 Acting AMS Administrator Bruce Summers leads a AMS/GIPSA/FSA merger discussion during his first trip to the Beacon Facility in Kansas City, MO, Nov 7-8.
Good day Stakeholder,
This
past week has been a busy one for our transition team. On Tuesday, Nov. 14,
Secretary Perdue sent a letter to Members of Congress informing them that the final reorganization decisions
have been made, including that FSA's Warehouse Licensing and Examination
Division is
moving to AMS under the new Fair Trade Practices Program. The letter also
clarified that AMS’ Country of Origin Labeling is moving to the Fair Trade
Practices Program. We are now set to continue with our implementation plans.
Speaking of implementation plans, we want to ensure that every
employee is informed about this process and with that in mind, please view the implementation plans below.
AMS/GIPSA/FSA Implementation Plans
These
plans outline the numerous actions that must be completed to ensure the smooth
transition of staff and functions into AMS.
The trip to Kansas City was outstanding! The folks in KC provided us tours and asked great questions including when is the transition going to happen, where am I
going and who will be my supervisor? We are working diligently to get all your questions answered fully and they will all appear in a future newsletter.
One of the topics that came up in our travels was ethics
during the transition. In fact, we have an article from
our Office of Ethics lead Stuart Bender on how to remain ethical during a
transitory period and how to get other ethics questions answered. We are sharing the information below.
As we close out this edition, I wanted to highlight some very important dates
and announcements:
- Next week, the new organization webpages will
be refreshed and go live to bring us one step closer to One Team AMS.
- By December 1, everyone will know where they will be going
in the organization.
- On December 13, there will be a holiday party to bring AMS,
GIPSA, FSA employees together. A save the date email will be coming out soon
- By January 7, the transition of employees to AMS will be complete.
- There will be no Weekly Update next week due
to Thanksgiving holiday.
If you have specific questions about the merger, I encourage
you to use the link that was developed so our employees can submit questions at
any time. You can send your questions to employeeqs@ams.usda.gov.
As always, thanks for all that you do!
Bruce Summers
Acting AMS Administrator
Mission
First, Ethics Always: Effective Risk Management in a time of Transition:
As
AMS and GIPSA undertake actions to implement the Secretary’s reorganization,
it’s a good idea to remind ourselves about the ethics rules that we must all
observe as Federal employees. The ethics statutes and regulations can
often be complex, and so to assist you in understanding these rules, the USDA
Office of Ethics has provided all USDA employees with several helpful
tools. These include:
- USDA’s new Ethics Mobile App, a
multi-media source of ethics information, that provides information at your
fingertips. This includes a Video Library, a well-organized Ethics
Library, USDA Ethics forms, and a Frequently Asked questions section
(FAQs). You can readily download this free and helpful App by
searching the phrase “USDA Ethics” on either the Apple App Store or Android’s
Google Play.
-
10 Short Ethics Videos on USDA’s official
YouTube site covering a wide range of ethics topics
- USDA’s Ethics Webpage which is a treasure
trove of information, including a complete “Rules of the Road” to help you
understand the ethics rules in depth.
- The USDA Office of Ethics is available to
provide small group and large group ethics training for your offices and to
provide individual ethics guidance and advice on individual employee questions.
- And, of course, all MRP Mission Area
employees can always contact the USDA Office of Ethics at Ethics-MRP@oe.usda.gov.
In
sum, the Office of Ethics has provided you with important new tools and is
always available to answer your ethics questions, help you avoid ethics issues,
and better understand and comply with these rules. It only takes about
20 seconds to download the new Ethics App, so that’s a great place to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does AMS have a standard letterhead? When do you anticipate providing that to
GIPSA and FSA employees so they can begin using it for correspondence rather
than the existing letterhead?
A:Yes AMS has a standard letterhead. On January 7, the beginning of the
first full pay period in fiscal year 2018, is the “official” implementation
date for the transition. Coinciding with the implementation date,
numerous activities will occur, such as providing AMS letterhead to all incoming
staff.
Q:I need to
re-enroll my flex spending account during open season and I have to select a
Sub Agency/Bureau. Should I select Farm Service Agency or Agricultural
Marketing Service?
A: Since
the official merger between AMS and FSA won’t be completed until January 7, the affected employees should select their current agency (FSA or GIPSA).
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