ALCOAST 085/20 - MAR 2020 2019 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) GUIDANCE – USCG TELEWORK CAPABILITIES – SITREP 1

R 140102 MAR 20
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC//CG-1/CG-6//
TO ALCOAST
UNCLAS //N06200//
ALCOAST 085/20
COMDTNOTE 6200
SUBJ:  2019 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) GUIDANCE – USCG TELEWORK CAPABILITIES – SITREP 1
A. COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC 061754 MAR 20/ALCOAST 074/20
B. COMDTINST 5330.4 Coast Guard Telework Program
1. Reference (a) provides guidance on Coast Guard Telework capabilities and capacity, and
information on how individuals can use these tools to telework. This ALCOAST provides supervisors
and employees information to consider as we seek to maximize telework to the greatest extent
feasible in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
2. Coast Guard telework capacity is limited and much critical Coast Guard work cannot be
performed remotely. Therefore Commanders and supervisors must balance risk to workforce with
risk to mission in order to maximize the benefit of this limited capability. Commanders and
supervisors should take the following priorities into consideration when determining whether
a servicemember or employee should report to their place of duty or perform work remotely:
   a. Priority 1: Individuals who are at high risk of serious complications from contracting
COVID-19. See https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html.
   b. Priority 2: Individuals dealing with locality based disruption that require they work
remotely (i.e. school closure).
   c. Priority 3: Those users who are currently authorized to telework.
   d. Priority 4: New teleworkers.
3. Weather and Safety Leave may be approved for employees who are at high risk of serious
complications from contracting COVID-19, but perform location-dependent duties, work that
is not appropriate for telework, or cannot travel to work safely without increased exposure
(due to a "condition that prevents the employee or group of employees from safely traveling
to or performing work at an approved location"). Medical certification of high-risk conditions
is not required. This leave is limited to high-risk employees in these circumstances only,
this is not for parents dealing with school closures or community spread of the virus.
4. Supervisors and members are encouraged to identify alternate work duties that do not require
VDI/CG VPN access.  Employees are required to work their normal number of daily work hours,
however supervisors are encouraged to grant flexibility on when those hours are worked within
each calendar day as telework capacity will likely be exceeded by the surging demand.
5. After assessing work that can be performed under a telework arrangement, both supervisors
and their staff members should take the following on-line training courses (20 minutes)
available at the following link in the Learning Management System (LMS) https://elearning.uscg.mil/.
   a. Telework 101 Fundamentals for Managers-502808 (supervisors only)
   b. Telework 101 Fundamentals for Employees-502807 (civilian and active duty)
6. Reference (b) is temporarily modified as follows:
   a. Telework may be conducted where there are persons present that the employee needs to care
for or supervise, including children. The teleworking employee must account for work and non-work
hours during their tour of duty and take appropriate leave (paid or unpaid).
   b. Teleworkers are not required to report to the duty site at least twice in a pay period. 
7. Supervisors shall monitor their workforce, and if they determine there is an adverse impact
resulting from telework, the matter must be discussed with the teleworker, and if appropriate
modify or terminate the telework agreement per reference (b).
8. Multiple work initiatives are underway to expand telework capacity.  CGCYBER is working to
deploy enabling software (CISCO AnyConnect) to all USCG issued laptops to enable CG Virtual
Private Network (CG VPN) remote access capability. The C4ITSC is working to expand the network
capacity to enable those devices to function at an acceptable performance level. Both steps
are necessary to meet the surging demand. Once complete CG VPN Tech Tip information will be
promulgated in SEPCOR to operationalize CG VPN.  Assistant Commandants, Commanders and
Commanding Officers may receive supplemental information in the coming days on how to
communicate telework priority for their personnel.
9. OWA: Outlook Web Access (OWA) is now available for use. OWA enables basic email, calendar,
tasks, and public mail folders. As an alternative to VDI/VPN, OWA capacity exists to support
end users, without the need to adopt the above remote access prioritization, albeit with less
capability than VDI/CG VPN. OWA may be accessed from non-government issued computers. It is
likely that users will need to return to their units to provision OWA for home use to access
the necessary resources (instructions, telework training, CAC reader, etc). For detail about
how to operationalize OWA use the following link:
https://cg.portal.uscg.mil/units/c4itsc/reference/Library/Job%20Aids_Tech%20Tips/C4ITSC_FSD_
TechTip_Access_Email_OWA.pdf.
10. Additional capabilities:  CG-6 will be providing additional information on alternate means
to continue Coast Guard work if remote access is unavailable. These options include use of CG
Portal and programs which are accessed via CAC authentication such as the Learning Management
System, WebTA, etc. Additional information will be published on https://www.uscg.mil/Coronavirus/
11. POCs: Ms. Jennifer Leung, Office of Civilian Workforce Management (CG-122), 202-795-6342,
Email: Jennifer.A.Leung@uscg.mil; Mr. Gregory Woods, C5I Program Management Office, Infrastructure
Branch (CG-6812), 202-475-3585, Gregory.Woods@uscg.mil.
12. RADM J. M. Nunan, Assistant Commandant for Human Resources (CG-1) and
RADM Dave Dermanelian, Assistant Commandant for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and
Information Technology (CG-6), send.
13. Internet release is authorized.