Ms. Mayhill created three PowerPoint training courses for development VSRs.  She worked well with members of the management team to make changes as needed and created extremely professional recordings of each course.  The training information provided well organized and easily understood by those taking the courses.  As this information was recorded and assigned a TMS number, her work can potentially be used going forward for any required Foreign development training.    Following these recordings Ms. Mayhill staffed the Special Mission Teams Channel to assist VSRs with any follow up questions they had.  She responded to questions quickly and completely.  She also regularly followed up on the channel and provided employees the opportunity to call or email her if they did not want to publicly ask a question.    In addition, Ms. Mayhill has used the new standardized Foreign trainings and documents to provide local foreign development training to VIP training groups from PP05 and PP08.  She will continue the local trainings for PP13 and PP15.     Ms. Mayhill went above and beyond to ensure this training was a success not only for the Seattle DROC employees but to provide outstanding training and resources for our current and future Pittsburgh RO employees.

Ms. Heilman is the primary Attorney/Agent Fee Coordinator (AAFC)of the Pittsburgh Regional Office (RO). Since assuming this collateral duty in April 2022, Ms. Heilman has aggressively and diligently processed our AAFC cases by effectively monitoring the release dates of the "set asides" and ensuring that the "funds" get released promptly. This is clearly evident by reviewing the Monthly Reconciliation reports. In April 2022, we had above 80 cases on this report. In comparison, the August 2022 report had less than 40 cases. This is a reduction of about 50%. I attribute this reduction to the effort and dedication of Ms. Heilman. For this reason, I give my strongest recommendation for this award.

David is a new Authorization VSR and has consistently exceeded expectations, especially by a new Authorizer. David works complex claims with diligence, accuracy, and without complaint. David is able to figure out what is going on and what needs done, then takes action to process the claim. There are multiple incidents where more senior Authorizer VSRs are unable to figure out the nuances of complex claims and the claim will either be assigned to him to process or he will be consulted on it.

I am nominating Mr. Tamara Harris for a special contribution award for her continued diligence in ensuring that all employee time cards are completed timely.  On multiple occasions Ms. Harris identified time cards that were incomplete and without correction would result in no pay for the employee.  Additionally, Ms. Harris has been instrumental in tracking new hires and reminding HRC to complete processing.  In the two recent pay periods she identified employees that were not processed by HRC which enabled enough time for Regional Office leadership to encourage HRC to complete processing so that the employee can be paid.   Ms. Harris reflects great credit upon herself, the Support Services Division and the Pittsburgh Regional Office.

I recommend Ken Saunders for an SCA for service as acting AVSCM for 120 days. For approximately 30 days during this time-frame, Mr. Saunders served without an acting AVSCM. While serving as Acting VSCM Mr. Saunders was responsible for ensuring that the stations target for April and May were met. During this time, there was a new assistant coach  resignation. During this time, it was necessary to reassign management staff to keep the teams operating at full capacity.

Jenny Willett is nominated for this Special Contribution award because of her efforts to ensure Pittsburgh RO has key positions filled timely, employees have support they need, and HR Liaison can accomplish the mission during the unprecedented hiring in support of PACT Act.  This period was complicated by the transitioning to a new Human Resources Center, ongoing process improvements by Human Capital Services, and the Director splitting time as Acting Director at another RO. Jenny focused on providing a positive employee experience, for the HR Liaison and all Pittsburgh RO employees; shifted administrative duties from HR Liaison as short-term solution to address workload concerns;  obtained authorization to hire one FTE to increase HR team based on thorough and well-written justification as long-term solution to workload concerns. She facilitated process for curtailment of OCONUS tour of duty to expedite process for employee promotion and mitigate errors; completed recruitment packages, including submitting them to HRC, to expedite hiring for key vacancies.  Jenny initiated revisions to New Employee Orientation, to include a TEAMS channel for sharing information; revised award submission process, utilizing technology to increase transparency and improve timeliness of processing; diligently monitored the transition to new HRC, communicating discrepancies, highlighting risks to employee pay, and advocating for clear and consistent communication to improve processing.

Mr. Babyak volunteered to be a first time mentor for our incoming VSR trainees. With increased hiring the Pre-D Team has had a steady rotation of employees attending VIP Challenge training and graduating to their Post Challenge 90 day review period. Mr. Babyak has greatly assisted by providing mentoring and Quality reviews during PP08 VIP Challenge and post challenge, and will continue this role with PP15. He has mentored a trainee VSR with development guidance, quality reviews and assisted with corrections. Mr. Babyak's work to provide excellent claim processing guidance, and ensure that training had been understood, will place the new VSR in a great position for success. In addition, Mr. Babyak has provided weekly support in FY22, by processing White House Hotline (WHH) and Congressional Inquiries.  These claims require not only expedited development but telephone calls/emails with to Veterans, who are often very upset with the VA.  Mr. Babyak is an expert in handling these cases and works diligently to resolve all issues. We greatly appreciate his willingness to take on a new challenge of mentoring and continued support of the RO with inquiry assistance.