I. Welcome (Cliff Lee) -

In the event of an evacuation during the meeting, participants are requested to exit through the back doors and report across from the mall at the American History museum.

II. Retroactive 2003 Pay Adjustment (Cliff Lee/Glenda Dorsey)

A. A copy of CPM 2003-03 was distributed by email to CAPPS. Copies of the CPM are also available on OPM's web site (www.opm.gov/oca/) CPM-2003-04 was recently issued on the wage grade increases and is available on the aforementioned web site. What's not included in the latter CPM is that there are 68 wage schedules (with effective dates from 10/6/02-3/23/03) with rate changes; while rates at each grade and step do not necessarily change, each FWS schedule has some change. OPM has advised us that agencies must process NOAC 002/894 actions for any retroactive FWS pay adjustments; NFC is currently exploring the possibility of generating these actions for you.

Q: If employee has intervening actions, what happens? A: If an employee has actions subsequent to the effective date of the NOAC 002/894, the NOAC 002/894 will fall to suspense. A HCUP package will need to be created and the subsequent actions corrected to reflect the correct salary, as necessary.

Glenda said they've grouped individuals by categories (A thru H) with the easiest being the vanilla actions, ie., those employees with no actions since the pay adjustment (894) in January. We are looking to process the 895 w/minimal interruption. The Pay Raise Team is exploring automating the HCUP packages; if successful, this would help agencies tremendously by reducing their HCUP workload. The information on the groups was issued in an email last week. Glenda asked Cliff to send that email out to all of CAPPS.

Q: Has information on tomorrow's mtg been emailed? A: Glenda indicated that the notification will be sent out today. Please add Tom Neumeister to the list. Glenda suggested that CAPPS Reps and designated employees who want to participate in the Annual Pay Raise weekly meetings should request their name be added to the list (CAPPS Reps please coordinate). Cheryl Ruf is concerned about sending emails with designations and not hearing back - suggestion to mark the email "Receipt Requested." Some concern that this doesn't always work between the various email systems the clients use.

Q: For group B, you're entering 895 thru a program, how is that coming along? How is the testing coming along? How about the generation of HCUP packages? A: No results yet. Programmers are still working on the programs. NFC is still in the design stages. NFC will not know about the generation of HCUP packages until we have had an opportunity to test the programs in the test database and review the results.

Q: For 1XX actions without intervening actions, how are they processed? A: You would do a 002 to the 1XX; NFC is looking into generating these corrections (Group C employees). You may need to refer to the documentation that was provided last week. Again, Cliff will send out documentation to CAPPS.

Q: We are in the process of sending SSN's today and we'll also provide 2 more security requests, when can we get these? A: Deadline for testing SSN's was 4/15/03. If you have a population w/SSNs that also have special instructions, you need to get this information to NFC South ASAP!!. Treasury indicated that they will send them to GESD today.

Q: HCUP packages, any specific instructions provided yet? A: NO, until we know what NFC can and cannot do relative to HCUP packages (that is, until testing has been evaluated), it would be premature. Detailed instructions will be issued prior to the PP-10 processing of 895's.

Q: Are we checking w/security to ensure access is provided? A: Yes.

Q: Are Focus reports forthcoming? A: We will do focus reports on groups A-H, identifying the individuals in those groups.

B. Table Updates - Margaret sent out an email and it's also on the banner. This does not mean you cannot make changes. You can, but NFC needs to enter them - send to NFC North staff or Nick Sicomo and he'll have his staff enter them when appropriate window(s) for entry present themselves (April 17 - May 26). May 26 all tables will be moved into production for final run.

III. Thrift Savings Plan (Jody Nyers)

A. Open Season is "Now" - April 15 - June 30th (Election period June 1st) - TSP Bulletin 03-6 dated March 11, 2003 discusses the open season. FERS employees can contribute up to 13% and CSRS employees can contribute up to 8%. You can enter actions now; however, the first effective date will be pp 11 (June 1st).

B. Catch Up Contributions - Age 50 & older - TSP Bulletin 03-4 dated February 7, 2003. This system will be programmed for pp 16. Couple of things to remember - employees must be in pay status to participate; must be contributing the maximum TSP percentage or a dollar amount which will result in them reaching the elected deferral limit by the end of the year; must be at least 50 years old in the year the catch up contributions are made (including if the employee turns 50 on December 31st); and, employees cannot be in the 6-month non-contribution period following the receipt of a financial hardship in-service withdrawal. Contribution amounts are as follows: 2003 - $2,000; 2004 - $3,000; 2005 - $4,000; 2006 and thereafter - $5,000.

C. New Record Keeping System (Lost Earnings) - At the TSP Quarterly Meeting last month it was mentioned that agencies need to get their lost earnings records updated and/or corrected by the end of May as TSP does not want to retain old info on the new record keeping system. They are including 3 years of history but if you have lost earnings beyond that, you need to correct them. Unfortunately we don't have a report of employees with lost earnings, agencies would need to determine if you have any of these cases from back pay actions that may have affected an employee's TSP unjustly.

D. Elected Deferral Limit changes - A reminder - if you have employees who may reach the EDL before the end of the year, during this open season you need to make a change from the percentage to a dollar amount to ensure the employee does not miss contributing at the end of the year.

E. Hard Copy TSP Bulletins - Currently mailing out 5,200 bulletins; however, after December 2003, the Board will no longer mail hard copy bulletins as all their bulletins are available online.

IV. Flexible Spending Accounts (Jody Nyers)

A. BAL 03-306 dated March 31, 2003 specifies the payroll office specifications. NFC is working on the programming changes and will be ready for employee participation in pp 12. Health Care FSA has a maximum amount of $3,000 and Dependent Care FSA has a maximum amount of $5,000 - both have minimum amounts of $250. FSA elections are voluntary and must be made on an annual basis during the open enrollment period for the upcoming year. This year's open season may run May 15-June 15; however, I have not heard that for sure from OPM. After this initial open season, all other open seasons will run concurrent with the FEHB open season in November/December with elections being effective in January. This year, even though the timeframe is less than a full year, employees are still able to contribute up to the maximum amounts. Enrollment will be made directly with the contractor, SHPS, either online or via a toll-free number. This will be very similar to how Long Term Care enrollment works.

Once you make the election to participate you can only change the election during the open season or via a status change, like a QLE. For example: birth of child, child ages up, get married, etc. And most importantly, employees must submit claims for reimbursement or they could lose their contributions. They don't need to submit each claim individually; however, they may choose to submit their claims every 60 days and they need to ensure they submit their final claims of the year by the end of January of the next year. So if you have a claim on December 31st, you have until January 31st to submit that claim. OPM may relax this requirement or SHPS may be willing to accept delayed claims, I don't know all the details at this time. I'm sure as we move closer to this benefit additional information will be provided. My suggestion is if the employee is not fully educated on the FSA rules by this upcoming open season, they may wish to wait until the Fall as more information should be available between now and then. I also encourage you to work with your Benefits Officers to ensure "Open Season Materials" are distributed.

B. Effective Date - PP 12 (first full PP in July) - as OPM wants the effective date to be July 1, we are programming changes for pp 12 which will make the first deduction for the first pay date in July, not the first full pp in July.

Q: What about the problem we had with LTC and PEP51ing actions and LTC actions were pulled with it; will this be corrected with FSA's? You know FSA's are taxable benefits. A: Per Glenda, they'll correct this for FSA and LTC.

Note: Ginny said the OPM webpage indicated that they may allow up 90 -100 days at the end of the year to process claims. Glenda indicated SHPS is looking at the 90 day timeframe.

Note: If an FSA document falls to SINQ, the client and NFC can't fix it; the carrier has to correct this. The third party administrator has to handle these issues.

Q: In some cases, we had problems with the carrier because employees made elections online and there was no official signature; and with LTC they had to go back to employee to get an official signature submitted. Will this be the same issue with FSAs? A: The carriers have limitations that we can't control.

V. Employee Express Update (George Morris) -

EEX group met on 4/15 and discussed the testing in June; all of functionality and complete technology update; all servers have been upgraded; 2 full weeks of testing are scheduled, and all current functionality and/or new enhancements will be tested. NFC currently provides ELS through its EPP (as well as W-2s), so our clients are not concerned with these related changes. NFC indicates that EPP/ESS moving along quickly, and that full comparable functionality with current EEX is expected within the next 8-12 months. Once ESS comes on line there will be no need for NFC's client base to continue to use EEX. With that in mind, the NFC client base should consider what future functionality they wish to see in EPP/ESS. Suggest that a possible work group be set up to deal with requirements for future enhancements. EEX is presently looking at its EOD package development. A significant issue is how to handle employees (new hires) not currently in your system - MACON is considering holding this data temporarily and allowing both employee and operating personnel offices to access data before incorporation into PPS data base(s). EEX is also looking at allowing current employees to access direct data changes for select data elements previously identified under EOD package (RNO, etc). The workgroup may also consider this type of functionality change. How many are familiar with EEX and think that ESS will suffice?

Q: In 8-9 months, will the ESS at NFC have exactly the same as EEX? A: not sure at this point.

Q: Once ESS & EEX reach parity, will EEX be done away with? A: depends on how agencies want to handle it and whether NFC will be willing/able to handle both systems. Clients need to make a decision if you want to pay double $$ for redundant functionality that may not be necessary. Most of the current EEX discussion has been dealing w/ELS and what data comes in. Each agency in EEX has unique set of needs/desires as to what appears on the ELS, and they are trying to accommodate, but problems persist.

Q: Will NFC offer ESS via phone? A: don't believe so - In EEX, only 1-2% comes thru to Macon on ICR and they are realizing that it's not cost effective for them at this point in time. Some field employees use the ICR - if agency feels critical to keep ICR then they'd have to submit such a request to NFC via CAPPS. This could be an issue of cost versus population covered.

Q: ELS - on EPP or hard copy? A: hard copy is frozen, no expansion on that program. The ELS on EPP can be modified but don't want to get them out of Sinq. NFC will consider modification to ELS system once major change initiatives have been completed. ELS in EEX does have some add'tl features such as leave categories not currently offered in EPP/ELS.

Q: What is ESS? A: employee can go into EPP and find out their own personal info and make changes to taxes, addresses, etc. We are expanding that functionality and employee's can make changes online.

We'd like you to think about the issue of a workgroup dealing with the items available in EEX and upcoming to ESS. If you are interested or have someone in your agency interested in participating on an EPP/ESS workgroup, submit their name(s) to GMORRIS@cfo.usda.gov.

VI. System Unavailability (Jody Nyers) -

A while back we asked agencies what the maximum acceptable time for the system to be unavailable to users would be and the answer was 72 hours. Does this still apply today? We're working on our disaster recovery procedures and want to include the timeframe for system inaccessibility. Please share this with the appropriate people in your agency and submit your comments no later than May 5th to Jody.Nyers@usda.gov.

Q: Do you want this by each application? A: No; however, if you have it separated by application that's fine. What we need is the bottom line number of hours you feel the system can be unaccessible.

Jim indicated to the Reps to not only think of this as "hurricanes in NOLA," think of it has the other issues going on in our world today.

Margaret sent out an email about a disaster and what to do with the T&A's - has rec'd a large response from agencies - please send your response to her email to Margaret & Mose to let them know about that issue. If agencies cannot get T&As to NFC, they need to know what to do. Thanks to those who replied. Cheryl spoke to Mose, he said no response was necessary as long as the agency has not made a change in their policy.

VII. User & Work Group Updates

A. Awards - (George Morris for Jo Bonner) - The next meeting is scheduled for May 14th from 9:30-11:30 in Lincoln 3.

1. NOLA is currently reviewing the request for SPPS view capability of 840/841 PAY documents.
   
   
2. The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, PL 107-228, modified the payout for Senior Foreign Service Presidential Awards to provide parity with the SES Presidential Awards effective October 1, 2002. (This increases the payout amounts from $10,000 (Meritorious) and $20,000 (Distinguished) to 20% and 35% of basic pay respectively). NFC is preparing to make the necessary changes in the system for the FE pay plan. Jo sent an e-mail out this morning requesting input from the clients if they have an agency equivalent pay plan that they wish to be included in this programming.

   Responses are due to Jo at JBONNER@cfo.usda.gov by COB Friday, April 25, 2003.

B. EPIC (Lynda Wilson) - no report - mtg scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled due to the retro pay meeting.

C. FESI (????) - No report

D. Leave Share - (Jody Nyers for Jo Bonner) - NOLA is still reviewing the requirements. Once some preliminary data has been prepared, the work group will re-convene to review the information.

E. RIF (Debby Berry) - NO report.

F. T&A (Jody Nyers for Jo Bonner) - The next T&A User Group meeting is scheduled for May 12th from 9:30-11:30 in the Resource Room. The next T&A Requirements Work Group meeting is scheduled for May 12th from 1-3 in the Resource Room.

1. STAR web version 3.00 went live in PP-05 with those individuals who were in the initial pilot. As of PP-06, 6,238 employees were paid using the STAR web. (1818 = USDA's APHIS, 409 = NFC, 2112 = DHS, 1350 = TR's DO, & 549 = TR's USM). Agencies who are interested in switching to STAR web need to respond to Johanna Heller's e-mail of March 21st.

VIII. SSN Masked on Earnings & Leave Statement (ELS) (George Morris) -

A. At the March meeting we asked for comments; however, rec'd only one. Therefore, we are proposing that only the last 4 digits be reflected on the hard copy ELS. Please respond by May 5th to GMORRIS@cfo.usda.gov with your agency's response - Agree/Disagree. If we don't hear from you, then we will assume your agency agrees to this request and will report it to NFC South.

Q: Is it only for hardcopy? A: Yes.

Q: What effective date is proposed for this change? A: Penny indicated it may need further analyzing because of software issues; however, we hope to move quickly.

IX. PMSO (George Morris) -

Indicated at the last meeting we discussed the 1300 classification family and OPM's published changes. Revised grading guides have been issued, however, specific series previously identified would not be eliminated. They will remain in effect but remember grading criteria will change and will impact the titling of jobs, (eg., aides are now technicians).

X. Potpourri

Q: TR - EEX Rep advised them that NFC has been updating the data for DHS employees; can they continue using EEX? A: There is some concern about DHS employees accessing EEX; however, EEX is working with NFC on this because of change in agency and how employee signs in. Also, PIN validation online is currently a problem for employees shifted from an agency to DHS. Designator on EEX front page for DHS and non NFC agencies. EEX is working on this and will advise your rep on the corrections.

Q: Cheryl - DHS question on ID's and getting into HCUP packages w/their DHS employees? A: Margaret indicated that ID issues for DHS need to be submitted to her or Al asap. Cheryl said the problem is that Security at NFC gave APHIS two different security ID's - send user ID's to Margaret. Ginny has 3 different ID's as does DOJ; therefore they are not having problems.

Q: Regarding EEX - employee made a change from DC to MD taxes and action did not take place in EEX? Agency had to do this manually via PRES/EPIC. A: Need to ensure the waiver button is there - waiver may mean something different in EEX. EEX edits against United States Postal Service (USPS) file and may not pass the Geographical Location Guide (GLC) edits in NFC system.

Q: New employees and TSP documents not applying? Error msg - not open season. A: The employee has 60 days to submit their forms; if they miss this window they must wait till the next open season; if however, they are within the window and still receive the edit, send the SSN to Jody.Nyers@usda.gov.

Q: What about those in DC gov't with Fed benefits and come to Fed side - SCD when they start as Fed employee but are immediately eligible to participate in TSP - had to change SCD date to get the action to apply and then correct SCD dates. A: What part of DC gov't was this? Certain court agencies (DC govt) that have been awarded benefits....SCD date issues that should not be credited but as long as they have Fed retirement, time is creditable towards SCD....should only be a limited # of employees.

Agencies wanted to be reminded of the SCD-TSP issue and edits in the system. When processing a TSP action or new appointment on an employee, the SCD-TSP date cannot equal the effective date of the action if you are attempting to use TSP Eligibility Code 3. Reminders about TSP Eligibility Codes: Use code 1 very rarely when someone has transferred to your agency after already passing the first open season for agency contributions. Use code 2 for new FERS employees who must wait two open seasons for agency contributions. Use code 3 for employees already participating in TSP. Additional information on TSP codes can be viewed at http://dab.nfc.usda.gov/pubs/docs/title1/t1-01-13/t1-01-13.html

Margaret indicated they actively pursing establishing a FOCUS users group in the DC area - met with IBI rep to get this rolling; conf call 4/18 - Jeanette will send email for participation. Post meeting note: Email from Jeannette on this subject issued on 4/21/03.