Idaho Bulletin 360-6-8

September 11, 2006

SUBJECT:  PER - FY 2006 Awards Program

TO:  All Employees, NRCS, Idaho

Purpose.  Provide guidance and deadlines for preparation and submission of FY 2006 award nominations.

Expiration Date.  September 30, 2007

Summary of Deadlines:

October 20– Extra Effort and Performance Awards Nominations due to ACs/Principal Staff
October 20 – Community Service  Award due to ACs/Principal Staff
October 27– Civil Rights Awards Nominations due to Human Resources Officer (HRO)
October 27 – Outstanding Performance Awards Nominations due to State Conservationist
October 27 – ACs/Principal staff submit nominations for Extra Effort and Performance Awards to HRO

The following information outlines procedures to recognize staff members for their FY 2006 accomplishments through the awards program.

The Awards process for FY 2006 has been changed.  The following  will be the manner in which an award nomination will be processed.  Award nominations for Extra Effort and Performance Awards will be submitted by an employee’s supervisor to the appropriate AC/ASTC.   The AC/ASTC will review forward the nominations to Human Resources.   Human Resources will review the award nominations for completeness then forward the nominations to the State Conservationist for final approval.    Civil Rights Award Nominations will continue to be processed as outlined in the following section on Civil Rights Awards.   Outstanding Performance Award Nominations (QSI) should be processed in the same manner as the other performance awards.  The State Conservationist will be the approving official.

The information provided by the nominator will include three documents:

• Form AD-435 and AD-435A (the Five Tier Performance Plan with the final rating for FY 06)

• Form AD 287-2 (Recommendation and Approval of Awards) (Attachment #1)

• Narrative, not to exceed one typed, single-spaced page

This narrative is perhaps the most important portion of the nomination.   Remember that other individuals reviewing/approving the nomination may not have the same knowledge, as you the nominator, about the individual being nominated.  You need to do a good job of selling the nomination.  The nominator should use the Justification Outline (Attachment #2) when writing the narrative.

The narrative should be qualitative and quantitative in nature. For example, when an employee exceeds expectations by improving quality of work, timely completion of the project, increasing productivity, and program effectiveness, describe what and how; "The employee exceeded expectations by increasing the quality of engineering designs with no spot check deficiencies (last year there were deficiencies). Increased productivity and program effectiveness resulted from the employee gaining engineering job approval authority on several new and needed BMP's, which resulted in a 50% increase in the workload (50 to 75 projects).  The increased workload was completed in a timely fashion, improving the confidence of the producers and furthering program effectiveness”.

If the employee is deserving of an award, they deserve a well written, descriptive narrative. The justification outline basically asks how an employee exceeded expectations, and how the results benefit the NRCS mission.  The narrative should state what the exceeded expectations were, and how they were exceeded by the employee. You need to quantify the results/benefits of the employee's efforts.  Remember that a well-written narrative is more likely to receive a favorable review.

Outstanding Performance Award (Quality Step Increase, QSI)

A Quality Step Increase (QSI) Award is an individual award given as an additional within-grade increase (WGI) for outstanding performance, without regard to required waiting periods, that increases an employee’s base pay.  Like Performance Awards, QSI’s are based on the employee’s most recent rating period.   QSI’s may be granted when an employee’s final adjective rating is “outstanding”.   Employees may receive only one QSI during a 52-week period, and not in conjunction with a Performance Award.  All employees (except for SES and wage-grade employees) are eligible for QSI’s.

Follow the steps below when nominating an employee for an Outstanding Performance Award:

• Prepare and submit nominations for Outstanding Performance through the appropriate AC/ASTC State Conservationist, by October 20, 2006.   Use form AD-287-2, Recommendation and Approval of Awards.  The AC/ASTC will forward to HR by October 27, 2006.

• A narrative justification to support the nomination should be prepared using the criteria found in the Justification Outline (not to exceed one single-spaced page) and attached to the AD-287-2.

• Outstanding Performance nominations can ONLY be submitted by the nominee’s supervisor  and are decided solely by the State Conservationist.

• Please maintain the confidentiality appropriate when preparing awards for an employees.

Extra Effort Awards

An Extra Effort Award is a one-time lump sum cash award which is appropriate when an employee or group of employees performs substantially beyond expectations on a specific assignment, for a single project, or similar one-time achievement of a non-recurring nature.  These expectations may or may not be contained in the employee's performance appraisal worksheets.  Amounts for Extra Effort awards must be based on tangible and/or intangible benefits to the government.  An Extra Effort Award may range from $500 to $750.

Any employee may nominate another employee for an Extra Effort Award.  If you nominate an employee that you do not supervise, the supervisor must be informed of the nomination.   Once the supervisor of the employee has been informed of the nomination the nomination should be forwarded through the appropriate AC/AST to Human Resources.

Follow the steps below when nominating an employee for an Extra Effort Award:  

• Prepare an AD-287-2, Nomination and Approval form, along with a written justification to support your nomination as outlined in the Justification Outline (not-to-exceed one single spaced sheet).

• Submit the paperwork to the nominee's supervisor.  Supervisors are to comment on nominations they receive for the purpose of providing clarification and strength to the substance of the written justification.  Supervisors should sign the AD-287-2 in the section for Recommendation and Approval in block 21.  

• Supervisors (if not the Area Conservationist/principal staff) should forward the extra effort nominations to the respective Area Conservationist/principal staff by October 20, 2006.

• Area Conservationist/principal staff must forward the nominations to the Human Resources Officer by October 27, 2006.

• The justification for an Extra Effort Award cannot include an assignment or achievement that was recognized with a Spot Award during FY06.

Community Service Award:    The Community Service Award is a new category this year.   A Community Service Award should be processed in the same manner as an Extra Effort Award.  Some examples of items that may fall in this category are: 

1. Community service – for promoting conservation in the community (perhaps through education).

2. Public relations – promotion of special projects.

3. Innovative ideas that benefit the area or state.

Performance Award

Performance Awards are presented to employees for having performed  their normal day-to-day duties in an above fully successful manner. This may be demonstrated in many ways; e.g. regularly contributes high work output; consistently completes work products of high quality; provides exceptionally prompt and courteous service to customers, clients and coworkers etc.  Performance Awards are intended to recognize  good performance throughout the rating cycle.

Follow the steps below when nominating an employee for an Performance Award:

• Prepare an AD-287-2, Nomination and Approval form and attach a copy of the employee's completed year- end performance appraisal work plan.

• Submit a narrative justification to support the nomination using the criteria found in the Justification Outline (not to exceed one single spaced page) and attach it to the AD-287-2.

• Cash Awards for performance can only be nominated by the nominee's supervisor. Employees may not nominate their supervisor.

• Submit the original AD-287-2 and associated documentation to your respective Area Conservationist or principal staff by October 20 2006.

• Area Conservationists/principal staff must forward Performance Award nominations to the Human Resources Officer by October 27, 2006.

• All approved awards will be entered into  ICAMS by the Human Resources staff.

• The justification for a performance award cannot include recognition that was previously given to an employee through a Spot Award or an Extra Effort Award during FY 06.

This is a reminder that an extra effort or a performance award may be given to a group of individuals.  An example would be if a group of employees performed beyond expectations on a specific assignment the entire group could be given an extra effort award.  If an entire field office maintained a level of performance beyond expectations a group award could be given for their performance.

Civil Rights Awards

There are two Civil Rights Award categories: Civil Rights Program Delivery and Contributions to Workforce Diversity.  These annual awards by the Idaho Civil Rights Committee recognize NRCS employees who

demonstrate excellence in the advancement of civil rights in program delivery and work force diversity.  These awards may be for an individual and/or  group/team. Recipients of these awards become eligible to compete for nationa1 Civil Rights awards.  All employees, including supervisors and managers, are encouraged to submit nominations for these awards.

Criteria for the Civil Rights Awards is attached (Attachment #3).  Prepare your nomination on the AD-287-2, Recognition and Approval form.  A narrative justification (not to exceed one single spaced page) to support the nomination should be prepared using the criteria found in Attachment No.2, Justification Outline and attached to the AD-287-2.  On your nomination form, identify the type of award: Civil Rights Program Delivery or Contributions  to Workforce Diversity.  Forward the Civil Rights Award nominations to the Human Resources Officer by October 27, 2005.  The HRO will forward the nominations to the Idaho Civil Rights Committee. The Idaho Civil Rights Committee will review the nominations and make recommendations to the State Conservationist.

Attached to this bulletin are the following documents to assist in the award nomination process:

AD-287-2, Recommendation and Approval Form (Attachment #1)

Justification Outline (not-to-exceed one single spaced page) to support the nomination (Attachment #2)

Idaho Civil Rights Award Criteria (Attachment #3)

Idaho Employee Recognition Delegation Chart (Attachment #4)

Complete confidentiality is required of nominators and supervisors until final approval is received.

Supervisors have a responsibility to recognize exemplary work by staff,  I  encourage all employees who have witnessed an excellent mission-oriented accomplishment, to recognize the excellent work by submitting award nominations.

Make certain your nomination is routed in a timely fashion in order to meet Human Resources deadlines.  The deadlines are to ensure timely preparation and processing of cash awards. Late nominations will not receive consideration.

/s/                                           
RICHARD SIMS                                         
State Conservationist               

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