US Mint Newsletter Mint Roundup, 2010-2014
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Description of document: US Mint Newsletter Mint Roundup, 2010-2014 Request date: 08-September-2014 Released date: 22-October-2014 Posted date: 01-December-2014 Source of document: Disclosure Officer United States Mint 801 9th Street, N.W., 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20220 The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information provided on the governmentattic.org web site or in this file. The public records published on the site were obtained from government agencies using proper legal channels. Each document is identified as to the source. Any concerns about the contents of the site should be directed to the agency originating the document in question. GovernmentAttic.org is not responsible for the contents of documents published on the website. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY UNITED STATES MINT WASHINGTON , D.C . 20220 October 22, 2014 This is in response to your September 8, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for a copy of each issue of the Mint Roundup. Enclosed as responsive to your request are copies of the Mint Roundup. There are no reports for May, August, September, October, and December 2010 or for January 2011. Should you disagree with this FOIA determination, you may appeal this decision with 35 days from the date of this letter. Your appeal must be in writing, signed by you, and should be addressed to: Mr. Richard A. Peterson, Deputy Director, United States Mint, 801-9th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20220. Sincerely, Kathleen Saunders-Mitchell~ Disclosure Officer Enclosures MINT ROUNDUP - JANUARY 2010 To All United States Mint Employees: In our continuing effort to improve our internal communications and keep our employees informed, we are starting a new communications tool --- the "Monthly Mint Roundup." Our intent is to provide all United States Mint employees a brief summary of key issues and items from the various departments here at Headquarters. I intend to issue this monthly; our first issue is below. I hope you find this communications useful and informative. I ask managers/supervisors to ensure our employees who do not have access to computers are provided a copy of this email. Andy Brunhart Deputy Director United States Mint FY-10 (and beyond) Spending & Cost Saving Many of you no doubt listened to our President's State of The Union address to the nation this week. We have a national economic challenge. As a nation, we must carefully consider our expenditure and savings of funds. At the United States Mint we are and will continue to carefully review and consider our expenditure of funds as well as cost savings. FY-11 Planning The Change Leadership Team met on January 26 in what we call a "Larger Session", which included our Union Presidents and many Division Directors from HQ and our Plants. We reviewed and discussed status and progress of the United States Mint reflected by our Mint-wide Metrics and FY-10 Action Items. Of several challenges we face, we received an extensive briefing from Sales & Marketing regarding our declining Customer Satisfaction Index rating. Sales & Marketing indicated analysis is underway to identify the primary cause of the decline. Sales and Marketing did indicate the decline is not related to contractor performance in FY-10. Many questions were asked --- we are now waiting for the next level of analysis to be completed. The Larger Session also broke into groups and identified United States Mint Strengths and Weaknesses in the Enhanced Baldrige (google Baldrige Award criteria if you are interested) criteria in the areas of: Culture, Strategic Planning, Change, People, Leadership, Customer, and Delivery. The Larger Session produced a Mint Assessment of where we believe we are in each criteria. The results have been provided to all that attended. The chain of supervision will be cascading this information. Office of Workforce Solutions 1 -- The Rittenhouse Award Ceremony was held on January 27 h · HQ, Fort Knox, and all Plants participated via VTC. Congratulations to our Rittenhouse Award recipients. -- ih National Contract negotiations continued from January 4-15. -- Recently the Treasury Department conducted an audit of our Human Resources and EEO programs. Some of you may have participated in focus groups that were held during this audit. The Treasury Department has issued their report, and we have several areas that were identified where improvements are needed. Currently the divisions within the Workforce Solutions Department are creating action plans to address the deficiencies and gaps identified in this audit. A new EEO standard for managers and supervisors is being implemented. While EEO has always been part of supervisors' and managers' performance plans, a new standard has been written to better define what is expected of each supervisor and manager as it relates to EEO. During February all managers and supervisors will be trained on this new standard and performance plans will be amended to include this new description of the EEO standard. Office of $1 Coin Programs -- Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando is conducting a pilot program utilizing Native American $1 Coins at 17 locations within EPCOT Center and the Magic Kingdom. Up to this point, 420,000 Native American $1 Coins have been distributed to "guests" as change in the parks. Public acceptance has been nearly universal. The pilot program is scheduled to continue until at least May. We and Disney are both working toward the goal of park-wide distribution of $1 coins after the pilot concludes. Total annual demand for $1 coins in the Disney World parks is estimated to be 55 to 60 million. Office of CFO -- The FY 2009 Financial Statement Audit was completed and received an 'unqualified opinion' (this is the technical accounting term that means we received a favorable report from our auditors). The FY 2009 Annual report is available in hard copy and on the internet www.usmint.gov/downloads/about/annual report/2009Annua1Report.pdf. Corrective action plans for the small number of findings identified during the audit are being worked. -- The Mint's submission to the President's FY 2011 Budget submission has been made. The budget will be submitted by the President to Congress February 1. Even though the United States Mint does not receive an appropriation from Congress, legislation requires that we submit an annual budget to Congress outlining our expected revenues (the money we receive from selling our coins) and our expected expenses. More details will be provided about this topic after the official release of the President's Budget. Informational Technology -- The United States Mint1s Asset Refresh program kicked off last June. In addition to new computers, customers will receive Microsoft Office 2007 and Internet Explorer 7 software. The IT Department began a test pilot of the new equipment last October. The test concluded in January. The next phase of the Asset Refresh program will consist of the replacement of all desktop computers for the four manufacturing facilities and Ft. Knox. The equipment replacements will begin at the end of February and take a couple months. The Refresh at Headquarters will start in April and conclude in about December. -- We continue to experience intermittent disruptions in Internet service following the transition to Treasury's new telecommunications service program, TNET. Our technical teams continue to address and resolve connectivity issues as they emerge. In parallel, the CIO has shared the Mint's concerns with IT counterparts in Treasury. The IT Department remains fully engaged with the TNET program office and is committed to ensure that Mint personnel have uninterrupted access to internet services going forward. -- The IT Department has a departmental action item to create and test an enterprise IT disaster recovery plan. This plan must be specific for each site, and must integrate as part of the Mint's overall COOP plan. IT disaster recovery planners from Headquarters and production facilities met in January to identify enterprise dependencies and recovery priorities and to assess the impact of new technologies on existing plans and processes. The Executive Steering Committee will soon be validating the plan's objectives, recovery priorities and timelines. Sales & Marketing -- We've begun to meet with representatives of Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES) to discuss developing initial concepts for a Traveling Exhibit Project. The exhibit will contain coins, medals and strong visuals that tell compelling stories to increase the appreciation and understanding of the history of coinage. The exhibit will travel to selected cities. -- The marketing campaign for the most recent phase of the Artistic Infusion Program (AIP} call for artists used web-based advertising strategies and tools, including a new on line application. The enhanced effort resulted in over 19,000 individual application downloads. Four new artists were selected for the AIP. The new artists' contracts began in mid-January. -- On the coin design front, the 2011 Presidential $1 Coin designs (Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison and Cleveland) were approved by Treasury's Deputy Secretary. The 2011 America the Beautiful Quarters Program designs were presented to the Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee in January. They are Gettysburg National Military Park (Pennsylvania); Glacier National Park (Montana); O.lympic National Park (Washington); Vicksburg National Military Park (Mississippi); and Chickasaw National Recreation Area (Oklahoma).