Bonnie Klein, FEDLINK Advisory Council (FAC) Minutes of the FAC Meeting - October 21, 1999 FAC Present: FAC Absent: FLICC/FEDLINK Present: Maxine Brown (Chair) Cheryl Thomas Susan Tarr Denise Lomax Sheila Riley Milton MeGee Bonnie Klein Mike Conklin Joan Fitts Ken Nero (Vice-Chair) Fred Rettenmaier Kathy Eighmey Carla Pomager AGENDA 1. Approval of the September 16, 1999 FAC Meeting Minutes 2. FAC Issues and Topics -- Maxine Brown, Chair 3. White Paper: A Contracting Officer's Guide to FEDLINK 4. Update on FY2000 Procurement Activities - Joan Fitts & Kathy Eighmey 5. FLICC/FEDLINK Update -- Susan M. Tarr, FLICC Executive Director, FEDLINK Managers/Staff EOY Report Revolving Fund 6. Committee Reports 7. Old Business October 28 Membership Meeting 8. New Business 9. Announcements 1. The meeting convened at 9:15 am. The minutes of the September 16, 1999 minutes were edited and approved. 2. Maxine Brown had no issues or topics to discuss. However, Susan Tarr mentioned that the Library of Congress budget was passed and signed by the President on September 29, 1999. 3. The FAC had the following recommendations for the draft "A Contracting Officer's Guide to FEDLINK - Ten Reasons FEDLINK Helps you Get the Most for Your Agency's Information Service Dollar:" a) Possibly change the title. Replace or delete "Contracting Officer" to appeal to a broader audience including upper level managers and others involved in the contracting process. b) Limit text to one sheet of paper. c) Use Library of Congress letterhead. d) Include the FEDLINK mission statement and URL. e) Change Reason #9 to read: Get answers to questions quickly. FEDLINK staff are ready to resolve your questions and make administering your interagency agreements and accounts easy, freeing your staff to focus on information service. 4. Kathy Eighmey and Joan Fitts discussed how FEDLINK members will benefit in FY2000. In preparation for vendor negotiations, they did a data call to learn about customer situations and about other government agencies and networks agreements with current and potential FEDLINK vendors. Armed with their findings, they were better able to negotiate terms. Among their successes: a) Convincing vendors that there was no conflict in offering FEDLINK the same or better terms as offered through GSA Schedules. b) Getting vendors to offer their entire product line through one FEDLINK contract. c) Eliminating shipping and handling fees. d) Holding or bettering past vendor discounts. e) Getting vendors to provide electronic as well as paper invoices. f) Decreasing excess paper and information for vendor pricing and services. The October Tech Notes will have an article enumerating specifics. The FAC suggested that FEDLINK members use this information as concrete examples to supplement the Guide "Ten Reasons FEDLINK Helps You Get the Most Value for Your Agency's Information Service Dollars." 5. Susan Tarr reported: a) FEDLINK closed FY99 with $4.3 million in fee revenue; the budget was $4.7 million. However, with the delayed purchase of a replacement financial system and receipt of some large payments, the budget was met. The revenue difference between FY98 and FY99 was attributed to the service fee decrease for transfer pay customers. b) FEDLINK purchased an off-the-shelf accounting package for $25K. They are working with potential vendors to evolve this into a replacement financial system. c) Last year FEDLINK Accounts Payable began scanning the current year invoices. This year they expanded their imaging system and now plan to scan the past five years of invoices, delivery orders and IAGs. d) The FY2000 budget review foresees the budget will flat line or decrease. e) Steve Kerchoff is on a one-year detail to the Government Printing Office. f) With $9K in year-end money, FEDLINK was able to fund 3000 FLICC LC Bicentennial posters, 2500 mailing tubes, and bookmarks. They also purchased the copyright to the poster graphic and will make it and other kit materials available for download from the FLICC/FEDLINK website. The challenge is coming up with a good mailing list for federal libraries; FEDLINK staff will merge and purge several lists. g) This year FEDLINK extended its fiscal year deadline from August 15th to September 15th to allow members to deposit year-end money. A few members took advantage of the change, but the extension created uncertainty for the FEDLINK FY99 budget bottom line because the financial system only handles one year at a time. It slowed taking down FY99 which in turn has slowed processing FY2000 IAGs. In the near future FEDLINK hopes to have revolving fund authority so they do not have to execute contracts and expend funds by September 30th. h) FEDLINK is committing to online registration by 2001. They will eliminate a step by putting up the IAG rather than the registration form. Registration information will carry over year to year unless a member notifies them of a change. i) In FY99 saw $50 million in Transfer Pay accounts and $69 million in Direct Pay accounts. FEDLINK looked at the top 50 member accounts for the past five years and did not see a trend that would account for the Direct Pay increase. Serials and journal subscriptions are the largest category for Transfer Pay accounts. Online services are the largest category for Direct Pay accounts. j) The Cataloging Service will be offered for a fifth year. Next year it must be re-competed. Georgette Harris and Lynn McDonald will manage the duties of Patti Field's vacant position until a new hire is in place. k) On September 21st, Susan Tarr gave a presentation requesting FEDLINK Revolving Fund Authority to the oversight Congressional staff reviewing the draft Financial Management Act. This draft legislation bundles FEDLINK with other more controversial Library of Congress activities. In this all or nothing approach, it appears FEDLINK will lose. Susan Tarr will contact Winston Tabb to ask that FEDLINK Revolving Fund Authority be put into the 2001 Library of Congress Appropriations Request. 6. Committee reports: a) The FLICC LoC Bicentennial Working Group has moved on from the Tool-Kit to working out details for the blue-ribbon panel review of proposed digitization projects of unique federal library collections. They are also working on getting the Almanac ready for the FLICC/FEDLINK website. b) The new Chair of the Preservation Working Group is Bob Snare. The group plans to enlarge their webpage to include the LoC specifications for materials preservation and to link to the the Navy Disaster Plan. Susan Tarr noted the importance of preservation to our community in light of the 1994 Federal Library Census in which 300 respondents said they did preservation. c) Denise Lomax reported for the Education Working Group. On October 20th the URL for the Federal Librarians Handbook was sent to beta-testers who include a mix of new and seasoned librarians and twelve Catholic University Library School students. The chapter on contracting out and outsourcing was reviewed by Barbara Wrinkle. Bonnie Klein offered to review the chapter on copyright. The handbook is a living document which allows chapters to be released and changed as developed. d) The Education Working Group has funds to conduct 2001 Federal Library Census. 7. Ken Nero will host the FEDLINK Fall Membership Meeting on October 28th. There was discussion about working group reports. Because the meeting was not being held in the usual rooms but in the Pickford Theater, the FAC asked that a directional sign be placed in the Madison Building lobby. 8. Maxine Brown commented on the October 18th FLICC/LoC General Counsels Forum on Trademark Issues for Government Websites and Information Products. She asked if FEDLINK would contact the speaker, Philip Greene from Department of Commerce, and ask him to share how and where he searches to validate trademarks and service marks. 9. Susan Tarr noted that the 1999 FLICC Symposium on Knowledge Management will be held November 16th. 10. The meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.