December 5, 1997 DO-97-037 MEMORANDUM TO: Designated Agency Ethics Officials, General Counsels and Inspectors General FROM: Stephen D. Potts Director SUBJECT: Program Plan of Agency Reviews for Calendar Year 1998 Attached for your information is the program plan of agency ethics reviews scheduled by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) for calendar year 1998. This is to inform you of our schedule for the year and the opportunity for you to meet with OGE staff to discuss our program review objectives and procedures. It also allows you time to make revisions to your program prior to our review. The program plan may be of some assistance as you address budget issues within your agency. We will attempt as much as possible to follow the schedule set forth in the attachment. However, as past experience has shown, the schedule may change due to complex issues that occur during reviews, staffing problems, or higher priority work within OGE. If reviews from the first quarter are canceled, we will pull up agencies from later quarters and review them earlier than anticipated. Certain reviews that were not completed last year are included for review early in 1998. To assist those of you who wish to become more familiar with our program review procedures, our analysts will hold two brown-bag luncheons to discuss procedures and answer any of your questions. If you are interested in attending one of these luncheons on either January 7 or February 3, 1998, please call Ilene Cranisky on 202-208-8000, extension 1218. Attendance is open to all agencies, whether or not the agency is scheduled for review in 1998. Designated Agency Ethics Officials, General Counsels and Inspectors General Page 2 One issue that we make recommendations on very frequently involves the collection of new entrant financial disclosure reports. Please be sure that adequate systems have been established to collect public and confidential financial disclosure reports from new entrants within 30 days of their entering on duty. Our usual practice once a review has been completed is to send a report to the Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) with recommendations for improving the program. We ask that the DAEO respond to our recommendations within 60 days as to the actions he/she has taken or plans to take. We do not send our reports to the Congress, but occasionally a Congressional committee will ask for a copy of a report for an agency under its jurisdiction. These requests are granted and the agency DAEO is informed that we have received such a request. Past experience has shown that these requests normally are made a year or more after the review has been finished. We do not send copies of our reports to the news media, nor issue press releases concerning the reports. Periodically we do release reports to the news media in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. The agency DAEO will be contacted by phone approximately one month prior to our entrance into the agency. Should there be a serious reason as to why you cannot receive us at that time, please call Ed Pratt, Chief, Program Review Division, at 202-208-8000, ext. 1115, to discuss rescheduling. This year we are introducing a customer program review evaluation form for you to complete when you receive the report. We ask that you take a few moments to provide us with feedback on the usefulness of our reviews and reports, and identify areas for improvement. We hope that this answers some of your questions concerning our program review process. Should you have any other questions, please call Jack Covaleski, Associate Director for Agency Programs, at 202-208-8000, ext. 1120. Attachment OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS 1998 PROGRAM PLAN OF AGENCY REVIEWS PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE JANUARY - MARCH 1998 1. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 2. Department of Defense Education Activity (Arlington, VA) -Department of Defense Dependent Schools -Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools 3. Tyndall Air Force Base (Panama City, FL) -Headquarters, 1st Air Force -Headquarters, A.F. Civil Engineering Support Agency 4. U.S. Marine Corps -Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps -Marine Corps Combat Development Command -Marine Corps Systems Command -Marine Corps Institute 5. Office of Personnel Management 6. Department of Health and Human Services -Office of the Secretary -Office of Civil Rights -Administration for Children and Families -Health Care Financing Administration 7. Langley Air Force Base (VA) -Headquarters, Air Combat Command -1st Fighter Wing 8. Department of Commerce -Bureau of the Census -Economic Development Administration -International Trade Administration -Export Administration 9. Selective Service System 10. Fort Campbell (KY) -101st Airborne Division -5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) -160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) 11. El Paso, TX A. Fort Bliss -U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery Center and School -3rd Armor Calvary Regiment B. International Boundary and Water Commission 12. Pascagoula, MS A. Naval Construction Battalion Center -U.S. Naval Home -Naval Construction Center -20th Naval Construction Regiment B. Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE APRIL - JUNE 1998 1. National Endowment -National Endowment for the Arts -National Endowment for the Humanities -Institute of Museum Services 2. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 3. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization 4. Office of Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (Aurora, CO) 5. Randolph Air Force Base (TX) -Headquarters, 19th Training Command -Air Education and Training Command -Air Force Management Engineering Agency 6. Office of Administration (Executive Office of the President) 7. Department of Defense (Germany) A. U.S. Army Base (Stuttgart) -Headquarters, European Command -6th Area Support Group -Special Operations Command, Europe -Headquarters, Marine Force Europe B. Wiesbaden -Defense Logistics Agency European Office 8. MacDill Air Force Base (Tampa, FL) -U.S. Special Operations Command -U.S. Central Command -6th Air Refueling Wing 9. Office of Naval Research 10. Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission 11. Federal Maritime Commission 12. Department of Treasury -Customs Service -Bureau of Engraving and Printing -Office of Thrift Supervision 13. Small Business Administration PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE JULY - SEPTEMBER 1998 1. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (San Diego, CA) 2. Department of Transportation -Office of the Secretary -Federal Transit Administration -Surface Transportation Board 3. U.S. Coast Guard -Pacific Area Command (Alameda, CA) -U.S. Coast Guard Academy (New London, CT) 4. National Archives and Records Administration 5. National Imagery and Mapping Agency 6. National Credit Union Administration 7. Fort Sill (OK) -U.S. Army Field Artillery Center and School -Headquarters, III Corps Artillery 8. Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board 9. Eglin Air Force Base (Valparaiso, FL) -U.S. A.F. Air Warfare Center -A.F. Development Test Center 10. Fort Hood (Killeen,TX) -Headquarters, III Corps -1st Calvary Division -2nd Armored Division 11. Department of Justice -Executive Office For U.S. Attorneys -Criminal Division -Anti-Trust Division 12. Arctic Research Commission PROGRAM REVIEW SCHEDULE OCTOBER - DECEMBER 1998 1. Department of Agriculture -Farm Service Agency -Risk Management Agency -Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration -Food Safety and Inspection Service 2. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Commission 3. Naval Air Systems Command 4. Export-Import Bank 5. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 6. Department of Labor -Women's Bureau -Veterans Employment and Training Service -Bureau of International Labor Affairs 7. Navy Safety Center (Norfolk, VA) 8. Tennessee Valley Authority 9. Defense Contract Audit Agency 10. Department of the Interior -Fish and Wildlife Service -Minerals Management Service -Bureau of Indian Affairs 11. U.S. Information Agency 12. U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, MD) SINGLE ISSUE REVIEWS 1. Review of agency implementation of OGE's 18 U.S.C. § 208(b)(2) exemptions. The purpose of this review is to determine what experiences and problems agencies are encountering in implementing these regulations.* 2. Review of laws and regulations under which agencies allow employees to engage in fundraising activities. The purpose of this review is to gather information for dissemination to agencies.* 3. Continuation of the survey of regional offices (originally in the 1997 Program Plan). Efforts in 1997 were directed to identifying where all regional ethics programs are located by agency. *Agencies in which these issues are to be reviewed will be selected at a later date. PROGRAM REVIEW DIVISION PROJECTS 1. The Program Review Division will work with the OGE Office of Information Resources Management to develop a place on our Website where agencies can review the "best practices" found in department and agency ethics programs. This site will be updated quarterly. 2. The Program Review Division will summarize (from data gathered during our 1998 compliance reviews) the impact that rece nt chan ges to the trai ning regu lati on have had on depa rtme nt and agen cy ethi cs prog rams .