March Asset Ambassador:  Cindy Bowman, CPPM, CF
by Cathy Seltzer, CPPM

Congratulations to Cindy Bowman, Asset Ambassador for March 2010!  Cindy, a CPPM CF, is a Lead Program Analyst for the FAA’s Western Service Area, which includes the Western States as well as Hawaii, Alaska, Guam and American Samoa. 

Cindy began her career in the accounting department at Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and then at NASA, where she processed payments, travel vouchers and closeouts.  From there, Cindy began working for the FAA.  She began as a secretary, but was quickly promoted into the acquisition department.  After 16 years in Logistics, Cindy made the voluntary move into material management where she felt she was much better suited.

Now, as a Program Analyst, Cindy’s primary focus is still on personal property.  There are currently a good number of changes within the FAA and Cindy meets them head on.  As one may imagine, there is a fair amount of travel involved.  At each location, Cindy performs a site assessment and is then able to help people within the Air Traffic Organization improve processes and controls in order to meet and maintain property compliance. 

Cindy credits her years in Logistics for helping to teach her the excellent customer service that she now provides.  She credits NPMA for not only expanding her knowledge of property management, encouraging her to see things “outside the box,” but also for giving her the confidence to teach and share her knowledge with others.  NPMA has also given Cindy the opportunity to expand her leadership skills.  Cindy has been involved at the chapter and region levels and is now serving as the National Internet Director. 

If there was something Cindy would change within the field of property management, it would be to change the perception.  She would like to be able to impress upon everyone that we each play a part in the bigger property management picture.  Cindy would also like for folks at the upper management level to realize and understand that property management is much more important than it is often given credit. 

There are many accomplishments in Cindy’s career that make her proud, but the one accomplishment she is most proud of is the ability and opportunity to give back.  Cindy enjoys visiting sites in the Western Service Area teaching the people she meets what it means to be a good steward, excellent property manager, and to be compliant.  Being able to share her knowledge and to mentor the new property managers along their path gives her a sense of satisfaction and indeed, accomplishment.  Cindy greets that opportunity at every stop along her way.

Cindy, we congratulate you on your many accomplishments to date and we look forward to hearing great things from you in the future!  That is why you are the Asset Ambassador, March 2010!

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NPMA Announces 2010 Awards

Do you know a property professional who deserves recognition for his or her work and who has exhibited an exceptional commitment to NPMA?  

NPMA recognizes outstanding members, chapter of the year, federal property person of the year, lifetime achievement and property person of the year at the National Education Seminar. This year NES is scheduled for June 14 - 17 in Myrtle Beach, SC.  NPMA awards provide opportunities to recognize and honor members who have gone above and beyond. 

Each award has specific nominating criteria and deadlines.  Visit the NPMA website at http://www.npma.org/pages/awardsprogram.htm to find out the details for this year's awards.

Foundation Grants

If you'd like to attend NES this year but your company just doesn't have the funds for you to make the trip to Myrtle Beach, you should consider applying for an NPMA Foundation grant.  Foundation grants may be used toward:

1. A refresher course on property management.
2. Seminars and training in connection with present position.
3. Other assistance to cover financial need for education or upgrading of skills that will lead to advancement.

Applications must be received 60 days prior to the first day of the event (training or seminar) that you are applying for assistance to attend.

For more information about NPMA Foundation grants and the application process, please visit the website:  http://www.npma.org/Pages/FoundationPolicies.htm

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E53-01 Status Report
by Rick Shultz, CPPM, CF

Here is a quick status for the open items for ASTM’s E53-01 Subcommittee (Process Management).  There is currently one new standard in the queue, one standard waiting to be reviewed, and one standard in the review process.

1.  Work Item WK25451 is a proposed standard for managing low risk property.  The task group originally was tasked with revising the existing Standard Practice for Administratively Controlled Property (E2221-02).  However, during the review process, the task group determined that E2221-02 limited its coverage to the property life cycle process of physical inventory; lost, damaged, and destroyed property; and acceptable thresholds (under the Standard Practice for Assessing Loss, Damage, or Destruction of Property (E2131-01)).  The changes to bring the existing standard up-to-date were too extensive; therefore, it was recommended that the task group write a new standard.  The proposed standard attempts to emphasize the importance for entities to be consistent in balancing costs incurred for controls, corrective actions, etc., with their expected benefits (cost vs. benefit and managing risk).  This work item recently was out for balloting and received negative votes.  The task group is in the process of reviewing the negative comments and updating the work item accordingly.

2.  E2221-02 Practice for Administrative Control of Property was balloted for withdraw in October 2009.  It was ballot for withdrawal because it was believed that the standard wasn’t being used.  There are three standards that expand on the scope of this standard (E2608 Standard Practice for Equipment Control Matrix, E2131 Practice for Assessing Loss, Damage, or Destruction of Property, and E2132 Practice for Physical Inventory of Durable, Moveable Property).  While E2221 was one of the original standards, E2608 can be used to establish multiple levels for managing defined classes of equipment.  E2131 and E2132 outline the processes and acceptable loss rate associated with physical inventories.  Negative votes were received during the October ballot to withdraw E2221 with most comments indicating that this standard is being used so the intent is to keep this standard active.  However, in accordance with ASTM Regulations all standards must be reviewed and re-balloted every 5 years and if a standard has not been successfully balloted by the end of the eight year it will automatically be withdrawn and no longer published.  Therefore if a revision to E2221 is not successfully re-balloted by 12/31/10 it will be automatically withdrawn.  We are searching for a Technical Lead to review and re-ballot the standard.  If you are interested please contact the E53.01 Sub-committee Chair Rick Shultz.

3.  There is a task group working on a revision to the Standard Practice for Physical Inventory of Durable, Moveable Property (E2132-01 (reapproved 2007)).  As the standard is currently written, it contains information that isn’t relevant to the process associated with performing a physical inventory.  The task group has attempted to rewrite the standard focusing only on the processes and removed language concerning the reasons for performing an inventory.  This work item was balloted in the fall of 2009 and received negative votes.  The task group has reviewed the negative comments and is currently in the process of incorporating them into an “improved” version of the standard.

There will be a ballot in the near future addressing Work Item 25451 and the revision of E2132.  We are hoping that someone will step forward to assume the Technical Lead for E2221.  If not, this standard will be withdrawn at the end of the year.

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Book review by Dr. Douglas N. Goetz, Ph.D, CPPM, CF

Basics of Supply Chain Management

By Lawrence D. Fredendall and Ed Hill
Published by the St. Lucie Press  ISBN 1574441205

In writing about books, i.e., literature, you have to understand that I am an academic.  As such, I often look to academic texts used in colleges for teaching purposes.  One problem with this approach is COST.  Yes, any of you currently taking college courses understand that textbooks cost a FORTUNE!  And therefore, though there are a number of texts that I have in my library, I cannot recommend them to you as a book you should own as they also are extremely expensive.

Therefore, this review is of a text that is closely related to parts or portions of our profession, it should be affordable to the property professional, and is one that I believe will expand the depth and breadth of your knowledge.  So, with that said, let me introduce you to “Basics of Supply Chain Management” authored by Lawrence D. Fredendall and Ed Hill, published by the St. Lucie Press as part of their APICS Series on Resource Management, ISBN 1574441205.

We, property and asset managers, are part of the supply chain – and supply chain management is a current application embraced by thousands of corporations, companies and even the Government.  This text provides an excellent introduction to the theory and application of the supply chain management (SCM) concept.  It walks you through the quality and operations management concepts – even the theory of constraints.  It provides broad overviews of the various components of SCM. 

I believe that the most valuable part of this text is the section on Managing for Improvement in the Supply chain and the chapters on: 

• Planning, Controlling and Improving the Supply Chain – which covers areas such as maintenance, the focused factory and standardization;

• Materials management which includes discussion of inventory management, inventory classification, cycle counting, and materials requirements planning;

• Quality management, including discussion of ISO and problem solving methods;

• Information technology and SCM, which includes discussions on data integration and enterprise requirement planning (ERP).

These are just a few of the topics addressed and discussed within the overview text – and that is probably the one weakness to the text.  It is an overview of SCM, covering the basics in a rather parsimonious fashion.  For detailed discussions of the concepts one would need to read and research other texts.  But if your desire is to understand the “basics” then this text is an excellent introduction to SCM.

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We Have a Winner!

As part of the cutover to the new website, NPMA offered its members the chance to win a free trip to NES 2010 in Myrtle Beach, SC, including registration, lodging and airfare.  Anyone who updated their member profile data online by November 20 had their name entered into a drawing.  To select the winner, we literally drew the name out of a hat.

We’re happy to announce that the winner is Lindian Steele, CPPS of Grand Island, NY.

Mr. Steele is the Local Property Officer at the Buffalo Sector Headquarters for the US Border Patrol.  He has worked in property for more than 20 years, starting in the Navy in 1988 and after retiring in 2008 as a storekeeper.  Since then, he has worked with the Border Patrol and just recently joined NPMA at the suggestion of Ray Nichols who is the Personal Property Specialist that covers his area for property issues.

So welcome AND congratulations, Lindian!

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Fed SIG

by Robert Holcomb, CPPM, CF

The strength of the NPMA is the diversity of viewpoints, experiences, and interests.   However, I'm sure many NPMA members have looked down the list of topics at the National Education Seminar or one of the regional seminars, and thought "those sessions don't help me out at all".  That's because in our interest to cover so much ground, our expertise and depth is very broad, but not as deep as it could be.  So, to aid all the NPMA folks who have an interest in the management of property used by the Federal Government, do we have a SIG for you!

The Federal Property Special Interest Group (SIG) of the NPMA, affectionately abbreviated as FedSIG, wants to offer help to our NPMA members who are federal employees or work as a contractor managing federal property in accordance with the Federal Management Regulation (FMR).   And, to be sure, we also want to invite others interested in helping the federal government be more efficient and be better stewards of the property entrusted to our use.   April 15th is right around the corner, and that should remind each of us that much of our taxes are used to acquire the assets that the federal agencies use to perform their mission.   We are all taxpayers... right?

I was honored to be selected as the first chair of this august group!  We're fortunate to have a capable and engaged leadership team who will assist our members in providing lots of useful and useable information and who will also work to gather input and suggestions into how to improve our federal asset management policies and procedures.  

As the January issue of the Digest described; our team decided to tackle these issues first:

·  Standard Staffing Models
·  Alternate fuel green sourcing
·  Excess, disposal and retire of property
·  Federal property terminology

Our first formal meeting as a group will be in conjunction with the National Capital Area Conference in Alexandria, VA, on March 15th and 16th.   For more information and registration access, please follow this link: http://www.npma.org/CourseDetails.aspx?EventID=3313.

If you'd like to join us in making Federal asset management better, please e-mail Valerie Rovine at vrovine@sunflowersystems.com   We look forward to your participation!! 
 

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My Plant Clearance Officer just told me that all excess property goes through a screening process.  How long is the screening process and where can I find that in writing?

1. 46 days, FAR 45.602-3(a)
2. 60 days, ASTM E2279-03
3. 10 days, FAR 45.606-3(b)(1)
4. 30 days, DFARS 245.608-2(b)(1) 

Click here for the correct answer.

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2010 Central Region

Early rate deadline extended to April 1!  Register today.

April 15 & 16

Austin, TX

National Education Seminar

June 14 - 17

Myrtle Beach, SC

Early Rate on or before May 14, 2010:
NPMA Member--$675 
Non-member--$800 (includes one year membership)

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The Digest is published bi-monthly for the members of NPMA.  If you have news or information for The Digest, please email your articles/comments/questions to Kim.Bowley@ManTech.com