public assistance). 

d. Each Director must verify internally that nominees meet the eligibility criteria of Section 

4 and that there is no information that would negatively affect the nominations (e.g., 

disciplinary actions, including pending actions; the investigation into and/or a finding of 

engagement in prohibited personnel practices; findings of discrimination, etc.) 

6. NOMINATION PROCESS 

Nominations and written justifications must be submitted through the appropriate Director 

by the designated due date following the call for nominations and should follow the format 

within APHIS Form 48. The justification must clearly describe, in non-technical language, 

the contribution to human resources management, and its impact on WS’ mission, and the 

degree to which the contribution exceeds normal job responsibilities. 

7. REVIEW PROCESS 

The WS Management Team will review nominations for the award. 

8. AWARD 

The OSA will be presented annually by the Deputy Administrator. Recipient of the OSA 

will receive $5,000. 

9. REFERENCES 

APHIS Directive 4451.2, Outstanding Supervisor Awards (09/11/08); 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/library/directives/pdf/aphis_4451_2.pdf 

APHIS Form 48, Outstanding Supervisor Award Justification (August 2008); 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/library/forms/pdf/aphis48.pdf 

Deputy Administrator