International Cooperative Administrative Support Services
MINUTES
ICASS EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson Building, Whittall Pavilion
Washington, DC
10:00 AM
March 19, 2015
Principals in Attendance:
Agriculture
Commerce
Defense
Health and Human Services
Homeland Security
Intel Community
Justice
Library of Congress
Office of Management and Budget
Peace Corps
Social Security Administration
State
Treasury
USAID
Daryl Brehm
Judy Reinke
Don Washington
Jenny Parker
Mark Koumans
Mark Jackson
Jolene Lauria-Sullens
Beacher Wiggins
Amanda Hill (Acting)
Joseph Hepp
Milt Beevers
Alaina Teplitz
Gordon McDonald
Jeff Kramer (Acting)
1. Welcome
Beacher Wiggins, Director, Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, for the Library of
Congress, welcomed IEB members and briefly explained the significance of the Whittall
Pavilion meeting room’s musical theme. He then introduced Ms. Carol Lynn Ward
Bamford, music specialist, who provided a brief history of and exhibited some of the rare
antique musical instruments displayed in the room.
2. Opening Remarks and Welcome of New Member:
Alaina Teplitz (Department of State), Chair of the ICASS Executive Board (IEB),
thanked the Library of Congress for hosting the meeting and the introduction to the
significance of items on display. She also introduced and welcomed new USDA
Executive Board member, Daryl Brehm.
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3. Adoption of Minutes from December 18, 2014 IEB Meeting
Ms. Teplitz asked for approval of the minutes of the IEB meeting held December 18.
There were no questions or comments about the minutes, and they were adopted without
objection.
4. ICASS by the Numbers
Peter Hogan (ISC Deputy Director) noted that this presentation has been given to the
Executive Board since 2008 to show the breakdown of ICASS costs and how they have
changed over the years. Focusing on key elements impacting the ICASS budget, i.e.
personnel growth, changes in programs within ICASS, and differences between
controllable and non-controllable costs, Mr. Hogan walked through the slides to explain
the changes. He noted that to keep the charts from becoming unwieldy from their last
showing, years 2000-2003 were dropped and the slides were updated to include final
2014 and initial 2015 data.
Mr. Hogan explained some of the more notable increases in ICASS costs, beginning with
the 18.7 percent increase in 2008. The increase that year was driven by the advent of the
cost of Kabul guards in ICASS, plus a need to bill agencies for accumulated losses in the
exchange rate set-aside fund within the ICASS working capital fund. Two years later, in
2010, the 17.4 percent rise was driven by an increase in that same Kabul guard contract,
the start-up of American Comparability pay for ICASS US direct hires (USDH), and an
increase for infrastructure needs in the regional bureau budgets. Larger than average
percentage increases in 2012 (17.1%) and 2014 (19.1%) were driven almost entirely by
the advent of Baghdad costs in ICASS in the first year, and the addition of Iraqi
consulates in the second. Non-Iraq increases related to LE Staff wages and furniture pool
implementation also impacted 2014. Finally, in 2013, the increase was driven by the
costs of Residential Guards and Mobile Patrol, which were brought into ICASS for the
first time that year.
Another factor impacting costs, Mr. Hogan advised, was the growth in customers from
just over 17,000 in 2004 to almost 23,000 in 2015. Showing a growth chart comparing
customers to ICASS service providers, he explained that the USDH service provider
population has remained fairly static compared to increased customer growth. For the
years displayed, USDH service providers increased in 2010, 2011, and 2012 related to
State’s Diplomacy 3.0 initiative, which added substantial numbers of State program staff,
as well.
After briefly comparing differences between State and the other agencies for both
customer population and total invoice costs, he directed everyone’s attention to the major
cost components: OBO leases, local guard program, domestic costs in ICASS, and
regional bureau costs. He noted the importance of understanding the various cost drivers
in ICASS, pointing out the significant eight-fold increase in local guard program costs
during the period covered by the presentation. These guard costs rose from just over
$100 million in 2004 to more than $800 million in the current year, faster than any other
component.
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After providing details about the domestic cost components, Mr. Hogan moved onto
regional bureau costs, breaking those costs into two elements: controllable and noncontrollable. He explained that the latter were costs that were part of the operating
environment where managers have less control, including State-USAID consolidation,
FSN wage annualization, exchange rate fluctuations, the costs of moving onto a NEC,
and overseas inflation. He noted that the controllable costs were the focus of many cost
savings initiatives, e.g. outsourcing motor pools, optimizing inventories in the warehouse,
and reducing utilities. Mr. Hogan cautioned that if growth in the customer population
begins to flatten out, then it will be more important to increase efforts with cost savings
initiatives.
Several concerns were raised about increasing FSN salaries to a higher percentile and its
impact not only on agency ICASS invoices but an agency’s operating budget, balanced
by the importance of retaining staff in markets where businesses are offering higher
wages, or recruiting the most qualified individuals for your jobs.
(Please see Mr. Hogan’s PowerPoint presentation which is attached below.)
BY THE NUMBERS
FY2004 – FY2015
1
5. Service Provider Update - OCCI
Jennifer Bonner (Service Provider Rep.) provided an update on the progress of the
Overseas Cost Containment Initiative (OCCI) for the Building Operations and General
Services lines of business using charts which identify average growth trend lines for these
areas. She noted that they were seeing some encouraging trends, with Building
Operations slightly below its nine percent growth trend line and General Services falling
below that service’s 14 percent trend line. For General Services, she advised that if the
14 percent growth trend line continued, budgeted costs would have exceeded $800
million, rather than $660 million from the two percent increase over FY2013. While
these numbers are based on initial budgets, she noted that an update will be ready once
final budgets are submitted, but assured members that the regional bureaus are
encouraging their posts to take a hard look and come in under target where appropriate.
Ms. Bonner reported that nearly 200 posts have submitted OCCI plans containing 930
projects, e.g., Embassy Manila’s reduction of expendable supplies and vehicle parts
stock, and Embassy San Salvador’s project to reduce after-hours usage of motor pool.
She reported that the regional bureaus will continue to work with posts to ensure that
plans include goals that are specific, measurable, and time-bound. She explained that as
the fiscal year progresses, posts may edit their plans so some of the numbers may change,
but she felt it was a great start. She also expressed her appreciation of M/PRI’s job
partnering with the regional bureaus to train posts.
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Displaying some of the metrics collected for services, she explained that the ratio of
customers-to-service provider remains around 18-to-1, customer satisfaction continues to
be high based on data from the annual ICASS Customer Satisfaction Survey and the
transaction level data from eServices, and posts meeting of the uniform service standards
ranks at 65 percent of the time.
In closing, Ms. Bonner stated that the service provider anticipates measurable cost
containment resulting from the concerted efforts of Washington and the field to identify,
implement, and track progress on a number of cost containment projects.
6. Policy Review and Vote – Evacuation Policy
Janet Buechel, IWG Chair, introduced the new Evacuation Policy developed in response
to the increasing frequency of overseas events which necessitate the withdrawal of
personnel from a post. Such events, she noted, come with a lot of questions from
customer agencies on why they are still receiving an ICASS bill for a post which is under
evacuation, while service providers want to know how to share the costs of ICASS during
these drawdown periods.
Based on experiences from evacuated posts, a draft policy was prepared and vetted
through the ICASS Working Group’s (IWG) Policy Committee. It was then submitted
for full IWG review at the March 11 meeting and was approved.
Ms. Buechel provided greater detail on costs when there is an evacuation, and answered a
question as to why an agency might receive two invoices for the same post. She
explained that even though the American personnel may depart a post, the mission is still
there and its associated costs must be paid (i.e., leases, utilities, security, and LE Staff
salaries) to ensure that the platform is there when staff returns to post. In some
evacuations, some staff members may move to another post in the region to continue
their work, while others return to their domestic headquarters offices. For those agencies
that move to an overseas location, services received from the “hosting post” will be
billed, thus generating a second invoice during a time of evacuation.
Though evacuations are usually short-term, Ms. Buechel advised, recent events have seen
them extend for longer periods but that after 180 days it is no longer an evacuation and
additional decisions must be made. Consequently, one major agreement coming out of
the policy review process was that the regional bureaus will periodically meet with
affected agencies to review what is included in the budget for posts in a long-term
evacuation. The service provider will look at what stays in the budget, and what could
come out, knowing that when personnel return to post, there will be new startup costs.
Asked about whether State is provided contingency funds to reopen a post, Ms. Buechel
said in some circumstances the Department may receive funds, but not in every case. For
example, in Libya, the Department did get special funding and therefore paid the lion’s
share of the reopening costs for Tripoli, but DoD also paid a large amount.
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OMB raised a question about transparency vis-à-vis the other agencies when State
requests funding to reopen a post – how do the agencies know what State has requested
and what they (the agencies) might need to fund. Ms. Teplitz responded that such
requests are done on a case-by-case basis and sometimes Congress specifically identifies
some of the funding for other agencies. Such cases are fairly rare and typically occur
when we have totally suspended operations in a particular country (e.g., Sanaa, Tripoli or
Damascus). In those situations, the major costs relate to facilities and security, most of
which is not handled in ICASS.
Mark Koumans (DHS) raised a question about the linkage of the NSDD-38 process with
the new policy, noting that they were in the process of withdrawing from a post when
operations were suspended. Ms. Buechel noted that the new policy included language
that allows an agency to withdraw from a post during an evacuation if they believe they
no longer have a clear mission at that post.
The policy was submitted for a vote and approved unanimously.
7. FY2015 Budget Update
Duane Butcher, Bureau of Budget and Planning, provided an update on the FY2015
ICASS budget noting that the final target-setting process began the week before and the
goal is to have the final target hearing with the IWG Budget Committee in late April. He
said that there would also be separate informational prehearings before the final hearing
to vote on the targets.
For FY2016, he advised that there is talk on the Hill about lifting the budget caps created
in the Budget Control Act, but there would be significant challenges in doing so. The
draft House Resolution unveiled earlier that week held to the caps, though Overseas
Contingency Operations (OCO) funding was excluded. Though Congress said that they
want to have a joint resolution on April 15th, he expressed doubts that it would happen
and opined that FY2016 would start under a CR again.
8. ICASS Service Center (ISC) Update
Richard Boohaker (ISC Director) reported on recent activities of the ICASS Service
Center. He advised that the recently completed ICASS Customer Satisfaction Survey had
reached its highest participation rate (73.8%) to date, with just over 57,000 responding,
which surpassed last year’s record of 55,630. He noted that overall satisfaction scores
continued to rise on the 5 point scale from 4.09 in 2013/14, to 4.16 in 2015. (N.B. The
2015 overall score was later corrected to read 4.12, not 4.16.)
Mr. Boohaker advised that ISC staff continues its training efforts for service provider
staff and customer agencies. Staff recently participated in workshops for EAP HROs and
WHA Management Officers, where the primary focus was on the importance of ensuring
the collection and reporting of ICASS workload data that is accurate, timely and
complete. Mr. Boohaker and Deputy Director Peter Hogan participated in the
Undersecretary for Management’s Winter Management Webinar, where they reiterated
those same points of ensuring accurate data. He also reported on other ISC’s training
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efforts, including webinars for post service providers, Councils and Budget Committees
which are timed to the budget cycle activities at post, the provision of basic ICASS
orientation training specific to customer agencies, i.e. CDC and DoD, and special topic
webinars, i.e. “Managing with the Furniture and Appliance Pool (FAP) Data Model”
designed for FMOs, GSOs, and LE Staff who manage the furniture and appliance pool
program and are responsible for property management and warehouse operations.
In closing, Mr. Boohaker reported on recent budget activities, noting that the new ICASS
4.0 software performed very well throughout the FY 2015 Initial Budget process, the
completion of the budget score-carding review, with scores to be released to the posts
that week, and noted that FY 2015 Initial (informational) Invoices have been issued to
customer agencies.
He also announced that this would be his last IEB meeting as the ISC Director, with his
last day in the office May 22. He informed members that Sherrie Marafino will replace
him when he departs for the Management Officer position in Erbil, Iraq. Mr. Boohaker
remarked that the work had been as challenging as it was rewarding. He then turned to
Trish Garate, Team Leader, ISC Reimbursements to introduce an action item regarding
Agencies in Delinquent Status.
Ms. Garate explained that it was policy for any unauthorized invoices past the 90-day
authorization point to be brought to the IEB for decision on next action. She reported
that there were two invoices for a total of $5,000; putting it into perspective, she noted
that ICASS is a $3 billion program. She mentioned that she has been in contact with the
entities, and they are working internally to get their invoices authorized. Consequently,
the ISC is comfortable in recommending to the IEB that they grant these two entities an
additional 30 days to authorize their invoices.
The 30-day extension was submitted for a vote and approved unanimously.
9. ICASS Working Group Report
Janet Buechel, IWG Chair, provided an update on the activities of the IWG and its
various Standing Committees.
She advised that the Awards Committee reached agreement on a change in the annual
ICASS awards. The most significant change affects the Outstanding Leadership Award
(OLA) which carried a $10K prize; it will now be an award of up to $7,500 and the
Committee may now award multiple OLAs of varying amounts, rather than just 1st & 2nd
place. She explained that the Committee is also interested in emphasizing the
outstanding Council Chair and outstanding DCM awards and will be doing more outreach
to encourage nominations for these awards. She asked the IEB members for their
assistance in reminding their representatives to take the time to submit nominations.
Ms. Buechel reported that the Policy Committee has been very busy on a wide range of
issues, including: a new policy to address ICASS implications of domestic employees
who telework from overseas (DETOs) which will be finalized when the larger State
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Department policy has been finalized; reviewing the new policy regarding the handling of
ICASS budgets and workload counts during post evacuations; and, following up on
action items from the IEB Site Visits. She provided board members with a status for
each action item, including arranging to have OBO address the June IEB meeting to
discuss the various issues that arose during the site visits and to brief on current OBO
issues of interest to the interagency group. Mark Koumans (DHS) asked that the term
“DETO” be changed to “DETA” (“abroad” vice “overseas”) to accurately reflect such
teleworking arrangements in Canada and Mexico, for example, if that is the policy’s
intent.
The Budget Committee, she explained, continues to address a range of budget issues.
The most recent decision was to set up a series of sessions for the Department of State
domestic fund managers to present background information on their programs and
explain how these costs are shared among the agencies. She said the sessions focus on
the Washington-managed programs, also known as the “below-the-line” costs (i.e.,
Medical Services, American Salaries, Post Assignment Travel, Diplomatic Pouch and
Mail, CGFS, etc.). The first session was held March 11 and addressed the American
Salaries account. She advised that the briefings will continue until every account has
been covered.
In conclusion, Ms. Buechel advised that the previously reported arrival of a new ICASS
Working Group Chair would not take place. She informed the Board that due to personal
reasons, the nominee was not able to take the position and the selection process has
started again.
10. Meeting Conclusion
Ms. Teplitz closed the meeting by thanking Beacher Wiggins and the Library of Congress
for hosting today’s meeting. She reminded the Board that the next meeting is scheduled
for Thursday, June 18th and thanked USAID for offering to host.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 AM.
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