News and Announcements
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NAFV will periodically post announcements in this section. Check back often for job vacancies and other important information.
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NAFV News Alert Summaries (scroll down for the full story!):
1. White House contest asks federal workers for money-saving ideas
2. USDA's FSIS Solicits Employee Feedback. This is your chance to be heard!
4. Dr. Stephen Sundlof joins the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine
(CPCVM) View the Press Release
5. How Much is Your Sick Leave Worth?
6. Senate Passes Bill to Expand Telework
7. 17th Annual Southeast Veterinary Conference
8. San Diego County Veterinary Medical Association Continuing Education
9. OPM proposes new leave policies for pandemics, family care
10. OPM takes strategic planning process public
11. Veterinarians in Public Practice
12. GAO
13. AAVMC
15. Senate Holds Hearing on GAO Shortage Report
16. Lieberman
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White House contest asks federal workers for money-saving ideas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Federal workers with thoughts on how to save taxpayer dollars can start submitting their cost-conscious ideas Thursday as part of a contest backed by the White House.
The second annual SAVE Award will start accepting submissions at http://www.saveaward.gov from Thursday through July 22. Federal employees will be able to rank the submissions submitted by colleagues, and the general public will be able to vote on the top submissions later in the year. The contest winner earns a meeting with President Obama, who will include the winning idea in his fiscal 2012 budget proposal.
Last year's contest generated more than 38,000 submissions from government employees and more than 84,000 votes, the Office of Management and Budget said.
"The basic premise here is that many of the best ideas exist on the front line," said Jeffrey Zients, OMB deputy director. "Those doing the work on the front lines have the best ideas on how to make changes. We want to reach out" to get them.
Last year's winning idea came from Nancy Fichtner, a Department of Veterans Affairs employee from Colorado who suggested that VA medical centers should permit patients to take home extra bandages and medication when they are discharged. The change in policy is expected to save the Department of Veterans Affairs at least $14.5 million by 2014, the OMB said. Other finalists included a U.S. Forest Service worker who suggested that national forests should deposit checks at local banks instead of mailing them to a central processing facility, a Housing and Urban Development employee who wanted housing agencies to consolidate inspections, and a Social Security Administration worker who suggested people should be able to schedule appointments with the agency online. Agencies included those ideas in fiscal 2011 budget proposals.
By Ed O'Keefe_________________________________________________________________________
USDA's FSIS Solicits Employee Feedback.
This is your chance to be heard!
This is to inform all OPHS personnel that a number of listening sessions will be held in the next few weeks to elicit more input from employees on cultural transformation. The sessions will be in five different cities for individuals in the specific region. Staff is encouraged to participate on a voluntary basis beginning with the upcoming event on 6/30/10. Please note, you will receive an update with the toll-free call-in number by the middle of next week. Four additional listening sessions will be held in Alameda (July 13), Denver (July 15), Atlanta/Athens (July 20) and Chicago (July 22). The specific locations and times will be provided as they become available.
Background:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is undergoing a process to transform the culture of USDA by creating a diverse, inclusive, and high performing organization. Over the course of last few months, USDA sponsored seven employee listening sessions. The purpose of the listening sessions was to solicit feedback, suggestions and ideas from employees on the following topics – Leadership, Recruitment and Retention, Employee Development, Talent Management, and Customer Focus and Community Outreach.
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will conduct five follow up listening sessions with its employees to solicit more agency specific information on ways to transform the culture at FSIS. A working group consisting of FSIS and USDA management will lead this effort. FSIS work group members are: Vivian Chen, Deputy Assistant Administrator, OPHS; John Linville, Senior Staff Officer, OPPD; Linda James, Program Analyst, OFO; Annette Atoigue, Surveillance Epidemiologist, OPHS; Ndidi Mojay Public Affairs Specialist, CPA; and Janice Schechter, Secretary for OPHS. Discussions with employees will center on the topics above.
The listening sessions will be held in the evenings. Employee participation is voluntary and on their own time. To encourage maximum participation, employees not able to attend the listening sessions will be afforded the opportunity to participate by Webinar, calling in to an 800 number, or by posting their ideas and suggestions to the FSIS Cultural Transformation mailbox in Outlook (being developed). The FSIS Administrator, Mr. Al Almanza will, as his schedule permits, attend some or all of the sessions. In addition, members of Secretary Vilsack’s listening team may attend as well. These members include: Mary McNeil, OSEC; Dr. Alma Hobbs, OSEC; Mr. Ron Hicks, APHIS; and Jim Bradley, ARS. The Secretary asked the team to provide a report of our findings by August 15th.
Details about the Philadelphia session are below. Tentative locations and dates (subject to change) for the additional listening sessions will be confirmed soon.
Listening Session
Location: Holiday Inn Historic District, Philadelphia, PA Date & Time: June 30, 2010 5 – 7 pm
States Covered: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
How much is your sick leave worth?
May 27, 2010
Earlier this year, Government Executive Retirement Planning columnist Tammy Flanagan of the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc. provided details on a newly enacted provision allowing those covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System to get credit for unused sick leave toward their basic retirement benefits.
Under the new law, FERS employees get credit for 50 percent of their sick leave if they retire before Jan. 1, 2014. After that they get credit for all their sick leave.
Each month of additional service is credited according to the following formula:
1/12 x 1% x high-three average salary
Or, if the employee retires at 62 or later with 20 years of creditable service:
1/12 x 1.1% x high-three average salary
So if an employee's high-three was $65,000 and he had 10 months of sick leave, his credit would be figured as follows:
10/12 x 1% x $65,000 = $541.45/year, or about $45 a month.
If the benefit was computed using the 1.1% factor, then the credit would be $595.59 per year, or a little more than $49 a month.
So, just how much is the benefit worth to you? A Retirement Planning reader who prefers to be known only as "Dave P." has developed a simple yet effective Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to do the calculation. Just launch the spreadsheet using the link below, input your information, and it figures the value of the benefit to your retirement each month, each year, over 10 years and over 30 years.
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Southeast Veterinary Conference Myrtle Beach, SC
Senate Passes Bill to Expand Telework
The Senate accomplished what the House could not, and on May 24 passed a bill, S. 707, which—if enacted—would greatly expand telecommuting opportunities in the federal workplace.
The Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, sponsored by Sens. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, passed the Senate on a voice vote. Earlier this month, the House failed to pass similar legislation under suspension of the rules, which requires a two-thirds majority for approval. House sponsors predict another vote in coming weeks.
The Senate bill would require agencies to establish telework policies in consultation with the Office of Personnel Management, designate a telework managing officer, and
ensure that telework is incorporated as part of continuity of operations planning.
The bill also would allow agencies, with the approval of the General Services Administration, to create travel expense test programs to accommodate teleworking employees. The bill included an amendment from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to expand an existing telework pilot program within the Patent and Trademark Office that pays travel expenses of an employee for travel to and from a PTO worksite.
“The federal government must acknowledge that the next generation of employees will have different expectations of what it means to go to work,” said Voinovich. “Advancements in technology mean employees will expect to be able to work at any time from any place, as evidenced by the thousands of federal employees who worked from home during last winter's snowstorms.”To see more, go to: http://tinyurl.com/2cp94pr/.
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June 16-20, 2010
23 Credit Hours of CE Available
Registration is $340 for veterinarians before April 9, 2010!
Visit www.vetmeetings.com for more information and on-line registration!________________________________________________________________
San Diego County Veterinary Medical Association
Continuing Education Announcements:
San Diego VMA Veterinary Conference-"Respiratory Medicine & Surgery for the General Practitioner" September 25 & 26, 2010
12 hours of CE at The Handlery Hotel & Resort in San Diego, CA
Faculty: Dr. Phil Padrid & Dr. Howard Seim, III, DACVS
Contact: SDCVMA Conference Committee
4620 Alvarado Canyon Road, Suite 15, San Diego, CA 92120
619-640-9583 sdcvmadeb@aol.com
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OPM proposes New Leave Policies for Pandemics, Family Care
By Alyssa Rosenberg arosenberg@govexec.com August 26, 2009
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The Office of Personnel Management proposed regulations that would make it easier for federal employees to take time off to care for family members who have been exposed to dangerous communicable diseases or wounded in combat. "It's a very generous federal benefit, and it's one that makes us a model employer," Jerome Mikowicz, deputy associate director of the Center for Pay and Leave Administration at OPM, said of the communicable disease benefit. Currently, federal employees can use sick leave to care for a family member who health authorities have barred from work because of a communicable illness that could endanger other people at their workplace.
That change, published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, would broaden the circumstances under which federal employees can use sick time to care for a family member with a communicable disease. It would include relatives who have been exposed to, but not yet diagnosed with, a dangerous illness like H1N1 flu. To be eligible for this benefit, an employee must provide evidence that a health official determined it would be dangerous for the person they would care for to be out in the community.
The proposed regulations would allow agencies to advance 30 days of sick leave to employees if they are diagnosed with or exposed to a communicable disease, and 13 days if they need to care for a family member under similar circumstances. Federal employees would owe the government that leave, but the benefit would make it easier to take time off when public health is at stake.
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Mikowicz acknowledged federal agencies could have been better prepared for the fall flu season and an expected resurgence of H1N1 if regulations governing sick leave use and advances had been in place earlier. But he noted the need for a comment period, saying OPM would move to put a final regulation in place "as fast as we can." The proposed regulations would allow agencies to advance leave under certain other circumstances as well. Employees can receive advance leave for medical, dental or optical care procedures, or to handle the issues related to a family member's death or attend a funeral. The sick leave regulations are packaged with a proposed regulation that would allow employees to take 26 weeks of family and medical leave during a 12-month period to care for a family member who contracted an illness or was seriously wounded while on active-duty with the military. That regulation would enforce provisions in the fiscal 2008 Defense authorization act, which took effect when the Labor Department published its final regulation in November 2008. But Mikowicz said the OPM regulation would make it clearer and easier for human resources officials to grant the leave under those circumstances. The comment period for both sets of regulations opens the door to a wider review of OPM policies under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
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OPM Takes Strategic Planning Process Public
By Alyssa Rosenberg arosenberg@govexec.com July 28, 2009
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The Office of Personnel Management will offer up for public comment its proposed strategic plan, a process that could help determine a reorganization of the agency's components, OPM Director John Berry said on Tuesday. "We're going to post this on the Web site and everybody at OPM, as well as everybody in the world, is going to be allowed to have access for four weeks," Berry said. "We'll take all of that input and get back together again, reconsider all of that ... but the idea is by Oct. 1 to have a blessed, sealed and approved strategic plan."
OPM technology will let the public track debate on the plan during the month it is available for comment online, Berry said. The Office of Management and Budget and Congress must approve the agency's strategic plan as part of a review process that occurs every five years by law.
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Berry said that the Oct. 1 goal would enable OPM to develop implementation plans during the first quarter of fiscal 2010 for the strategic plan's various components. The strategic plan includes efforts that Berry already has outlined, including reforming the hiring process and improving agencies' employment of veterans. But on Tuesday Berry also emphasized the need to build a more effective retirement processing system and to honor federal retirees as part of a larger effort to improve the reputation of public service. In addition, he said the decision to put the plan online was part of a goal to improve communication with the public, and with OPM employees. "We're trying to make this user-friendly so you might actually read it, you might actually remember it," he said. "Not only us, but our customers might read it and recognize what we're about."
Berry said the efforts he first discussed in June to realign OPM's components to help the agency better meet its mission would not begin until the strategic planning process was complete, and the agency's goals were clear. He has not discussed a reorganization in detail yet, but some senators have said they would like OPM to re-establish an office dedicated to the training, development and diversity of the Senior Executive Service. The office was disbanded during a 2003 agency reorganization.
http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=43261&printerfriendlyvers=1
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OPM Proposes New Leave Policies for Pandemics, Family Care
More Progress on Veterinarians in Public Practice:
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has determined there exists a severe shortage of candidates for VMO positions and as a result has approved Direct-Hire Authority (DHA) government-wide for Veterinarian Medical Officer (VMO) positions at the GS-701-11/15 grade levels nationwide. For more information and a copy of the OPM Memo see: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42084&dcn=todaysnews
On Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 2:30 p.m. the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia held a hearing entitled, Protecting Public and Animal Health: Homeland Security and the Federal Veterinarian Workforce. This hearing focused on the Federal veterinarian workforce. To view the testimony live see: click here (Scroll down, and click the white arrow and you’ll get the video stream).
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GAO Publishes Report:
Actions Are Needed to Ensure Sufficient Capacity for Protecting Public and Animal Health http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09178.pdf
What GAO Found:
The federal government lacks a comprehensive understanding of the sufficiency of its veterinarian workforce. More specifically, four of five component agencies GAO reviewed have assessed the sufficiency of their veterinarian workforce to perform routine activities and have identified current or future concerns. This includes USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and Agricultural Research Service (ARS); and DOD’s Army. Current and future shortages, as well as noncompetitive salaries, were among the concerns identified by these agencies. HHS’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not perform such assessments and did not identify any concerns. In addition, at the department level, USDA and HHS have not assessed their veterinarian workforces across their component agencies, but DOD has a process for doing so. Moreover, there is no government wide effort to search for shared solutions, even though 16 of the 24 federal entities that employ veterinarians raised concerns about the sufficiency of this workforce. Further exacerbating these concerns is the number of veterinarians eligible to retire in the near future. GAO’s analysis revealed that 27 percent of the veterinarians at APHIS, FSIS, ARS, Army, and FDA will be eligible to retire within 3 years. _________________________________________________________________________
AAVMC publishes Study:
Envisioning the Future of Veterinary Medical Education http://www.jvmeonline.org/cgi/reprint/34/1/1.pdf
What the study found:
This report of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges’ 2006 Foresight Project, developed under the leadership of an AAVMC Steering Committee, drew on the experience, imagination, and energetic participation of more than 95 participants from across the United States and Canada.
The environment of veterinary medicine is one of profound change. The current number of veterinarians is inadequate to address the present and future needs of society. To remain relevant, academic veterinary medicine must prepare veterinarians for what may come in the future. In order to be recognized and remunerated for their knowledge, compassion, integrity, and judgment, veterinarians must first demonstrate their relevance to new societal trends. The objective of the study reported here was to determine a future direction for academic veterinary medicine using Foresight technology.
The tools employed were challenge questions and the development of eight future possible scenarios. The study supported the need for change. This report recommends an adaptive and responsive system of veterinary medical education, achieved by defining those areas of professional focus that would address all the anticipated needs of society. An area of professional focus signifies a pathway leading to a DVM degree. Colleges would choose to offer selected areas of professional focus most appropriate to their capabilities, according to a bi-national plan. Veterinary medicine is integral to the well-being of any future society. This is a pivotal moment for the veterinary profession and for veterinary medical education. Leadership, collaboration, and a shared vision will determine the destiny of the profession.