CAPPS Notes - February 15, 2006

I. Welcome - (Eileen Youngblood) Eileen announced to the attendees the procedures for an evacuation in the event of an emergency and/or a "Shelter-in-Place" crisis situation.

II. Update on NFC Status - (Gary Gaspard)

1. The training databases are all now available.

2. The EPIC training environment will be refreshed with current data. Notice was sent to the customers on 2/13/06 requesting SSN's. The training database will be refreshed in March. The database will not be available March 20th through March 31.

3. The mailbox address for database changes is GESD.DBCHANGE@NFC.USDA.GOV.

4. Table changes for the Wage Grade Increase were made in PP02.

5. EmPowHR HCUP processing implemented on 2/13/06 for all users with exception of USDA who are targeted for March 2006. Override is targeted for PP06.

6. Agencies were provided hard and soft copies of the DoL Earnings and Leave Statement.

7. The web site link for the Federal Tax Bulletin was completed.

8. The Federal Tax Formula link on the NFC homepage was updated.

9. Search feature on NFC Homepage is operational again.

10. CSRS Offset list of SSN's was provided to the agencies in mid February. Date when corrections will be generated has not yet been announced.

11. NFC continues to research the TSP SCD issue.

12. No change has been made on building security procedures regarding visitors.

13. CAPPS meeting schedule was emailed to CAPPS community.

14. Notified the Benefits User Group of the next meeting on Feb 23, 2006.

15. EPIC User Group meeting targeted for 3/16/06.

III. Pay Changes - (Randy Gonzales) The Special Rate Supplement was scheduled for Pay Period 4. (Update: a correction was placed in the system on March 7, 2006 that removed all erroneous suspense items related to the Special Rate Supplement. The records remaining in suspense because of intervening actions require a HCUP package to be done by the agency). The Retained Pay portion of the changes planned for this pay period will not be implemented in Pay Period 4.

IV. Benefits Update - (Gary Gaspard, reporting for Jody Nyers)

1. Retirement Processing. Per Patrick Foret, all of his resources are dedicated to processing retirements, deaths-in-service, preliminary disabilities, and final disabilities. Their goal is to place recent retirees in retirement status. Corrections are secondary to initial processing. The good news is that their processing rate has increased, and even though they are still a bit behind, they are working hard to catch up.

Question: The Treasury representative asked if retirement packages (IRR) are being sent within the required 30 days. NFC will check on this and get a status.

2. Postmasters Benefit Plan went out of business on January 23, 2006. Across the entire NFC serviced community, only 150 affected employees had to moved to Blue Cross Blue Shield health plan. Those actions were effective in PP 02. The affected employees were given the opportunity to elect a different plan during an open season (during the month of February), and if they chose another plan, the action was effective on the pay period after the HR Office received the form. An SF-2809 is needed, as this will not be available via the EPP/ESS process. Submit the SF-2809 to your HR Office for processing.

V. 2005 W-2 Information

1. Processing Schedule was discussed.

2. Undeliverable W-2's were all mailed to the POC's that the agency supplied.

3. Issue related to W-2's on the Reporting Center Status was discussed. (W-2's on the Reporting Center issue has since been resolved.)

Question: The Census representative stated that their field reps do not have access to EPP. A timeframe for a fix to the W-2's on the Reporting Center was requested. Answer: The W-2's and W-2C's are available on the NFC Reporting Center for HR offices and on the Employee Personal Page for employees who need a copy.

VI. Database Changes - (Randy Gonzales) provided the status on the upcoming database changes.

Question: A Department of Justice representative asked if EPIC client needed to be revised with the implementation of the new 120 documents? Randy Gonzales will check on this.

VII. DOL's Proposed SEL - (LaShonda Terrell). Ms. Terrell presented DoL's proposed Leave and Earning Statement (SEL). Comments and questions on the SEL should be sent to Ms. Terrell at terrell-lashonda@dol.gov.

VIII. User and Work Group Updates

1. Benefits - (Gary Gaspard) Next meeting is February 23, 2006.

2. EPIC - (Gary Gaspard) Next meeting is March 16, 2006.

3. EPP - No update.

4. FESI - No update.

IX. Potpourri

1. Question: The Census representative said that employees with debts are not being notified within 30 days. Who should they contact in ABCO? Answer: Please call 504-255-5344 for your ABCO inquiries.

2. Question: The Federal Election Commission (FEC) representative said that OPM has a requirement to send SF-113's in an Excel spreadsheet and it is in a different format from the Reporting Center. Answer: NFC will check into this OPM requirement.

3. Question: The Census representative asked that when there are problems such as the SF-50's not printing, that NFC update the mainframe bulletin board as well as have an email notification. Answer: NFC will be more responsive to putting mainframe issues on the bulletin board.

4. Question: The Commerce representative asked how to get a status of their SPPS processing. Answer: If you are not satisfied with the answer provided by the Payroll/Personnel Call Center (504-255-4630), contact Mose Lindsay.

5. Question: The Commerce representative asked about a problem they are experiencing with accession actions where the employee has no middle initial and the system is generating NMI. Answer: NFC asked Commerce to send SSN examples, and they would research the issue.

6. Question: The Justice representative asked if the limit of SSN's for Personnel Benefits testing was limited to 200 per agency or 200 per department. Answer: 200 per agency.

7. Question: When will the 3 R's bulletin be issued? Answer: The bulletin will be posted by 3/17/06.