I. Welcome - Cliff covered the logistics for evacuation in the event of an emergency and relocation in the event of a "Shelter-in-Place" crisis.

II. Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIPs) - Cliff reminded everyone that a few years ago when several agencies were offering VSIPs that the authorities that were issued had attached to them an agency contribution toward the retirement fund account for every VSIP offered. Most contribution amounts were 15% of the employee's annual salary while some were at a higher percentage. In PL 107-296, the Homeland Security Act, Congress neglected to add in the agency contribution to the retirement fund. Therefore, if an agency obtains approval from OPM for VSIPs done under PL 107-296, the DHS Act, it does not pay an additional agency contribution of 15% or more. NFC needs to know from those agencies that are currently processing VSIPs or for those that might process them in the future, will they be offered under the Department Homeland Security (DHS) Act or under a single agency authority? NFC needs this information to properly code the VSIPs to ensure agency contributions are done correctly, therefore, your response is very important. Jody issued an e-mail requesting this information on May 12, 2004. DOC, FCC, FMC, MSPB have responded that they will use the DHS authority under PL 107-296 IF they have a VSIP. DOJ has responded that they are currently using PL 107-296 for DOUSA and OJP. NFC is waiting on DOJ to clarify BOP's. Please respond no later than June 15, 2004. A failure to respond will result in your agency being included in the DHS Act VSIP category.

During the meeting the following agencies indicated that they would be utilizing the DHS Act if/when a VSIP was offered: USDA, GAO, SBA, and HUD. FCA indicated that they had their own VSIP authority but they have no plans at this time to offer a VSIP. The Treasury representative indicated that they would check with their lead contact on this. FDIC indicated that they had their own VSIP authority. Cliff asked if the FDIC authority required an agency contribution? Lucy will check on this and get back to Cliff.

A. Q: Do we have to continue processing VSIP's manually until system is changed? A: Yes. Mose recommended that agencies use SPPS. Jo indicated that the agency should still process the NOAC 825, but select the "Do not generate payment" option. FC: FDIC does not have NFC pay their NOA 825, they have an internal source to handle this. FC: USDA has two agencies that have been granted permission to use VSIPs and will use it eventually.

B. Q: When will the system be updated? A: NFC has hard coded information on those agencies that we alert OPM not to include the additional 15% agency contribution. Each agency was asked to respond by the June CAPPS meeting (no later than 6/15/04) to Cliff Lee as to what VSIP authority your agency will be utilizing. Cliff reminded everyone this will be an 'all or nothing (i.e.., 15% or not) by the agency.' Once we hear from the agencies, we will modify the system accordingly. This should be able to be accomplished within a couple of pay periods.

III. Benefits Updates (Jody) -

A. TSP Open Season - TSP Open season runs thru June 30th. The first effective pay period for these Open Season changes will be PP-12, June 13, 2004.

B. Health Savings Accounts - OPM has indicated that with the approved Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), that they are exploring new opportunities to enhance consumer choice. With this in mind, Director Kay Coles James has made a commitment to identify ways to provide access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and expand the options available to Federal enrollees under the FEHB Program. She said, "Money that individuals put into HSAs is not taxable and they can put away the amount of the deductibles on their health plans up to $2600 for individuals or up to $5150 for families." OPM is looking forward to an open season in which employees can choose not only their preferred plan, but also the vehicles thru which they will be able to pay health costs for themselves and their families (i.e.., FSAs and HSAs). Please note, this has not yet been approved. FEHB carriers are submitting their proposals on how to meet the IRS requirements. However, OPM is very hopeful this will occur during THIS UPCOMING OPEN SEASON (i.e., Fall 2004). Jody will keep the clients posted on these changes.

C. Flexible Spending Account Improvements - FedWeek News indicated that the House has passed, as part of a larger tax bill (HR-4279), the language to improve Flexible Spending Account (FSA) benefits for Federal employees to allow them to roll over up to $500 in unspent money at the end of each calendar/plan year. The bill is now headed to the Senate. Jody will keep the clients posted on the outcome. FYI. OPM has indicated that initially 28,000 employees opened health care FSA accounts and 7,000 dependent care FSA accounts. Those numbers have risen significantly to 118,000 for health care and 18,000 for dependent care FSA's.

1. Q: USDA - These proposed changes to FSAs affects SHPS and not NFC correct? A: Yes.

D. Long Term Care Insurance - Jody reminded attendees to pick up a copy of the handout on the "Top 10 Considerations for electing Long Term Care Insurance". She requested that the reps share this information with their Benefits reps and/or agency employees.

IV. Employee Express Update - Jody participated for about an hour in the monthly EEX conference call for George on May 18th. There was much more information provided but she had to participate in another conference call. She also indicated that client's EEX reps should be able to provide agencies with a full report from the meeting. Jody provided the following updates from the meeting:

A. OPM's Macon staff indicated there were 186,000 transactions during the month of April of which 98.8% were processed via the web and 1.2% were processed via the phone.

B. During the EEX meeting there was a lengthy discussion on CFC Operations. Specifically, receipts were up 5.5% among the 342 active campaigns. This exceeded CFC staff expectations which generated a big THANK YOU from the CFC National Capitol Area - the largest campaign in the U.S..

C. EEX expressed reporting concerns, as well as, concerns about what happens when an agency moves to another payroll system.

D. EEX plans to enhance the security of their PINs. They will require that the PIN be eight digits. After five failed attempts within a 24-hour period, the ID will be suspended. Also if the account is inactive for more than 13 months, the PIN will be terminated.

E. Q&A

1. Treasury indicated that they still have 20% of their population using the IVR system.

2. USDA Q: How is NFC transmitting USDA's data to OPM? We have asked that OPM stop sending USDA employees their PIN letters. OPM responded that they receive USDA and DHS data together and they cannot stop both. A: Penny will check on this. USDA-FC: Effective October 1, 2004 USDA will stop using EEX.

3. DOC Q: How does an agency go about stopping EEX and switching to the Employee Personnel Page (EPP)? A: Jody asked Cheryl to share how USDA was handling this. Cheryl indicated that information went to Agency Head's regarding the $400,000 per year (base price, enhancements are additional) that USDA is spending on EEX vs the cost to utilizing EPP. The Agency Heads agreed that the money could be better spent elsewhere and approved the switch to EPP. USDA's union coordinator contacted all of the unions within USDA to ensure that this would not be a problem. Cheryl is also working with NFC to mail PINs to employees and include a letter/brochure in the employee's E&L statement. Cheryl also indicated that the agency/dept is required to send a letter to OPM indicating their intent to withdraw from EEX and provide an effective date.

Post Meeting Update: Once USDA stops using EEX, the CV05 file will only house DHS employees. This means that NFC will no longer send data to EEX for new USDA employees to have PINs generated. We need to have OPM advise EEX to remove USDA off of the menu page. This would stop USDA employees from requesting PINs. To remove USDA from EEX, PASB (Debbie Tatum) will have to sweep TM005 to remove the "Y" from the EEX Flag for all USDA Org Codes. PESB (Donna Speed) will sweep and reset a Flag on the payroll master records.

V. Status of 2004 Retroactive Pay Adjustment Processing - D'Juan indicated that all eligible employees have had their retroactive pay adjustments processed at this point. For CV05, NFC introduced 207,000 actions, 234 remain in Suspense/SINQ. For CV-06, 137,000 were introduced and 173 remain in Suspense/SINQ. For CV07, 130,000 were introduced and 121 remain in Suspense/SINQ. D'Juan indicated that the HCUP deletion process will continue through the end of this pay period (PP-09). NFC is continuing to handle deletions and with only 528 remaining in SINQ, they feel confident it will be resolved.

A. Q: If at the end of this pay period the agency needs to delete a record, can they? A: Yes, the process will be turned off and the agency can delete the action themselves.

B. Q: USDA Agency CE has not received several of their reports and they have submitted the request many times. A: Who is the department contact for USDA? He can send the reports to that person's printer. FC: Agency CE is not a USDA agency, they have their own dept code of XC. NFC: Does that agency have an "N" printer? USDA: Yes. NFC: We have experienced issues with N printers. D'Juan will zip the report and send it to Crystal Wilsey via E-mail. Penny requested that Cheryl and/or Crystal confirm receipt of the E-mailed reports?

POST MEETING UPDATE: The zipped file was sent to Crystol Wilsey with a cc: to Cheryl Ruf on 5/19/04.

C. PSA Q: What is the status of the retro payment for those employees who were manually paid from PP-01 thru PP-06? A: Mose indicated that they are in the process of doing the dual rate lump sum payments and should have them completed by June 1. For those employees with missed pay periods, they hope to do those by the end of June or beginning of July. If you have employees who did not receive their PP-01 through PP-06 retro, please let him know via SPPS. If the employee was paid via SPPS originally, those retro payments will be started in PP-12 and will take a little longer. For the separated employees, Mose will provide a date for the lump sum and for the comp time. He hopes to do those by PP-16. Mose requested that agencies contact him with specific SSN's if they have any problems where some employees are demanding their payments now, he will try to accelerate those.

VI. 2004 Retroactive Pay Adjustments for FWS Employees - Cliff provided an update to the activities relating to OPM's CPM 2004-06 dated March 4, 2004. NFC processed the 894 actions for the FWS retroactive payments in PP-09. Of the documents generated, there are 170 in Suspense/SINQ for CV05; over 700 in Suspense/SINQ for CV06; and approximately 150 in Suspense/SINQ for CV07. Most of those errors that are still pending have the 471/472 error messages which generally involve the addition of a new schedule. As Cliff has indicated in his e-mail, the agency needs to enter the hourly rate from the NEW wage table to the documents and they should apply to the database. He also reminded clients that the cases with the 186/187 error messages have intervening actions. For those cases, the agency must delete the EPIC action and create a HCUP package. Generally the HCUP will start with the 894 or if the employee EOD'd after the effective date of the new schedule, then start with the 002 to the accession. Cliff has reviewed the documents in Suspense and is concerned that some have not been touched in two weeks. He requested that the CAPPS reps notify their operating offices that they need to review these cases and make necessary corrections to get these actions to apply.

A. DOJ Q: Are the normal wage increases still scheduled for PP-10? A: DOD posted nine new schedules for PP-10 that cover seven wage areas. The Minneapolis/St. Paul and Newburgh, NY FWS areas have expanded and now have two wages schedules each. NFC will be making changes to load the new FWS schedules and also modify table 33 with the geographic codes for the two new FWS schedules. If we update the tables in this week, 894 actions will be generated for PP-10; otherwise it will be PP11. Cliff will send his usual e-mail to announce the pay period.

POST MEETING UPDATE: The 894 actions were generated for PP-10. For further information, refer to Cliff's email dated May 19, 2004.

VII. PINE Edit Work group - Cliff indicated that he tried to start this workgroup last year but only received two nominees for participation. He stressed that this cannot be done with a small crew. If anyone in the agencies is interested in participating, the CAPPS rep should notify Cliff immediately. He reminded reps that this is not a training ground and requested that agencies please submit contact information from experienced agency staff. Nominations should be sent to Cliff.Lee@usda.gov no later than June 15th. Cliff stressed that this group will be particularly helpful for the "Rocky Road" agencies. These are agencies with exceptions to the rules. It is critical that they participate to ensure that the PINE edits will work for them, as well as, the "Vanilla" agencies. (Cliff sited GAO's ability to enter a QSI in less than the 52-week period as an example.) Reps were reminded that the work group member does not have to be a CAPPS representative or even an employee from headquarters. PPSPS can conference field reps in if necessary. The key is to obtain a highly skilled pool of individuals who can begin working on these issues very soon.

A. Q: How many nominees can I send? A: As many as you want. However, remember this is not a training work group. Participants must be knowledgeable in the processing area.

B. Q: How will this be handled? A: We will also be looking at some of the existing edits and address concerns that we may have with them. We will also looking at the items that are coming up frequently to see why certain actions are being caught in the PINE edits. The group will need to see if it is a PINE issue or an EPIC issue. The group will also study what happens for EPIC vs what happens with HCUP. Sometimes PINE should follow different steps for each and the programs were not initially set-up for that.

C. DOJ Q: Suggested that the work group look at overpayments. Sometimes these are due to lack of edits. Need to make sure that you have both sides participating in the work group. A: Cliff indicated that it may be due to the edit, but it may also be an ADJP issue. Some agencies process HCUP cases and get a 537 or 539 error and change the TSP eligibility code so that the action applies. However, this stops the employee's TSP contribution and that is not what should have happened. The group will need to look at why the edit is requiring that this field be completed. Jody also indicated that this situation happened just this week on a FEHB code. These are the types of things we want to look at to see what is causing the errors.

D. DOC Q: Do we need to come with a problem? A: We have plenty of examples. However, participants can bring any cases with them, especially if they are agency unique.

E. Q: Do you have a tentative start date? A: If we get a decent turnout, we will start the end of June or the first of July.

VIII. User & Work Group Updates

A. Awards - Jo indicated that the next Awards User group meeting will be on Wednesday, June 9th from 9:30-11:30 in Lincoln 3.

1. In PP-11 NFC will make modifications to 1) include case number in the PINE edit for Multiple Cash Awards; 2) fix the problem with override code "H" for PINE edit 199 - "Maximum hours per award leave year exceeded"; and 3) fix the problem with processing 002's to non-PAY cash awards.

2. NFC is working on the programming to permit the TINQing of the Time Off Award Hours used field even if it matches the Time Off Award hours granted. Agencies who are not already doing so are strongly encouraged to run the CULPRPT P049 report - "Audit Trail of Leave Updates" to monitor TINQ usage and ensure that the system is not abused.

B. EPIC - Jody reminded reps that EPIC v2.06 was released in PP-08, April 26. It is available on the NFC download center. The new version becomes mandatory for use in PP-10, May 23rd. Users who are still operating with v2.05 should be receiving a message as they log-on reminding them of the cut-off date. Please make immediate arrangements to obtain the software directly or thru your labs. May 23rd is this Sunday!

1. USDA Q: If they have a package that requires that history be loaded, how is that handled now? In the past, Lynda would work with NOLA to get history loaded. USDA currently has six cases where history needs to be loaded. To whom do they submit the request? To the PPO box?. A: Mark indicated that NFC is still working out the details of the PPO box. However, please send your EPIC issues to him. Lynda taught him the history load process before she left. His E-mail address is: Mark.Liegey@usda.gov.

2. Q: Will there be an upcoming EPIC User Group Meeting? A: Mark indicated that he would schedule one this summer.

C. FESI - No report.

1. USDA Q: At the Customer Briefing in April, Jerry indicated that a group was working on the ICAMS product. In the future, will we get an update on ICAMS during CAPPS? A: Penny indicated that yes, Glenda will provide an update. She requested that PPSPS add an ICAMS User Group to the next agenda.

D. Leave Share - Jo reminded everyone that this group has not met in a couple of years - since the requirements were submitted. She requested that agencies provide a name, E-mail address, and phone number for individuals that agencies would like to have participating in this Work Group. For those who were not participating at the time, the Leave Share Work Group developed requirements for the automation of the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program, the Voluntary Leave Bank Program, and the Emergency Leave Transfer Program. Jo has received information from the NFC Requirements area on this project and would like to reconvene the group to discuss the information. She will notify those individuals who were participating at the time the requirements were submitted. However, she knows that some of these individuals have moved on and/or retired and others may have new E-mail addresses. Jo asked that CAPPS reps please submit names to her at Jo.Bonner@usda.gov by June 15th.

E. PMSO - Jody indicated that George had received two nominees and will E-mail them next week to schedule the first meeting.

1. Q: Can we send George an E-mail of additional nominees? A: Yes, but please do this as soon as possible since he plans to E-mail participants next week.

F. T&A - Jo indicated that the next T&A User Group meeting is scheduled for June 10th from 9:30-11:30 in the Resource Room. The T&A Requirements Work Group meeting is also scheduled for June 10th from 1-3 in the Resource Room. The primary topic recently has been STAR 4.0. NFC is on schedule to begin a production pilot this new version in PP-13 with implementation set for PP-15. If an agency is interested in participating in the 4.0 pilot, they should notify their Customer Support representative as soon as possible. You are running out of time to have your security to the pilot established.

1. Q: When will employee entry occur? A: This is currently scheduled for January 2005.

2. Jo indicated that other than the interface itself, the biggest change in version 4.0 will be the addition of the transactions descriptors. She E-mailed the CAPPS reps and the T&A User Group today (May 19th) regarding this issue. Those agencies who are not using an NFC product and who wish to make a change to their own T&A system, can contact her for the requirements and the xmit positioning of the transaction descriptor data. For those unfamiliar with the term, transaction descriptors will be an additional code that can be entered on the T&A to enable agencies to further break-out time on the T&A. Items such as telework, FMLA, Family Care, and administrative leave (jury duty, holidays, inclement weather, etc.) are included. Jo reminded those using NFC products that transaction descriptors would not be available in STAR client or PC-TARE. Yes, we still have clients on PC-TARE, please give it up as soon as possible! NFC is preparing a bulletin to discuss the transaction descriptors and it is expected to be out by July.

IX. Potpourri

A. Payroll/Personnel Orientation is scheduled in New Orleans on July 20-21. A handout on this subject was provided to attendees.

B. Capitol Police received something for agency AG-FA in the mail by accident and passed it on to USDA.

C. PSA received a child support garnishment with an address and a contact number for EFT information. When they called the number the office would not provide EFT information. What should they do? A: Steve indicated that NFC is going to sweep the EFT data from a spreadsheet provided by the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). The IRIS 306 data will be taken out and moved to the EFT format. There are only two states (California and South Carolina) that can not be handled this way. They sent out test data and are still missing about 16 states or territories for the reconciliation information. In PP-11 or PP-12 NFC will do the sweep based upon the zip code of the recipient court. They will not be sweeping those addresses that are not associated with a State Disbursing Unit (SDU) - i.e,. the employee is paying his/her spouse directly without court intervention. For the address cases received prior to the sweep, Steve asked Karen if the agency should go back to the state SDU or just automatically replace it with data from this list that Steve will share with the clients. Karen did not know. All of the payments should be going to and SDU at this point since NFC is the last payroll office to implement. Karen indicated that Steve can share the EFT information with the clients. Steve cautioned that the agencies should not utilize it until after the conversion because it is in the new format.

D. IBWC had another OCSE question, that PPSPS requested she hold until after Karen's presentation since it may be answered during the presentation.

X. Office Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) Garnishments - Karen Anthony from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), OCSE was a guest speaker. Her office is involved in many of the big profile children's issues such as child support, welfare, head start, etc. Karen thanked Steve and George for their assistance with the migration to the SDU's and the implementation of EFT accounts. mailto:Kanthony@acf.hhs.gov. Karen indicated that NFC is the last of the four payroll providers in OPM's payroll consolidation efforts to implement the SDU and EFT initiative. She recognized that NFC was very different from GSA, DOI, and DFAS because they are very de-centralized. NFC has a large number of very diverse clientele.

OCSE's other target area at the moment is the proper handling of cases with multiple children from different parents (i.e., siblings that share one parent). The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 changed the guidance on this and distribution must now be split among all the children in accordance with state guidance. It is no longer first come, first serve. Only two states - Kansas and Texas - do not prorate the garnishment among all of the children. Those two states indicate "equal shares". Their intent was probably the same as the other 48, however, it was never spelled out that way. (DFAS prorates everybody. KS and TX have not objected.)

While multiple orders are a small segment of the CSE orders (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service has 35,000 orders and only 10% - 3,500 - of those have multiple orders) they are the source of the majority of the recipient complaints. This is because the mother/father of the first child is receiving 50% (e.g., $923/pay period) of the mother/father's pay while the mother/father of the second child is only receiving 5% (e.g., $92.31/pay period) of the mother/father's pay. This is very unfair to the children involved. Multiple orders are typically in the lower income areas and this has a major impact to the families involved (i.e., single parent trying to run a household on one income and child support.).

Because of this type of situation, OCSE wants to make agencies aware of operations that perform the CSE function for other agencies. DFAS has a very slick operation in Cleveland. The staff is experienced and well trained to receive the orders, provide legal reviews, and enforce the orders. Because a select staff is handling this function, they are handling them correctly and are in constant contact with OPM. The office is currently working on electronic issuance/receipt of orders, etc.. Karen indicated that she was not at the meeting to make a plug for the DFAS system. However, she does have experience with them and can vouch that they have a very professional set-up which is supported by DHHS. In addition, DOD has given DFAS the green light to become of the OCSE office for the Federal government if agencies so choose.

However, an agency chooses to handle their CSE orders, DHHS's OCSE is available to provide assistance to ensure that they are being handled correctly. They have training materials available and would be willing to train your staff in-person or via the web, telephone, PowerPoint presentations. If an agency is interested in obtaining information or training on the OCSE process and regulations or has any questions on specific situations, they can E-mail Karen at Kanthony@acf.hhs.gov or call her on 202-690-6275.

A. Do you also handle the cases for mandatory FEHB for children? A: Yes, agencies may call her on these issues also.

B. Jody - Does USDA have to do this as a whole? A: Steve indicated that the pro-rating process was not difficult. However, if an agency is interested they can contract with DFAS to handle the legal paperwork, process the documents and ensure that they are enforceable, and then DFAS could enter the data - or submit a file - into NFC for processing. NFC would still issue the payment to the SDU.

C. Will the states begin preparing orders differently to show EFT info? A: Karen indicated they HHS has a LISTSERV that goes to all state child support agencies in the country. They could put a message on this LISTSERV requesting that offices populate their EFT fields. Some state child support systems are very sophisticated and can do this right away, but others are antiquated and they cannot get it corrected.. OCSE has gone to the states and CS Directors, indicating that they have the state's routing and account numbers. This information is fine for payroll offices, but it should NOT be shared with other entities and/or vendors.

XI. Treasury's Shared Services Open House - Wanda Stewart announced that Treasury will be hosting a Shared Services Open House on June 15th. The Open House will consist of two sessions (9am to 12pm and again from 1pm to 4pm). They will have the Bureau of Public Debt (BPD) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) there to share the types of services they can provide for other agencies. Clients attending the HR Briefing, may have heard Lynn Eddy discuss IRS's HR Connect system. IRS has been successfully performing front-end services for their Departmental Offices and would like to open this up to all of the NFC clients. Treasury will also discuss transitional processing, full Human Resources services, Administrative services (e.g., procurement and finance). This is an official Treasury invitation to all NFC serviced clients to please come to the Treasury Shared Services Open House. Wanda indicated that an agency may only need certain functions, such as OPF reconciliation or long-term services, Treasury will be able to help with those issues, too.

XII. Attendees

A. In-Person:

1. Clients - AOC, ARC, Capital Police, CBO, CFTC, CSOSA, DOC, DOJ, FCA, FCC, FDIC, FMCS, HUD, OSC, Peace Corps, PSA, SBA, TR, USDA

2. NFC - Cliff, Jo, and Jody

B. Via Teleconference:

1. Clients - IBWC and Treasury

2. NFC - D'Juan Brady, Penny Forbes, Mark Leigey, Mose Lindsay, Steve Loeffelholz, and Donna Speed

C. Guest Speakers: Karen Anthony (DHHS, Office of Child Support) and Wanda Stewart (Treasury)