The end of the NCMA program year is fast approaching, and I know that everyone is looking forward to the warm weather and maybe a summer vacation. The last two Chapter lunch meetings will be on May 12 and June 9 at the Garden Plaza. But don’t forget about the Tennessee Technology Summit on June 1–3 at the World’ Fair Site. NCMA will hoist our session at 2:00 p. m. on June 2. Please contact the Tennessee Technology Summit Committee Chairperson, Tracie Rucker, if you need additional information.

At the May meeting we will be holding the election of next year’s officers. So please come and exercise your voting rights. If you would like to nominate a candidate for any of the officer positions you may send your selection to either Steve Hodges, the Chapter Director at Jacobs Engineering Company, or me at the Department of Energy. See the listing of proposed officers for next year.

Our two Scholarship winners this year are Mr. Joshua P. Stevens and Ms. Olana Strunk. Mr. Stevens is a freshman at the University of Tennessee majoring in Business Administration. He will receive a $2,000 scholarship to continue his studies. Ms. Strunk is currently a senior at Oak Ridge High School. She has already been accepted at the University of Tennessee, and will also be majoring in Business Administration. She will receive a $1,000 scholarship.

I was very pleased with the attendance at the National Education Seminar last month, and I want to thank you for your support of the Chapter. Thank you Robert Madgett, Bob Lynch and Penne Howard for volunteering to plan and produce this year’s seminar. Good Job! Also, I want to thank those that did take the time to complete the evaluation forms. The NES committee has personally reviewed the forms. The following is a brief summary of your comments that will be considered when planning for next year.

The majority of you gave the seminar an overall rating of ‘good’ to ‘excellent’; however, there were 8 that rated the seminar as ‘fair’. A ‘fair’ rating to me is a ‘C’, I have never been happy with a ‘C’ (except for a Physics course I took in 1996?) so improvements for next year are needed.

The text and the instructors also received ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ ratings, but again, there were some ‘fair’ and ‘poor’ ratings.

Your comments were the most informative. Some of you said that the instructors should have used more of a team approach and encouraged audience participation and interaction. Some of you said that the material was not innovative (old hat) and too elementary. We agree. Oak Ridge does seem to be out front when it comes to innovative contracting approaches. The NES committee is already planning to use instructors familiar with Oak Ridge procurement issues and ways to increase audience participation for next year.

Finally, I have to apologize for the audio, visual aide, and room temperature problems. The microphone was not working, so in order to be able to hear the instructors the air conditioner had to be turned off, which led to an uncomfortable room temperature. This will be corrected next time.

Again, we appreciate your comments and we will do better next year.

One last business note, the New Membership Directory will be distributed at the May meeting!

Finally, I wanted to share my 50th birthday with all of you. Not that I’m either proud or sorry about this particular event, just glad to be here. Dave Barry compiled a list of things that he had learned in 50 years, and I thought that those of you who have reached this half-century mark would appreciate his list and those who haven’t could have a good laugh. Here are some of Dave Barry’s ‘lessons learned’:

The most valuable function performed by the federal government is entertainment.

The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers.

Nobody is normal.

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

You should not confuse your career with your life.

A person, who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

Nobody cares if you can’t dance well, just get up and dance.

and my two favorites,

There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.

Your friends love you, anyway!

It is time to start preparing for the 1999-2000 program year. Listed below are the proposed officers for next year. The proposed officers will be voted on at the May 12, 1999, membership luncheon.

Tennessee's Technology Summit is just around the corner so make your plans early. For more information on the Summit and/or a copy of the registration, go to the Summit Website: www.dornet.org/wattec/. Then go to Agenda for Tennessee Technology Summit (the registration form is at this location as well.

Below is a brief overview of NCMA's Session.

Date: Wednesday, June 2, 1999

Time: 2:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Session Title:  Transition Issues and Challenges: Assuring Business Development and a World Class Workforce in the 21st Century

Session Moderator:  Peter D. Dayton, Director, Procurement and Contract, U.S. Department of Energy

Session Titles and Speakers:  Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) Contracting Challenges:

Lisa Brown, SNS Procurement Manager
Jon Bartlett, ORNL Director of Procurement

Lessons Learned on LMES/IT Outsourcing

Stuart Phillips, SAIC Sector Contracts Manager and Corporate Vice President

Moving from Self-Performance to Subcontracting with Workforce
Darrell von der Linden, Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC, Manager of Procurement
John Lyons, Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC, Manager of Workforce Transition

Reindustrialization: Reaching the Next Level
Larry W. Clark, Executive Director, Office of Assets Utilization, Oak Ridge Operations Office, U.S. Department of Energy

Well, it's that time again as we are nearing the completion of another successful year! In preparation for year-end activities, I am soliciting input from every Chapter Member for consideration of activities for which our Chapter can take credit towards the Graalman Award. A quick summary of the subject matter and associated criterion are provided for your quick reference below. Additionally, the NCMA Web site (www.ncmahq.org) has a tool to help the various chapters keep track of their Graalman status. If you are interested in accessing that tool, then follow along: from the NCMA homepage, click on chapter information, then on chapter administration, and finally on chapter downloads. One of the section features is the Graalman tool, provided in an Excel spreadsheet format. This tool should prove to be very useful in the future.

1. EDUCATION AND TRAINING: (WE ARE DOING A GREAT JOB IN THIS AREA). Conduct or co-conduct conferences and seminars other than NES; conduct or co-conduct certification training/tutorial (organized study program for CPCM candidates and/or CACM candidates); host or co-host NES; and host or co-host any other NCMA seminar originated by the NCMA national organization.

2. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: (WE NEED HELP IN THIS AREA) I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE. NOW'S THE TIME TO STEP FORWARD AND TAKE THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT YOU DESERVE!!) Any members who sat for the CPCM and/or CACM exam or recertify during the last fiscal year; any members engaged in teaching contract management-related studies for a college or university or advisor to these organizations; any other noteworthy support to encourage universities or people in contract management to continue education ; any other role in an instruction capacity in any program relating to contract management; Chapter participation in the CPCM and/or CACM grading process; Chapter submittal of questions for the CPCM and/r CACM exams.

3. PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS: NEWSLETTER AND CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY (IN THE BAG)!! THANKS TO OUR OUTSTANDING NEWSLETTER AND MEMBERSHIP CHAIR PERSONS!!!! Also, items for the "Chapter Bulletin Board" section of our national magazine count, as well as members who have authored, co-authored or had published an article in NCMA periodicals or any other.

4. PARTICIPATION IN SCHEDULED CHAPTER, REGIONAL OR NATIONAL ACTIVITIES: We are right on track here!

5. FINANCIAL REPORTING: We are right on track here too!!

6. MEMBERSHIP DATA: Our Chapter continues to grow, but we can still count new members, up through June 30, 1999. We need to achieve a minimum 10% growth rate over last year. (We are almost there). By the way, initial contact with an organization to promote a group membership also counts for points.

7. PLANNING AND ORGANIZATION: The preparation of the Annual Chapter Operating Plan, the Long-Range Plan and a "Team Building" meeting for chapter leaders has been accomplished earlier in the Chapter year. The last item to prepare is the written plan which addresses membership retention.

8. OTHER: Anything/Catch-All category, where some noteworthy event for additional NCMA accomplishments not reflected in the previous categories. (WE NEED HELP IN THIS AREA) I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE. NOW'S THE TIME TO STEP FORWARD AND TAKE THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT YOU DESERVE!!)

East Tennessee Chapter is on the Superhighway

You can now access the Chapter's web site at www.ncmaet.com.