January 2000

From the President....

I spent the past few weeks trying to write this Month's column. I was at a loss for a topic. The month of December is generally a month of celebration, but its usually not a month for great advancements in the business world. I had hoped that January would bring some inspiration, and that I would suddenly think of a timely topic.

Now that January is here, I find myself thinking only of new beginnings. Its a new century. Y2K will bring us many changes in Oak Ridge, and in our Country. We will have elected a new President of the United States by the end of the year. A new contractor has been selected to manage the Lab. The contract to manage Y-12 is up for rebid. I still don't know if I'll remember to write 2000 as the year on my checks, and more importantly, on the contracts and subcontracts I sign.

Our speaker this month, through his source selection activities at the Department of Energy, has been involved in some of the new beginnings in Oak Ridge. Mr. Don Sloan will speak at our January membership meeting.

Please join us on January 12, 2000, 11:30 a.m., at the Garden Plaza.

P. S. Please remember to check out the new Discussion Forum (Message Board) on the Chapter web site. Elise Roske, CPCM

Calendar of Events........

January 12, 2000 Membership Meeting, 11:30 a.m.

January 19, 2000 Board Meeting, 11:30 a.m.

Membership Meeting

Registration and Networking 11:30 to 11:45 Meeting begins promptly at 11:45 a.m, January 12

Cost: $10 Members, $12 Non-Members

Where: Garden Plaza Hotel

Speaker: Don Sloan, U. S. Department of Energy

Topic: Streamlining the Procurement Process

Menu: Fresh Tossed Garden Salad with Honey Dijon & Ranch Dressings Lasagna, Garlic Bread Chef's Choice of Dessert Coffee, Decafe, Ice Tea & Water

RSVP: Call Vicki Dyer at 483-9332.

NOTE: Please make reservations by 4:00 p.m. Friday, January 7

About the Speaker...

Don Sloan is a senior contact specialist in the Procurement and Contracts Division for the Oak Ridge Operations Office of the Department of Energy (DOE) in Oak Ridge, TN.

Don has been involved in government contracting for 29 years, beginning his career with the Department of Defense, and has held numerous contracting positions within DOE. He has been closely involved in DOE's Contract Reform efforts to transform its contracts to a performance-based approach.

During 1997-1999 he served as Chairman of two Source Evaluation Boards - the selection of the contractor for the management and integration of the Oak Ridge Environmental Program (Bechtel Jacobs Company) and the contractor for the management and operation of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (UT-Battelle). These contracts are each valued in excess of $2 billion over 5 years. These contract selections involved new approaches to streamlining the DOE contract selection process including the use of oral presentation of proposals and award without discussions.

Don holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Ouachita University in Arkansas. Don is married and has three children, two in college and one in high school. He lives with his family in Oak Ridge, TN.

New: WWW.NCMAET.COM now has a Discussion Forum. We need someone to get it going. Log on to WWW.NCMAET.COM and give it a whirl.

Who: NCMA East Tennessee Chapter

What: NCMA Web Site

Where: WWW.NCMAET.COM

When: Anytime

Why: Information, Communication, Calendar, Employment Opportunities

How: Click WWW.NCMAET.COM

Robert Madgett

Other Monthly Meetings

NES Planning meeting will be at the Bechtel Building at 11:30 AM, Jan 11. Monthly Certification Meeting will be at 5:15 PM at the Bechtel Building on Jan 11. Contact Mike Criss at 220-2146 for details

THE GRAALMAN AWARD

WHAT ARE THE PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS?

The period of review is each Chapter year, i.e., July 1, 1999 through June 30, 2000. Each year Chapters are provided an opportunity to be acknowledged for their contributions toward the advancement of the Contracting Profession and the support provided to their members for purposes of enhancing Members' careers through training, seminars, networking opportunities, etc., i.e., professional development The process used for communicating the Chapters' overall health and success each year is through submittal of a package which is merely a proposal, similar to a past experience/performance proposal that would be submitted to a potential client. There is a basic application form which is used for self-evaluation purposes, which is then supported by back-up data organized in a notebook fashion, which is submitted with our Application to National and our Regional Representative. Our Regional Representative is a Peer who evaluates our application and the supporting back-up. National then provides a final review/concurrence with the Regional Representative's recommendation on point scoring. There are eight (8) performance areas on the application form:

_______Performance Area Maximum Points

(1) Education and Training 75
(2) Professional Activities 53
(3) Publications and Communications 57
(4) Participation in Scheduled Chapter, Regional or National Activities 33
(5) Financial Reporting 10
(6) Membership Data 35
(7) Planning and Organization 50
(8) Other 20
Total Maximum Points: 335

KEYS TO ACHIEVING POINTS

The following is a brief description of the criterion each Chapter is measured against in each Performance Area.

1. Conducting seminars, conferences, workshops, conducting certification training/tutorials (an organized study program) for CPCM and/or CACM Candidates; hosting the annual National Education Seminar (NES); hosting other NCMA seminars sponsored by National. 2. Members sitting for the CPCM/CACM exams and/or recertifying for either; members teaching contract management-related studies or acting as advisors; chapter submittal of question and answer sets and/or grading of exams and/or proctoring exam sessions for CPCM and CACM exams; appearances by members at other chapters and other professional associations. This is also the area where we receive credit for our scholarship fund program. 3. Issue and maintain an effective newsletter, and membership directory; submittal of items for Chapter Bulletin Board for National magazines; Any member authored or co-authored and submitted or had published an article in NCMA periodicals. 4. Functions must be educational, i.e.., workshops or dinner meeting with a speaker; attendance at National Board of Directors' meeting; attendance at Chapter Leadership 'workshops. 5. Chapter's Annual financial report. 6. Recruitment; growth; retention program. 7. Annual Chapter Operating Plan; Long Range Plan; Team Building meeting for Chapter leaders; written plan to address membership retention. 8. May include a multitude of subject areas for which credit cannot be acknowledged in any of the above performance areas. Examples are Chapter members serving as National Functional Director, Regional Committee Chair; participating in the Mentor Program; special program to promote number of Fellows, visits to other organizations and companies to promote membership, etc. We typically include anything and everything we can here, (we get very creative sometimes) in order to make up for potential scoring deficiencies in other performance areas.

WHAT ARE THE MINIMUM POINTS REQUIRED TO OBTAIN AN AWARD? The total minimum points required to obtain designation of "Quality Chapter" are 100 points. Historically, this has been easy for us to accomplish. The tough part is obtaining a score that is closer to our Peer Chapters, in the 190-200+ point score range. This is not impossible for us, as we have been just below the 190-200 score for the past several years. Scoring in this upper range would qualify us to potentially receive designation of Regional Quality Chapter.

HOW ARE WE PERFORMING SO FAR? The first major milestone was due and accomplished; Performance Area #7, "Planning and Organization". The Annual Chapter Operating Plan, Long Range Plan and Membership Retention Plan were prepared and submitted on time. In addition, the Team Building session for Chapter Leaders was accomplished under this performance area.

Completion of these milestones got us off to a good start toward receiving the maximum points under "Planning and Organization" and achieving a healthy start for the New Chapter Year. The maximum points in this performance area are 50 points. There is one remaining milestone to accomplish in this area, at close of the Chapter Year, in the area of Membership Retention.

We have also conducted some workshops and published informative/quality newsletters, etc. I have estimated that these accomplishments, plus the ones noted above, put us in the 60-70 point score range. We will see an increase in this score with the completion of the NES in April. However, these combined efforts will barely get us to a score of 100 points. I would like to see our Chapter achieve much more than that which would then indicate that we are serious about our Chapter's success and much more so about our Members' professional successes.

We need to focus on each performance area and bring-up our scores in each area. Historically we have achieved 50% of the total points available in each performance area, with the exception of "Financial Reporting" and "Planning and Organization".

Please take a look at the "Keys to Achieving Points" and feel free to email any information you personally have accomplished that our Chapter may be able to take credit for, and as an added bonus, we'll publish Members' achievements in upcoming newsletters!!!! (For those of you who have a fear of publicity, we'd be glad to publish the accomplishments anonymously.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an email. My email address is debra.hickman@jacobs.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Membership News.........

MEMBERSHIP REPORT AS OF JANUARY 4, 2000

TOTAL MEMBERS = 164

NO NEW MEMBERS EAST TENNESSEE

Askew/Patricia Lynn RG1 Performance Development Corp; Ferguson/Terry RG1 Bechtel; Holder/James L. RG1 Martin Marietta Energy Systems; Johnson/Ben F. RT1 Retried; Whittingham/Paul RG1 BNPL Inc TOTAL RENEWED MEMBERS FOR THE CHAPTER = 5 (Last NCMA update 11/30/99)

Dayton/Peter D. RG1 US DOE; Dykes/R. W. RG1 Martin Marietta Energy Sys.; Greis/Jeff AS1 US Postal Service TOTAL REINSTATE MEMBERS FOR THE CHAPTER = 3 (Last NCMA update 12/1/99)

Copeland/Lisa; Graham/J. Michael/CPCM; Neiler/Lise M.; Oldham/Lisa J.; Painter/William P./CPCM Parks/Elizabeth T.; Wallus/Martha TOTAL MEMBERS DUE FOR THE CHAPTER = 7 (Last NCMA update 12/1/99)

Baird/Robert F.; Franklin/Judy/CPCM; McMullen/Irene C.; Miller/Cindy; Ouellette/Roger E. Taylor/William S. TOTAL DELINQUENT MEMBERS FOR THE CHAPTER = 6 (Last NCMA update 12/1/99)

NO MEMBERS DROPPED

Lisa J. Oldham

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

Remember, you can renew your membership on-line or update your membership information on-line at http://www.ncmahq.org/. Choose "Member Services." You will have the following options:

Find out about NCMA Membership Find out about Group Membership Programs Update your address or other information online Renew your membership online Chapter Administration Area

Below is some other informative information from the "LEADER"

Fellows Deadlines Mark your chapter calendars and inform your members of the upcoming deadlines for submitting Fellow applications during program year 1999-2000: January 28 and May 5. Members should first submit an application to their chapter Fellows chairperson, who is responsible for verifying the accuracy and completeness of each application. The chairperson then sends the applications, by the deadlines, to the NCMA National Office for review by the co-functional directors for Fellows. The NCMA Board of Directors (BD) gives final approval. Fellow applications received by the January 28 deadline will be reviewed and approved by the BD at the April 8, 2000, meeting during the World Congress. Visit NCMA's Web site at http://www.ncmahq.org/ncmadmin/cog/g-09.html and refer to Policy Directive G-09 in the Chapter Operating Guide for additional information and a copy of the official application form. (Make sure the revision date at the top of the form is July 1999 to ensure that you are using the current application.) Cynthia D'Amour's Active Member Minute Activating Older Members Tina was one of those members who had been around forever, but people rarely saw her anymore. Last month, out of the blue, she attended a meeting. Frank, the membership VP, was thrilled. Tina was a wealth of wisdom for the chapter and moved mountains when she got active. Frank wanted to make sure that Tina would keep coming to the meetings. The next meeting was going to be on the other side of the city-a bit of a drive for Tina. Frank knew that Claudia, a fellow board member, worked on the same side of the city as Tina and suggested that she call Tina to carpool with her. If Frank had not asked her to call to carpool, Claudia never would have made the effort. She had heard about Tina and her accomplishments for years. It made her nervous just thinking about being in the same car with Tina for the ride to the meeting. Claudia called Tina and was surprised to hear how enthusiastically she responded to the idea of carpooling-Tina didn't know a lot of the new members and had felt a little awkward at the last meeting. On the way over, Claudia found Tina very willing to offer suggestions about how she could fine-tune some work she was doing for the chapter. Tina knew great shortcuts for making work much easier for Claudia! As they walked into the meeting room, the women were immersed in a conversation filled with smiles and laughter. Frank was at the registration desk, ready to greet them-and thrilled to see both women so excited. Claudia would be able to learn a lot from Tina and it would be wonderful to have Tina back on the team. His mission was accomplished. How do you help older members who have not been active lately feel comfortable and needed when they return to check out your chapter?

DON' T FORGET WORLD CONGRESS!!!

World Congress Countdown: 3 months. Save the date! April 9-12, 2000.

WORLD CONGRESS GET YOUR CHAPTER MEMBERS TO REGISTER NOW! From November 8, 1999 to January 10, 2000 every 20 registrations from your chapter members will result in one complimentary registration for your chapter (limit one per chapter). Encourage your chapter members to register now for the World Congress 2000-The Premier Educational Event of the New Millennium.