Original message, October 24 2011:

We have heard from many of you in the field, and are concerned and engaged on the issue of the cancellation of awards for CS.  We have made our concerns known and have appealed directly to management.  This issue goes well beyond just the simple monetary effects.  It involves the future of promotions, career advances, morale and intra-agency relationships.  We know that management is weighing many of the issues as we speak and we expect a response shortly.  These issues include if/how the awards that the board already has decided might be announced,  why the cancellation is not ITA-wide, how the decision was made, and how it might be ameliorated.  Clearly since the cancellation is CS-wide it does not just involve AFSA but also ODO, HQ and all LES.  At the latest we will provide an update on these issues and discussions next week.  In the meantime, if you have concerns, or just feel the need to discuss or know more, please feel free to e-mail or call Steve or me.

Update, October 31 2011:

We have heard from many of you about your concerns and consternation over the defunding and cancellation of the awards this year.  Thank you for your valuable input.  We all know that these are difficult times, but it seems that the importance of these awards may not have been completely considered in the process.  The awards from the Selection Boards are vital to our work and our incentives both short term and long term.  I have written and/or spoken to the U/S, the DUS, the DG and the DDG about our concerns.  They essentially boil down to two:

The awards are vital the whole process of performance, morale, and retaining quality people in our organization.  We believe they should be continued at some level even if that means without funds.  CS Management has met with  us, understands our concerns on this, and is working on ideas to recognize the field for performance.  We expect that they will take in to account the recommendations of the Selection Boards.  They are also working on plans to recognize LES and GS.  We appreciate that they are working to address this issue and we are working with them to keep it timely.

In terms of intra-agency functioning and morale in ITA, we believe it is important that the U/S’s office deal with this issue.  It is difficult to see the fairness of how IA. MAC, and MAS employees can receive awards for performance that depended vitally on CS work in the field, without any appropriate recognition.  Unfortunately, we have received no response to our urgent messages to the U/S and the DUS.

We continue look for your input and thoughts on these issues and will keep you informed of any significant developments.