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Contents at a Glance
Wanted: A Few Good Headlines --
Send to don.elder@npr.gov
Request for Federal Communicators Network Information
FCN Chair and Steering Committee Vacancies -- Call (202) 694-0063
Free Press Passes for Calendar Events -- Send to lee.wexel@npr.gov
Membership Project -- Call Pat Gould (301) 948-4741 (after 5 p.m.)
Don’t Forget the FCN Forum -- www.govexec.com/fcn
Newsletter links -- Send to lee.wexel@npr.gov
Calendar Item Highlights
Future Hammer Awards -- Hammer Time!
Wanted: A Few Good Headlines...
The FCN Homepage is looking for a few great headline stories! Let your FCN colleagues know about upcoming agency events and activities as well as your innovative communication tips and projects.
Please call Don Elder at (202) 694-0105 or email stories to don.elder@npr.gov.
Request for Federal Communicators Network Information
Please let me know if there is anything that you would like publicized on the Alert or Calendar. The Federal Communicators Network site at http://www.fcn.gov provides resources, tools, and information to help our members write stories about government reinvention. If you have resources, stories, or time please contact me at lee.wexel@npr.gov or call (202) 694-0036.
FCN Chair and Steering Committee Vacancies
We are searching for a dynamic leader for the Vice President’s FCN.
Contact Pat Wood at (202) 694-0063 if you would like to serve as the Chair or on the FCN Steering Committee. We meet a couple of times per month to discuss upcoming strategies, plans, upcoming events, and coordinating support. There’s even room for part-time steering committee members who take on specific tasks such as: New Membership Drives, Management of the Press Pass System, and Conference and Symposium Support.
Free Press Passes for Calendar Events
(Two Requested Last Week)
We usually get one free press pass for each calendar event listed on the FCN web site http://www.npr.gov/calendar. If you’re interested in attending a conference with a free press pass, contact me. Press passes are given out on a first come first serve basis. Your only obligation is to write a report on the conference to share with other FCN members. See the latest reports at http://www.fcn.gov/reinvent/pool/index.htm
Membership - Short Term Project
Pat Gould, our steering committee member from Drug Enforcement Administration, is developing a phone tree to update our membership information and obtain membership feedback. Please contact her at home (301) 948-4741 (after 5 p.m.), Fax (202) 307-7381 and email peg2037@access.digex.net if you’re interested in talking with other communicators. This is a golden opportunity to help and at the same time do some networking.
Don’t Forget the FCN Forum
If you have a story, question or topic that you want raised, almost immediately, on the FCN web site click on http://www.govexec.com/fcn and then fill in the details. This is a service provided by the Government Executive magazine. Additionally, please feel free to answer questions that might be posted by clicking on the message.
Newsletter links
We are starting to develop a new resource for FCN members -- links to other FCN newsletters or lists of organizational newsletters. As such, please send me the web addresses that you would like posted for your organization. Obviously, for the larger organizations I would like to identify lists of newsletter addresses. Please email the addresses to lee.wexel@npr.gov or call me at (202) 694-0036 if you have questions.
Calendar Item Highlights
February 23-25: Virtual Government 99 Conference (Washington DC)
Take a look at this calendar item at http://www.npr.gov/calendar. The Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA) has offered to extend the EARLY BIRD RATE to anyone who receives this message throughout the week of Feb. 8th. Detailed Agenda and Registration are On-line at www.afcea.org or call 703-631-6250.
July 13-15: Excellence in Government '99 Conference (Washington, DC)
This conference combines the National Partnership for Reinventing Government's Reinvention Revolution and the Office of Personnel Management's Annual Quality Conference. The theme is "Leading for Change." The conference will be at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. For more information, visit www.excelgov.com or call 1-800-868-9445. You may sign up for e-mail updates on the web site. Government cost is $695 before May 15, 1999.
The conference will feature a compelling agenda covering the latest thinking in management, and the best examples of successful innovation in the public sector. Conference tracks will include: Developing our human capacity; focusing on customers; getting the results and measuring performance; Building business-like government.
Future Hammer Awards -- Hammer Time!
A little history...the Hammer Award is the Vice President's answer to yesterday's government and its $400 hammer. Fittingly, the award consists of a $6.00 hammer, a ribbon, and a note from Vice President Gore, all in an aluminum frame. NPR has presented more than 1250 Hammer Awards to teams comprised of federal employees, state and local employees, and citizens who are working to build a better government based on four reinvention principles.
Check out the historical Hammer Award information at: http://www.npr.gov/library/awards/hammer. A searchable database is at: http://www.npr.gov/library/papers/dbase/hsearch.html.
We hope you’ll use the following information to develop stories for your newsletters, news releases, and your web site. To facilitate better coverage of hammer awards we are providing advance information on: Projected date of award, Name of the agency and team, Results, Where the award will be presented, and a Point of Contact (POC) name and number. Please note this information is subject to change. Please call Denise Clyburn of NPR at (202) 632-0150 or email her at denise.clyburn@npr.gov, if you have questions.
February 16
Who: Department of Veterans Affairs -- Acquisition & Materiel Management Service
Results: This team, by working with staff, implemented a materiel management system and organized inventories in the Cardiac Catheterization Lab. This freed up professional time for improved patient care, reduced breakage, improved control of "dated inventory", and streamlined stocking. The team reduced the inventory by $160,000. The reduced inventory is easier to manage, better stocked, and generates less waste.
POC: Carstine Thompson (202) 273-5071
Where: Indianapolis, IN
Presenter: To be announced
February 16
Who: Department of Defense -- F-22 OPS (Operations) online Development Team
Results: This team developed computer databases and decision based outputs that improve flight operation management, simplify paperwork requirements, and eliminate human error. These efficiencies reduced local staffing from eight to two.
POC: Lois Douglas (703) 697-9708
Where: Edwards AFB, CA
Presenter: Brigadier General Richard Reynolds
February 18
Who: General Services Administration - DC Department of Corrections (Industries Division) -- Intergovernmental License Plate Automation Team
Results: The General Services Administration, Office of Governmentwide Policy, teamed with the District of Columbia, Department of Corrections (Industries Division), to streamline the ordering and record keeping processes associated with ordering Federal
license plates. This collaborative effort resulted in the elimination of 62 different ordering forms in favor of one, and the creation of an electronic database to take the place of manual logs. Because of these changes, the time to process an order for license plates was reduced from an estimated 5 hours to 2.5 minutes. This improved efficiency reduced the cost of processing an order from $52.28 to just $0.71. This was the first automation effort of this process since the facility first started making Federal license plates in 1933.
POC: Eleni Martin (202) 501-1030
Where: Washington, DC
Presenter: Cherie Stallman
February 19
Who: Department of Veterans Affairs -- Veterans Village of Tampa Bay
Results: The Tampa Bay team provided support to a non-profit community agency, local support groups, correctional work crews, and homeless veterans to renovate a village structure, where the homeless veterans will live. This team supports the veterans, develops working skills, runs savings programs, and ultimately helps each veteran to re-establish their independence.
POC: Carstine Thompson (202) 273-5071
Where: Tampa, FL
Presenter: Robert Roswell, MD
February 19
Who: Department of the Interior -- Bureau of Indian Affairs -- New School Construction Reengineering Laboratory Team
Results: This team reduced the time it takes to plan, design, and construct new elementary schools from six years to three. Building faster saves $3 to 3.5 million dollars in inflation costs and gets the schools where they’re needed in half the time.
POC: Sylvia McCarney (202) 208-1818
Where: Albuquerque, NM
Presenter: To be announced
February 23
Who: Department of Defense -- Strategic Planning Project Team and Akutan Naval Station Team
Results: These teams planned how to clean up pollution and then cleaned up, saving an estimated $9 million dollars. The planning team grouped site work geographically and saved millions in relocation costs. The Akutan team cleaned up primary contamination sources first, combined investigation and clean up steps, emphasized clean up over documentation, and worked as a community team. The Total Environmental Restoration Contract approach eliminated 5 years of contamination risk, that the Alaskan people care about.
POC: Lois Douglas (703) 697-9708
Where: Anchorage, Alaska
Presenter: Lisa Mallory
February 24
Who: General Services Administration -- Federal Security Infrastructure Team
Results: This team did the Federal Telephone Contract (FTS-2001) without paper. By doing everything electronically it literally avoided tons of paperwork costing around $1.5 million dollars. To do this, they built a secure electronic system by partnering with commercial suppliers and worked with the potential vendors to make it work.
POC: Judith Spencer (202) 708-5600
Where: Washington D.C.
Presenter: To be announced
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To subscribe to the ALERT, send an e-mail to "listproc@lucky.fed.gov"; in the body of the message, type "SUBSCRIBE COMNET-L" followed by your FIRSTNAME LASTNAME. For further information on items mentioned in the ALERT, contact: FCN, National Partnership for Reinventing Government, 750-17th Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20006. FCN Coordinator: Lee A. Wexel e-mail: lee.wexel@npr.gov Tel: (202) 694-0036 FAX: (202) 632-0390
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