Procedures for the NEC/NEP

Administrative

  1. The Decision Coordination Office (DCO) will (within two business days of a meeting) prepare and distribute meeting minutes (including brief summary, decisions and action items). Members will have two business days for coordination. In an effort to limit unnecessary emails, DCO staff will interpret a "no response" to any review request as a concurrence. Members may always choose to respond to the review group with “PPI concurs” (for example); however, such a response will not be required for DCO's tracking purposes. DCO staff will not be held responsible in cases where reviewers fail to respond and thereby interpret the response as a concurrence. This holds true even if the reviewer had comments and/or non-concurred with the material, but failed to respond to DCO by the specified deadline.
  2. A NOAA Decision Memorandum (NDM) will serve to document and provide a clear record of decisions and direction. Within eight business days of a NEC/NEP meeting, the DCO will prepare and forward an NDM for signature to the Under Secretary (U/S) or Deputy Under Secretary (DUS), as appropriate. The signed NDM will be posted to the NEI for NEC/NEP members and archived by the DCO.
  3. Action Items assigned at NEC or NEP meetings will be incorporated into the meeting notes as part of the official record of the meeting, and reflected in the NOAA Decision Memorandum (NDM).  Action items will be logged into WebCIMS and into the DCO Action Tracker by DCO staff upon signature of the NDM.  WebCIMS will automatically generate a notification to the Point of Contact (POC) of the assignment and due date.  If DCO has not received a complete response to the action by the due date, the POC will receive a generic email from DCO (with a cc: to the POC’s DAA) the next business day indicating the action is overdue.  DCO will make every effort to work directly with the POC to ensure due dates are met.  Extensions will be granted by the DCO staff on a case-by-case basis upon receipt of a suitable justification.  If an extension has not been granted, or DCO does not receive feedback from the POC within two business days following the notification email, the late action will be reported to the Deputy Under Secretary.  A summary of late action items will be routinely reported to the Deputy Under Secretary during all scheduled pre-briefs for NEC and NEP meetings

Procedures

  1. Principals and advisors are expected to come to meetings with a grasp of the issues and be prepared to discuss alternatives, implications of proposed actions and what is best for NOAA. Principals and advisors are not required to personally present NEC/NEP briefings. They may select a subject matter or functional expert to give the presentation.
  2. All presentations (except informational presentations) to the NEC must be reviewed by the NEP. If the NEP believes the presentation provides insufficient factual information, requires clearer focus or fails to adequately identify alternatives, or lacks clear identification of the problem, guidance will be provided for necessary improvement before the presentation is approved to proceed to the NEC.
  3. Decision briefings impacting financial resources (budget year or out year) must be reviewed by the CFO Council before presentation to the NEC/NEP.
  4. Presenters will provide “read ahead” materials (which include presentations, issue assessments, and any related materials) electronically to DCO no later than 5 business days prior to their scheduled presentation. Prior to submission, all presentations should be cleared by the appropriate AA or DAA, as well as all relevant Councils. Changes to presentation materials (after submission) are not permitted without the approval of the NEC/NEP Chair.
  5. Topics pertaining to multiple line or staff offices must be fully coordinated prior to submission.
  6. In most cases, one hour will be allocated on the NEC/NEP agenda for each presentation. To allow adequate time for discussion, briefings should not exceed 30 minutes.
  7. Presentation Requirements
    1. Presenters must stay within their allotted briefing time according to the NEC/NEP agenda.
    2. Presenters are responsible for “slide forwarding” or equipment operation (DCO will handle all equipment set-up issues), as well as handout distribution.
    3. Accurate and traceable cost, schedule and performance information should be included in the briefing.
    4. Presentations should provide a solid basis for decisions by including reasonable and viable options and accurate and verifiable information. Presentations must strike a balance between brevity and completeness. Briefing tips are available on the DCO website.
    5. Presentations should be prepared as follows:
      1. In the standard NOAA briefing format. Tailor material to briefing purpose (i.e., decision or information).
      2. Pages oriented length-wise (landscape orientation).
      3. Each page numbered consecutively.
    6. If revisions are required (as approved by the NEC/NEP Chair) to any “read ahead” packages, hard copies must be provided at the meeting with any changes indicated by highlight, or by margin notation or other clearly identified methods.
    7. Identify any Five Year Plan (FYP) funding impacts, by fiscal year, noting whether funding is shown in constant or “then year” dollars. Be consistent throughout the briefing.
  8. When time is critical for a decision and a NEC or NEP meeting is not possible, a Virtual NEC/NEP Decision may be used. Procedures for a Virtual NEC/NEP Decision can be found on the DCO website.

Scheduling

The DCO will be responsible for scheduling meetings. Both the NEC and NEP will meet bi-weekly (on off weeks) or at the call of the Chair. NEC/NEP principals, advisors and council chairs may suggest issues for NEC/NEP deliberation by sending the DCO a memorandum stating:

  1. Proposed topic
  2. Rationale for presentation
  3. Expected issues
  4. Desired presentation date

The request should be submitted to DCO staff, well in advance of the desired presentation date.