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References: Chapter V, Section 5, and Chapter XI, Section 1, ET Handbook No. 391. Background: Recently, the Office of Personnel Management issued official 1995 pay tables (copies of Tables A and B attached) authorized by the President reflecting new pay raises for GS employees. Table A shows the new salaries for GS employees incorporating a 2.00% increase effective January 1995. Table B shows the new salaries for GS employees incorporating the 2.00% increase and a locality payment of 5.48% for the locality pay area of Washington- Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV (Net Increase 3.22%) effective January 1995. The locality rates of pay are considered basic pay for retirement, life insurance, premium pay, and severance pay purposes and for advances in pay. They are also used to compute worker's compensation payments and lump-sum payments for accrued and accumulated annual leave. They are NOT considered basic pay for other pay administration purposes. All eligible white-collar workers automatically get the 2% national pay raise. But many civil servants who already are paid higher rates because they are in hard-to-fill jobs (such as Grade 2 through 7 clerical workers, scientists and engineers) will not get the 1.22% raise. A few will get part of the locality adjustment. Postal workers and DC government employees do not get either the national or locality raise. Federal and military retirees, whose pensions are linked to inflation, will get a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment. That adjustment will show up in their April annuity checks. Instructions: SESAs should provide copies of the attached GS Tables to appropriate staff members engaged in UCFE claims activities. Action Required: SESAs should follow the above instructions and provide the attached revised Federal Pay Tables to appropriate staff.

Background.: Beginning with the implementation of the UI QC Program in 1986, SESAs and Regional Offices (RO) received ADP equipment with which to accomplish QC-related tasks. The Digital Equipment Corporation's Pro 380 microcomputers were initially introduced to support these tasks. In 1989, these computers were replaced with Artecon's SUN 3/60 computers. The Artecon computer systems also included a number of peripheral devices, such as modems, terminal servers, tape drives, and printers. During the summer and fall of 1994, the Artecon computers were upgraded to Sun SPARC 10 computers and the Sun 3/60 computer phase-out period was initiated. QC/UIRR Equipment Utilization and Disposition Policy: SESA QC/UIRR equipment is Department of Labor (DOL) purchased equipment or supplies issued to the States and subject to the DOL administrative requirements of 29 CFR 97.32 (equipment) and 29 CFR 97.33 (supplies). The terms "equipment" and "supplies" are defined at 29 CFR 97.3. Most of the peripheral equipment previously used with the SUN 3/60s has been integrated into the new SPARC 10 computer systems. This equipment includes Telebit modems, Exabyte 8mm tape drives, Kennedy 9-track tape drives, and Xylogics Annex Box terminal servers. Maintenance and Repair.: Maintenance for the SPARC computer systems is covered by a contract agreement between the UI NO and Edge Systems, Inc. Equipment covered by this agreement only includes the SPARC 10 computers and all internal devices, the serial port controller board, the 16" color monitor, the Hewlett Packard (HP) 4Si laser printers, and the new SUN keyboard. The Exabyte 8mm external tape drives, which are required for performing daily back-ups, the Telebit modems, which are required for communications, and the American Power Conversion (APC) uninterruptable power supply (UPS) units, which protect the SPARC computers and Sun monitors from power surges, are not covered under the Edge agreement. However, the NO will ship replacement equipment for these components on an as needed basis. Please note that Edge Systems, Inc. is shipping new UPS units to those SESAs that do not already have an American Power Conversion IPS 1250 unit. Also, the SESA System Administrators should report any problems with the SPARC 10 computer systems to the UI Hotline for resolution. Warranty Equipment.: Other peripheral equipment integrated into the SPARC 10 computer systems includes HP color deskjet printers, Epson dot matrix printers, QUME X-terminals, VT220-compatible terminals, the Kennedy 9-track tape drives and Annex Box terminal servers. The HP deskjet and Epson printers have been ordered, but not yet shipped to the SESAs. Also, some SESAs are still waiting to receive QUME X- terminals--these have also been ordered. Presently, the QUME X-terminal is covered for five years under the manufacturers' "Return to Factory" (RTF) warranty and the Epson and HP deskjet printers are covered under a one year RTF warranty. If service is required on any computer equipment, the SESAs must first contact the NO Hotline at 1-800-473-0188. If the equipment is still under warranty, a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number will be assigned by the Hotline to the defective unit and SESAs will return the component with its identifying RMA to the manufacturer for repair. Please note that all defective equipment must be shipped back in the original shipping containers, so please keep the original packing boxes. A replacement unit will be shipped directly to the SESA from the NO, and the NO will receive the repaired unit from the manufacturer. As warranties expire, SESAs should either have a maintenance contract implemented covering each component, be willing to pay time and materials to cover repair costs, be willing to pay for replacement equipment, or be prepared to do without the equipment if it breaks down. If there are questions regarding repair coverage for a particular component, please call the UI Hotline. Disposal Instructions.: If a piece of QC/UIRR equipment is no longer needed or breaks down and is no longer wanted, the SESA's computer system administrator should obtain serial numbers for that equipment and report the nature of the concern or malfunction to the NO Hotline for further instructions. Hotline staff will determine if the reported equipment is still under warranty or if NO replacement should take place. If the equipment is not under NO support, the SESA's computer system administrator will need to send an e-mail message to the NO (tonight!fran) requesting a Disposal Authorization Number (DAN) for each piece of UI equipment to be disposed of. The message should contain the make, model and serial number of the equipment. The NO will reply and provide a DAN for each item it authorizes for disposal. The SESA computer system administrator should enter the DAN into the SESA's property records and then dispose of the property in accordance with State laws and procedures. UI Policy on Tracking QC/UIRR Equipment. : The UIS will continue to conduct an annual verification of ADP equipment furnished to the States and ROs for use with QC and other UI activities. On or about March 30 each year the NO will provide each RO with the most current list of equipment that has been provided to each SESA in its Region. The RO should request each State agency to correct its equipment list and furnish the RO with a corrected copy so that the RO can ensure that an updated State inventory verification is provided to the UIS NO by the response date. Transition from SUN 3/60 computers to the SPARC 10s.: All UIS-developed applications have now been ported to the new SPARC computers. Finding replacement parts for failing internal components on the old 3/60 computers has become almost impossible. Also, service technicians are no longer familiar with the 3/60 architecture, and are unable to adequately support the 3/60 computers. For these reasons, as well as budget considerations and in accordance with our plan for discontinuing maintenance, maintenance support for the 3/60s will end on December 31, 1994. Some SESAs may wish to develop some work-arounds as support for the 3/60 computers ends. The older SPSS application software, specifically SPSS graphics, including the mapping functionality, is not available on the SPARC 10 computers. Any custom-designed applications created by the SESAs that are based on the SPSS graphics product will be unavailable to users unless the State continues operating the 3/60 computers. SPSS decided to exclude certain functionality in its latest product and the older versions will not run on the new SPARC computers. To date, the NO has been unable to find a cost-effective replacement product. All of the commercial third party software applications, except UltraCalc, the SPSS X-graphics package, and SunLink, will be removed from the 3/60 computers at the end of December. WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, SPSS, and Informix, were purchased as upgrades on the new SPARC systems, which nullifies the licenses existing on the 3/60s thereby requiring their removal. Only a few SESAs are currently using their Annex Box terminal servers to support attached printers. This print capability is currently only available on the 3/60 computers. The UIS Operations and Support (OPS) group has dedicated staff working on porting the software necessary to provide this printer support on the SPARC computers. It is anticipated that the software will be installed on the SPARC computers in mid-January. For those SESAs that wish to continue using the 3/60 computers for the printer support capability, the NO will accommodate their requests until software is released providing Annex Box terminal server printer support on the SPARC computers. Please remember, however, that maintenance support will not be available if the 3/60 should crash. If this occurs, the Annex Box terminal servers will still support terminals and PCs--but not printers, until the new software is released. The root password for the 3/60 computers will be given to the SESA computer system administrators by the Hotline staff in mid- January, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Annex Box terminal server software. At that time SESAs may request disposal numbers for the 3/60s from the NO. SESAs may elect to keep the 3/60s connected to the new SPARC 10 computers after support has been discontinued. However, the NO reserves the right to have the SESA computer system administrators disconnect the old machine from the SPARC system if it causes any problems. New Printers.: A postscript color printer (the HP 1200C Deskjet) has been ordered for each SESA. The OPS group will begin integration testing on the new printer as soon as testing for the Epson LQ570+ printers has been completed. Both the Epson and HP color printers should be shipped to the SESAs sometime in January, 1995. Action Required.: SESA Administrators are requested to advise staff of the contents of this UIPL.

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Action Required: SESA Administrators are requested to provide the attached Directories to appropriate staff.