DEPARTMENTAL NOTICE

Number:

3010-001

SUBJECT:

Electronic Distribution and Access to Departmental Directives

DATE:

April 5, 2005

OPI: Office of the Chief Information Officer

CODIFICATION/EXPIRATION;

Will be codified within one year of the date of this Notice

1 PURPOSE

The purpose of this Notice is to provide new procedures for the distribution and electronic access of Departmental Regulations, Departmental Manuals, Departmental Notices, Secretary’s Memoranda, and Secretary’s Announcements.

2 SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

a This Notice sets forth procedures for transmitting Departmental Directives electronically.

b The Office of the Chief Information Officer will disseminate Departmental Directives electronically in two (2) formats: Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (pdf) and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

c This Notice is effective April 29, 2005

3 BACKGROUND

The Office of the Chief Information Officer is responsible for disseminating Departmental Directives in a timely and efficient manner to employees within USDA. Departmental directives are used to issue policies, procedures and guidance which have general applicability to employees and two or more USDA agencies or staff offices.

4 PROCEDURES

a Electronic Publishing of USDA Departmental Directives. Departmental Directives will be published on the USDA website within 5 business days of their release. Directives can be downloaded and/or printed from http://www.ocio.usda.gov/directives/index.html.

Employees can also locate directives from the USDA home page by clicking on USDA Employee Services, USDA Directives, What’s New. To ensure notification of new issuances, employees may add the directives link to their MyUSDA personal page.

b Agency Directives System Liaison Officers. The Office of the Chief Information Officer will send an e-mail notification of new or revised directives to the Agency Directives System Liaison Officers (DSLO). The notification will include: subject, classification number, date of their release, name of the originating office, and the URL address linking to the Directive. The DSLOs must inform their agency of the new directive and its location.

c Employees without Internet or Email Access. Under current policy,

DR 0100-001 Departmental Directives System, Section 10 Responsibilities, states that agencies and staff offices are to manage a system for distribution, and provide Departmental directives to their staffs. Responsibility for access rests with the individual work units. Supervisors should bear the responsibility for providing hard copy to those employees who do not have email or Internet access.

d Alternate Formats. Supervisors who have employees with special needs are required to make the necessary arrangements to ensure that those employees have the tools necessary to do their jobs. As part of the USDA's commitment to ensure compliance with Section 508 requirements that all electronic and information technology be accessible to persons with disabilities, the USDA TARGET Center is the contact point and resource center for converting USDA information and documents into alternative formats. Alternative formats include Braille, large print, video description, diskette, and audiotape formats.

For assistance, contact the USDA TARGET Center 1400 Independence Ave. Room 1006-S Washington DC 20250-9876 (202) 720-2600

(V / TTY) (202) 720-2681, http://www.usda.gov/oo/target/.

5 INQUIRIES

Please contact the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Departmental Directives Manager at (202) 720-9270, if you have questions pertaining to these new procedures.