This message is sent to you on behalf of Colleen Barros, Acting Deputy Director for Management, NIH.

Dear Colleagues --

For several months, NIH has been developing policies for the fair and equitable treatment of employees "affected" by A-76 cost comparison studies or similar initiatives. NIH leaders are tailoring the decisions about affected employees to best serve the affected population and ensure that NIH continues to support its mission activities in the best way possible. After careful consideration, the NIH leadership has decided that affected employees who do not receive placement in the new Division of Extramural Activities Support (the extramural support services "most efficient organization", or MEO) can be accommodated in IC space and would be best served by remaining in their home ICs while in transition status. For future groups of affected employees, such an approach may not be feasible and a physical transition facility may be needed as a home base for employees in transition status.

The decision for affected extramural employees to remain in their home ICs does not change the fact that the employees will be in transition status. They will no longer perform extramural support functions, so they will need to find new permanent jobs -- in their home ICs, in another part of NIH, or elsewhere. As NIH has promised from the beginning, all affected employees will be provided transition services, including training and career counseling, to help them find new permanent positions.

Some of the decisions about the transition process are still under consideration by NIH leadership. Over the next several weeks, NIH will finalize policies on how long an employee can remain in transition status and what an employee's role and responsibilities will be during that time. We are also developing a plan for an NIH placement program for affected employees. All of these policies will be shared with you as soon as they are finalized.

In the meantime, employees with questions related to the new Division of Extramural Activities Support are encouraged to submit them through the DEAS website at http://extramuralmeo.nih.gov. General questions about NIH's workforce transition plans and policies should be sent to the Office of Strategic Management Planning (osmp@mail.nih.gov); responses will be posted to the FAQ section of the OSMP website (www.osmp.nih.gov).