Update on Smart Cards and the DCIA Implementation Actions Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 10:01:44 -0500 To: "AE - Administrative Employees", "AO - All Administrative Officers", "HS - Headquarters Secretaries" From: "Alice A. Sabatini, Division Administrative Officer, WRD" Subject: Update on Smart Cards and the DCIA Implementation Actions Cc: "Kym Y Elliott, Secretary, Reston, VA " Reply Requested by November 23, 1998 Reply Requested by November 30, 1998 Reply Requested by January 4, 1999 The following was communicated during the AMC meeting yesterday. Action items are set off with asterisks ***. I learned a lot in this meeting. I hope you will take the time to read this message and that you will find it helpful. SmartCards Nations Bank has merged with Bank of America. Cards will be issued from Bank of America for domestic use and Community Bank for international use. Nations Bank will give OPS a list of bankcard and travel card holders that do not have an employee id in the payroll system. OPS will be working the mismatches this week. Any traveler with a present delinquent balance of 61+ days on their AMEX card will NOT be issued a new smart card. This means that they will not have access to either the travel line or the purchase line. The payment status will be as of the day that the listings were run (probably one month ago). USGS has no involvement or say in this card issuance, so don't ask for exceptions. We may be able to get cards issued to these personnel at a future date (when EAGLS is available) but the employee will have to reapply and that application will have to be routed through me for approval. I am only approving them when there is documentation that some disciplinary action has been taken. There may be an invitational travel card that will allow us to buy tickets for non-employees (like conference speakers, foreign visitors, etc.). Smart cards may only be issued with purchase line authority to USGS employees--permanent and temporary for more than 1 year. Students can be issued a card with travel authority only for a finite period of time and specific amount. These cards can be activated and deactivated for one trip if desired (action must be taken through the APC--Susan Sheely for travel). These cards will not be issued until December. ***If you have a student for which you would like to have a card issued, please send their name, SSN, org code, beginning and ending appointment dates and the travel limits you would like to have established to Toni Brenner (ebrenner) by November 23. We will compile a list and forward it to Travel for establishment. The single purchase limits for the purchase line have been set at $2500 per order and $25,000 (?) per month for all non warranted employees. Warranted Contracting Officers have had their monthly purchase limit set to $100,000. Lisa Zukowski is checking to see if the monthly limit may be $50,000. Cost centers will be able to modify these limits through EAGLS. The limits for the travel line have been set to $5000 per month for all employees. ATM access is set to $250 per day and $500 per month. Travel cards cannot be used for purchases. Employees with AMEX cards but not IMPACT cards will need to have the purchase line added to their cards when EAGLS is activated. They will not be able to buy ice or any supplies with their card without this access. Contact Lisa Zukowski for help with adding the purchase line. The cards will be issued with a booklet that explains how to access EAGLS. EAGLS will be available by November 30. The training being offered on EAGLS has been disappointing because it is not interactive. Lisa believes that admin personnel that have not had the training will be able to pick up how to use EAGLS fairly quickly if they are semi-computer literate and have experience with other windows-based software. Any employees that are having difficulty using EAGLS should contact Lisa for help. There are no plans for additional training (no web-based, CBT or videotaped training will be made available). OPS will look into establishing an email alias for smartcard help. Nations Bank will bill the USGS daily and be paid daily. This means that smartcard payments will appear in your transaction file every day. A new FFS table CARD will be used to do account reconciliation (for both travel and purchase). It work like CDTT but users will have to reconcile charges for airline and rental cars that are charged to the "corporate card" in addition to charges that appear on the employee's statement. OFM didn't indicate how often the CARD table will be updated. More information on the reconciliation process will be issued at a future date. Default accounts numbers can be changed by the card holder in EAGLS. For employees with IMPACT cards, the default account number for the new card was set to agree with the existing default. For employees with only a travel card, the default for the new card was set to the cost center's 88800 account. Employees with purchase line access with have the option of convenience checks. These are checks that the employee can write to vendors that will not accept the Mastercard. The convenience checks are being looked on as a solution to the use of the imprest fund or third party drafts. They are ideal for those small dollar purchases that are below the bankcard threshold that the vendor has established. ***Develop a list of employees that have a need for convenience checks. Keep in mind that an admin employee in the office cannot write a convenience check for an employee in the field. The employee must write it as it charges his individual smartcard. Please send your lists to Toni Brenner (ebrenner) by November 23. Convenience checks were not intended for the travel line but are being explored by OFM as a method of paying hotels that do not accept the Mastercard. The new ATM fee for travel advances is 1.9% (vice the 2.75% charged by AMEX). This fee is charged on any bank access fees as well as the cash received. Third Party Drafts ***November 27, 1998 is the last day to write third party drafts. All unused drafts must be returned to Susan Sheely on November 30. Include a return receipt that Susan will sign and return to you indicating that your drafts numbered xx to xx were received. Imprest Funds ***December 31, 1998 is the last day to use imprest funds. The last replenishment voucher should be sent to OFM on January 4, 1999 with a money order or cashier's check attached for the remaining amount of cash in the fund. OFM will issue additional instructions on the closure of imprest funds and return of third party drafts in the near future. Employee Payments EFT All employees are required to receive their paychecks and travel reimbursements via EFT beginning January 1, 1999. There are 318 employees in the USGS that are not presently signed up for EFT. OPS will be providing us a list by division this week to contact these employees. We have not heard what will happen if these employees do not sign up for EFT, but if I were them, I wouldn't want to test the system. The number of employees that are not signed up for travel EFT is much higher. A list will also be provided to us so that we can encourage sign up prior to January 1, 1999.