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This week in history: On August 5, 2010, Thirty-three workers became trapped after a mine in the Atacama Desert of Chile collapsed. The resulting rescue took 69 days, attracting international attention.
OCFO Job Announcements
No openings this week. To feature an opening in the next Week in Review, use the OCFO Week in Review submissions form.
New: Save Your Emails and Attachments Before October 1, 2022
Federal regulations require that GSA email and attachments older than 7 years be deleted at the start of each fiscal year—unless you take action to preserve them.
On October 1, 2022, any unsaved email older than October 1, 2015, will be gone for good.
Email-to-PDF helps you save your emails and attachments. Get ahead of the game by:
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Choosing which email you want to keep
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Using the Email-to-PDF tool to convert them to PDF
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Storing them on Google Drive
For step-by-step instructions, visit InSite!
Update: August Mandatory Training Deadlines
Due Wednesday, August 31
- Insider Threat Awareness and Reporting
- Internal Controls at GSA and You
- No FEAR Act
- Plain Language
These courses are now available in Online University. The four-part Security and Privacy Awareness training is past due.
To access your mandatory training, click on My Learning on the Online University home page. Once you're on the transcript page, click on the Open Curriculum button next to GSA 2022 Mandatory Refresher Training for Employees. On that page you'll find all the required training courses.
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Reminder: Government Operations Lunch and Learn Event Set for August 10
Join Associate Administrator for the Office of Government-wide Policy Krystal Brumfield and Director of the Office of Evaluation Sciences Kelly Bidwell on August 10 from 1 -2 p.m., Eastern, at a virtual lunch and learn to discuss GSA’s strategic goal on government operations. Hear how GSA plans to build a government that capitalizes on interagency collaboration and shared services to make informed management decisions and improve operations, delivering value for the American people.
This event will be hosted through a streaming link. Live captioning information will be available before the event. Add the event to your calendar. Watch the real estate solutions lunch and learn.
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Reminder: 2022 HR Survey
Take the annual HR survey, which is available until August 15, to provide the Office of Human Resources Management feedback on their service offerings. The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete and your input will inform OHRM's HR strategy and HR products and services moving forward.
If you have any questions, please email ohrmsurveys@research.gsa.gov.
Reminder: Feds Feed Families 2022
This year’s 2022 Feds Feed Families campaign has launched. Visit USDA's Feds Feed Families page for helpful ways to participate!
GSA’s goal is to beat last year’s contribution and donate more than 130,000 pounds of food by the campaign’s close at the end of this month. Please consider getting involved and visit the FFF Hub to record your donations this year!
Since its inception, GSA employees have graciously donated more than 2 million pounds of food.
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Reminder: Nominate a Colleague for a GSA Customer Experience Award Today!
Do you know a GSA employee or team who is contributing to GSA’s mission of delivering the best customer experience and value in real estate, acquisition, or technology services to the government and the American people? Nominations are open now, and individual and team winners will be announced twice per year, in September and March.
Learn about the revamped CX Awards program, and nominate a colleague today! Contact the Office of Customer Experience at customerexperience@gsa.gov with any questions.
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Reminder: Take Steps to Benefit from Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness Before Oct. 31 Deadline
An update to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, called the Limited PSLF Waiver, will help student loan borrowers more easily get their loans forgiven. If you haven’t already applied for PSLF, you must submit a PSLF form and consolidate your non-direct federal student loans (if you have them) by October 31 to get the benefit.
The waiver will allow borrowers to gain additional PSLF credit, even if you were told previously that you had the wrong loan type or the wrong repayment plan. In addition, past periods of repayment will now count whether or not you made that payment on time, for the full amount due, or on a qualifying repayment plan. The Department of Education will even count certain periods of forbearance toward PSLF.
To take advantage of the waiver, you need to:
1. Register for an FSA ID (if you don’t already have one).
2. Consolidate your non-direct federal student loans (if you have them) into a Direct Consolidation Loan to qualify for PSLF.
3. Certify your employment by submitting a PSLF form. Use the PSLF Help Tool to generate a PDF, which you'll need to sign (read more about signature requirements) and date before sending to OHRM. For OCFO, forms should be sent to Lakita Rivero.
4. Submit the form to the PSLF servicer as instructed on the printed PDF document.
Once you have submitted a PSLF form and consolidated into the Direct Loan program, you will be automatically opted into the waiver. This means that, if you qualify, you will lock in the benefits of the waiver and start accruing credit towards PSLF.
Just a few minutes of your time may save you thousands of dollars on your student loans. Remember, you need to take the steps necessary to qualify for the Limited PSLF Waiver before October 31, 2022.
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ICYMI: This Week's Messages from GSA Leadership
No messages this week. Check out the Messages from Leadership page on InSite, where you can find past messages from GSA leaders.
New: Share Your Experiences with the Enterprise Emerging Leaders Program
Over the years, participants in the Enterprise Emerging Leaders Program (EELP) – formerly the Emerging Leaders Program – have contributed to OCFO in big ways. Next Thursday, OCFO will have the opportunity to share success stories from across our organization at the EELP graduation ceremony. This is a great chance to show our appreciation for the talented EELPers who have rotated or permanently placed within OCFO throughout the years, and encourage their future participation. Do you have an experience you want to share? If so, take a moment to fill out this Google Form by Tuesday, August 9.
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New: Meet ABBYY!
This year, the RPA team procured an exciting new software to complement our RPA capabilities!
ABBYY Flexicapture identifies, validates, and automatically processes data from all types of documents, even if they are images or unstructured PDFs. Here are some neat things ABBYY can do:
• Pull data points from unstructured documents like images.
• Export data to different file formats or to different places, like systems or even RPA software.
• Distinguish and classify documents by type, like accounts payable from accounts receivable invoices.
• Redact sensitive info, like PII.
• Recognize invoices from different vendors by learning their unique formats.
• Recognize handwriting and transcribe into text.
In our pilot use case, we are using ABBYY to help solve a unique GSA challenge: identifying specific contract elements in over 8,000 federal leases so that GSA may update them to comply with a new accounting standard. These leases are in a lot of different formats, image quality, and document types, and vary in length (some are over 50 pages). Using ABBYY, our team is reviewing more than 600,000 pages of lease documents to capture the information that needs to be updated. If there are elements ABBYY has trouble reading, those will be flagged for a human to review. Using this software has helped our employees expedite a tedious, manual task.
If there is interest in using this product, email us at RPAOffice@gsa.gov to discuss your use case or submit your idea through the RPA Google Site.
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Reminder: OCFO Night at Nats Park!
OCFO is sponsoring a Nationals outing for those in the D.C. area. The game is on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, at 7:05 versus the A’s. Tickets are approximately $20.
If interested, please indicate your desire for tickets by August 15 by adding your name to this spreadsheet. Send questions to Evan Farley. Thanks (and go, Nats)!
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Welcome to the OCFO Analytics Corner! Each week, the Analytics Community of Practice (A-CoP) team will be sharing events, training, resources, and more. Complete this Google Form to receive more information about the A-CoP or to get involved.
Train your Analytics Muscles for Summer
Are you a data analyst looking for recommended training? Not a data analyst but would like to become one? FAS has put together an excellent Data and Evidence Training Catalog organized by tracks and skills. Filter by training type, cost, time, and more!
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Every week we will feature OCFO colleagues who have been recognized by their peers for their great work and character. This is a quick, easy, and fun way to acknowledge and thank one another. To recognize one (or more) of your peers in the next Week in Review, use the OCFO Shout Outs Google Form. |
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Shout out to Mike Wano (BIC) and Hilary Busbee (BIC)!
Thanks to Mike and Hilary for their helping getting the FedRPA COP's page up on gsa.gov and their help with InSite. You both are always a pleasure to work with!
Submitted by: Gabrielle Perret (BGR)
Shout out to Scott Marks (ICTA) and Stephanie Steffensmeier (FIOD-B)!
A great big THANK YOU shouted from the rooftops for Scott and Stephanie for working tirelessly on August 1st to ensure the $5 billion in expense accruals posted to Pegasys and any rejections were resolved! This was paramount to having accurate financial statements for July and avoiding unnecessary worksheet adjustments.
Submitted by: Francie McCabe, Mike Montenegro, & Lauren Franklin (all BGF)
Shout out to Kristin Williamson (BGF)!
Shout out to Kristin for preparing and delivering on a comprehensive training for a difficult process. Excellent job!
Submitted by: Steven Mauser (BGF)
Visit the Mandatory Training page on GSA's InSite for mandatory training deadlines and watch the Announcements section for training reminders.
Looking for enterprise-wide training opportunities? Check out the FY22 course list.
New: Paperwork Reduction Act Clearance Process Training
Are you collecting information from 10 or more members of the public? If so, OMB's approval is required before data collection can begin. Register for the August 9 PRA Standard Clearance training through Online University. This live training will cover the different types of PRA clearances and how to get approval. Participants will gain a better idea of what to expect from this potentially lengthy process and receive one continuous learning point.
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New: Emergency Preparedness Communications
"Communication is at the heart of preparedness. Passing pertinent information during a national security emergency is paramount."
A national security emergency is any natural disaster, military attack, technological crisis, or other emergencies that seriously degrades or threatens the United States' national security. All national security emergency preparedness activities are consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States and preserve our constitutional Government.
OCFO conducts quarterly tests of the National Alert and Accountability System (NAAS), ensuring we can communicate all pertinent information during an emergency. These messages contain valuable information during an emergency, and your response contributes to our office's accountability.
Many employees wear many hats. There is a chance that you may be on two or more NAAS lists because of the type of work you perform. Please ensure to respond to all messages received during our drills, exercises, and tests. With these tests, you'll be familiar with receiving the messages, know how to respond, and be accounted for (which is the most critical piece of information during an emergency).
The venue you'll receive is an email message with a link you can click to respond. If you miss this, you'll get that same email, SMS text, or phone call on your cell phone. Please ensure to respond.
Reminder: Apply for the Data to Decisions Data Science Practitioner Training Cohort!
In this program, open to all GSA employees, you’ll build technical skills and learn how to create intuitive dashboards. The program includes:
- Thirteen data science classes to gain better business insights from data
- A capstone project to apply your skills to a real-world business problem
- Self-study with Python, SQL and Tableau to further your learning
Apply to participate by filling out this Google Form.
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Reminder: Register for Treasury's 2022 Government Financial Management Conference
Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service is pleased to announce that the 2022 Government Financial Management Conference (GFMC) is open for registration. The GFMC is a free virtual conference which provides up to 10 NASBA continuing professional education (CPE) credits. All educational sessions will be led by federal financial management experts and select business partners.
To learn more about the conference, which will take place August 24-25, 2022, visit the GFMC site. To register, visit: https://cvent.me/18Woo2. Registration closes on Friday, August 19, 2022.
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August Enterprise-wide Training Opportunities
Check out these enterprise-wide course offerings:
For a full listing of courses available this month and throughout the year, check out the enterprise-wide course offerings list.
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