Wednesday, April 16, 2007
Thursday, April 17, 2007
Friday, April 18, 2007

Designated Federal Official (DFO)
Nancy L. Ferree, TAP Program Manager, Plantation, FL

Members Present
Ben Chapman
Steve Fulkrod
David Jones
David Meister
Neil Mitchell
Max Scott
Lee Stieger
Chuck Tice
Edward Uhrig

Members Absent
Carolyn Adams-Dodds
Joe Hurr
Howard Stahl
Norma Woodard

Staff Present
Anita Fields, Secretary
Sallie Chavez, TAP Analyst
Jim Cesarano, IRS Program Liaison (April 16-17)
Sidney Gardner, IRS Program Owner

Guest(s) Present
No guests were present.

Welcome & Roll Call/Quorum
Lee Stieger opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. 

Introduction of Committee Members
Lee suggested that we go around the room and introduce ourselves.

Approval of Meeting Minutes
Minutes were approved by consensus with the correction of Jim Cesarano, IRS Program Liaison instead of Program Owner.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

National Office Report
Nancy Ferree gave the national office report.  She mentioned that the budget is suffering from budget cuts. We as a staff are adjusting ways that we can save on the budget.  She discussed the Town Hall meetings which occurred in Alabama and Durham.  The next scheduled Town Hall is Springfield, IL.  She mentioned that Barbara Foley has been promoted to a grade twelve and will be leaving TAP soon.  Inez De Jesus is leaving May 31st due to retirement.  There is a new Jr. Analyst that will start April 27th in the Plantation office.  Recruitment is going well.  We have more applications in draft and final this year than last year.  There are 568 drafts and 328 in final.  Max Scott suggested that we get harder on the interviews.  We need to try and impress upon the candidates how much volunteer time is required.  Nancy Ferree reported that the Annual Report is coming out soon; it is coming along well.  She recalls that Steve Berkey stated that there have been 305 issues elevated in the five years TAP has been in existence.

Expectations from the Program Owner
Sidney Gardner wanted to let the group know that the work you do is important to us.  He wants to ensure his recommitment to the group.  He stated that the DAT is going to dry up soon.  He wants to try and come up with new ideas on how you can continue to help.  Testing is one area he feels that the panel can help.  There is a meeting scheduled for May 13, 2008 at 10:00 am EST to discuss the possibilities.  He would like to have conversations around the scores and know how the committee gets that score.  Jim suggested that what needs to be focused on is the before and after scores.  How we want the teams to respond after they get the scores.  Sallie stated that she is going to start giving a little more information about the notices before she passes them along to the committee. Sidney mentioned that he will follow-up on some members that are interested in attending some training sessions.

Jim reported that his office is now part of distribution and publication.  The Notice Team has the recommendation that was submitted and will be meeting with you.  There is a system called Publishing Service Request (PSR).  When a notice comes in it is sent to a reviewer.  He wants to know if there is a possibility to get the Notice committee to work with a reviewer.  The reviewer normally has to have something back within 30 days.  The timeframe would be a five day turn- around.  Bernie Coston is going to the May 29th meeting he will give a presentation on TAP.  The purpose is to make the Notice Committee known to other Analyst’ as a resource.  If there is a newspaper article published about the Notice Committee please make a copy and get it to Jim so that he can pass it on to the person that is responsible for putting out their newsletter.  TIGTA is coming out with a report that is going to have a section on program improvement.  Communications get a good write-up and that makes the Exams section very happy.  That is something that is real important that shows what the committee have done for our program.  Jim impressed upon the members to take credit for that.

DAT for Forms (FAT) Report
Lee Stieger stated that maybe we need to take another look at the (Forms Assessment Tool) FAT.  After extensive conversation on the FAT and the DAT and how to approach the matter Max proposed that the current subcommittee go and re-look the FAT then report back the committee.  Chuck Tice has volunteered to work on the subcommittee with Lee, Max, and Ben.  Sidney proposed that as the committee goes back to take another look at the form to confer with Bob Erickson to solicit input on what makes a good form.  Max would like to have the subcommittee’s input by May 1.

Form 886-H HOH
Dave stated that David Jones, Ben Chapman and Dave Meister will have it scored within the next two weeks.   

Closing Remarks/Adjourn for the Day
The members that went on the print tour shared the experiences with the tour.  Ben Chapman suggested that the tour can be eliminated unless we are going to have a face to face there. 
Chuck Tice re-capped what was discussed and asked if anyone had any questions.  The meeting was adjourned at 4:45pm MT.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Welcome/Announcements
Lee Stieger opened the meeting by wishing everyone good morning.  Steve Fulkrod announced that Express Shuttle will pick you up from downtown if you make a reservation 24 hours in advance.  Chuck announced there is a late check-out of 12:30 for anyone that needs it.

Subcommittee Review
Lee mentioned that we need to be aware that 8 members are rotating off the committee this year which leave only 4 two year members with any experience.  This leaves the committee in bad shape for the coming year.  Jim Cesarano volunteered to do some training by phone if he need to.  Max suggests that we assign a DAT to the new people and have them score a notice and he will work them through it to ensure they understand.  Dave Jones suggested that the Chair of the committee draft a letter about the state of this committee by October or November 2008.

Document Assessment Tool (DAT) Subcommittee
Lee will be filler on the DAT team if the subcommittee has a hole when scoring notices.

Dynamic Project Team (DPT)
Mike Peleg has sent a response and the committee is satisfied with that response.  Jim is going to report to Mike, if there is anything else he wants done he can send it to them.  The only thing left is the DAT scoring.  Lee will send a memo to Mike asking is there anything else that he need for us to do.

Targeted and Improved Communications
There was a PowerPoint Presentation created and used to educate the Notice Improvement Office.  Where do we go from here?  Jim stated that there is no plan to adopt direct marketing techniques.  Sallie asked is there someone that we can formally send this document?  Sidney responded with send this to him and he will get a response drafted.  This subcommittee is now closed out.

Vision Impaired (TIGTA) Project
The memo for the Vision Impaired was sent to Program Owner.  We received a letter back which stated that a memo has been sent to David Krieg and Julie Garcia because it was out of the purview of the Program Owner.  We are still waiting on something further from them.  Lee sent a memo to David and Julia and still has not received anything back.  Sidney will follow-up on this when he gets back to the office. 

Combined Forms & Testing Project (CF&TP)
We received a letter from the Program Owner in January.  Lee sent a memo to Barbara Powell requesting a meeting.  There is a meeting set for 13 May 2008 at 10:00am EST.  The subcommittee is made active.  The description of the subcommittee may change.   Jim stated that this will be a good meeting to showcase the testing analyst about what you can do to help them.   There will be a call set up prior to the call with the Testing Office.  The parties participating are the CF & TP subcommittee.  The pre-call is scheduled for 10am EST on 6 May 2008.

DAT for Forms (FAT)
Discussions were held 16 April 2008.  Please refer to pg 3.

Insert Report
Davie Meister has drafted a report that has been forwarded.  The lead now has it.  We are currently waiting for feedback.

Insert Project
The committee received some 13 notices from Ann Gelineau; she has also attached three questions that she would like for the committee to answer while scoring these notices.  She wants you to approach this as citizens receiving this notice; how valuable is the insert that accompany it?  The three notices that will be looked at today are the CP 12, CP 14 and the CP 161.

Insert Project Breakout
Lee suggested that a form be created so that after a notice is reviewed the comments are similar by different teams.  Dave Meister asked what inserts is required by law.  Jim answered that none were required by law.  Sallie asked if it is appropriate to invite the leads for the team to our call.  There was an extensive conversation on how to develop this form.  It has been decided by consensus that the cost effectiveness is somewhere on the form. It is important to at least have comments on the form. Remember your value to the team is that you represent the interest of the taxpayer.  There will be other stakeholders but your main role is to represent the taxpayer.

Sidney Gardner asked if the Notice Improvement Office had reviewed the DAT scoring tool.  Have the standards been reviewed lately? Do they need to be changed? Are the standards still good?

Lee asked if there are more criteria that need to be addressed. Can some areas be deleted as they are not applicable? Are other items necessary to be added?

Jim asking if you are recommending that it is a total overhaul.  Maybe look at it and make a recommendation to make a change to the DAT scoring standards.  Dave suggests that we make some minor changes and make recommendations for years to come.  Sallie asked, do you think the entire committee have the standardization scoring or just score it for a taxpayer point of view. 

Lee stated that we should make sure that the DAT doesn’t contradict the standardization guide.  Lee stated that we don’t want to review the DAT standards until we receive the standardization guide from the Program Owners.

DAT Review
Chuck Tice reviewed the Document Assessment Tool (DAT) which can be found on TAPSpace.  He explained the process how the Notices are scored and how the subcommittee come together to norm their scores. 

Jim brought up an issue from a SME.  The SME states that if the same people score the after, then they are going to come to the same conclusion.  Jim suggested that the team that has done the after score should be different than the team that did the before score.  Lee stated that the teams will shuffle teams periodically to break up the dynamics of one team. 

Jim is hoping to open up the avenue of getting more before and after, especially with the DPT this year.

Dave Meister suggested that the committee have three teams of 4 instead of four teams of 3.  He stated that he has had more success when it comes to norming scores when there are four members of a team.  There is a consensus that it is three teams of four and you need three team members to norm.  If there is an issue with getting three members then Lee will fill in.

DAT Scoring Standards
Dave Jones discussed the letter grades for DAT scoring.  He and his subcommittee created a document that outlined the criteria for B, C, and D.  He explained the criteria for an A and an F then B, C, and D will fall somewhere in-between. 

Steve suggested that if we use this internally with TAP then this is good. If we are trying to write something up for the IRS then he is not too sure that it can be done.  Lee stated that we are just going to use this to help the committee in doing the scores.  It has been accepted to be used internally only.

DAT Scoring
Sallie passed out a spreadsheet which has the priority list of Notices that needs to be scored.  Sallie asked Jim why the 500 numbered notices are so high on the priority list is when they have already been scored.  Jim stated that it is being held by the Notice team to work on when they get around to it.  They do not have to be re-scored.

Chuck is the lead for Team 1 which consists of Max and Lee.  Ed is the lead for Team 2 which consists of Neal and Ben.  Dave Meister is the lead for Team 3 which consists of Dave Jones and Steve. 

Closing Remarks/Adjournment
Chuck Tice recapped the events of the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 4:50pm.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Welcome/Announcements
Lee called the meeting to order and welcomed everything to the last morning of the meeting.  He thanked Sidney Gardner for attending the meeting.

Sidney re-stated that now that he is back from his detail he will be committed to this committee.  He thanked them for inviting him to the face to face.  He stated that he may not be able to give an immediate turn around, but he will respond.  He stated that it is up to the committee how they want to send responses up to his office.  He is happy with just an email but if something has to go outside their office it may have to be in a formal memo. 

Lee passed out the meeting satisfaction surveys and asked that the members complete and turn in before they leave.  He also stated that if the score is a 3 or below to please add a comment. 

Max wanted to thank the committee for supporting him while he was the chair of the Notice Committee.   This is his last year and stated that it has been a real pleasure to have worked with everyone.

Dave Meister stated that out of the three years he has been on the committee he has not seen any response on any of the Notices scored. He mentioned that it would be nice to know if any of the Notices have been changed based on the committee’s input. Even if they decide not to use their comments just let them know thank you but we are not going to use your suggestions would be nice.

Sidney agreed that the committee should be getting information back on what has occurred regardless of a change or not.  He also mentioned that you will start getting more interaction on the scores from the Notice Analyst.

Dave Jones questioned if there is any way the committee can get a tracking sheet on the notices scored.  Lee stated once the DAT scores are sent forward the committee is done, unless they come back with questions.  Sidney will commit to giving a status on the monthly conference calls on all notices that have been forwarded.

DAT Team Report Out
Lee asked if the were any questions or issues doing the DAT scoring and if they have used the new standards?  The new standards should only be used for norming or personal information as we go through.  Dave asked if it was possible to send an original notice when the committee receives them.  Sallie stated that the committee get the notices is the way she receives them. 

Chair’s Wrap Up
Lee reported that Sallie is going to get the insert report out by next week.  The chairmen of that subcommittee need to get the information to her and anyone else on the committee that have comments get it to Lee or Sallie this week.  At that point we will formalize or Insert Project Team. 

On the Combined Forms and Testing remember that there is a call on 13 May to formalize the presentation to Barbara Powell and her team. 

We will be setting up a call with Bob Erickson for the FAT subcommittee and from that call they will go back and re-adjust that form. 

There will also be reconstructing of the DAT three 4 team members. There were discussions on the norming process and the consensus is that there needs to be three people to norm scores.

Nancy Ferree stated that it is up to the committee to call and encourage people to get involved if they are always missing the calls. 

Lee suggested that the members put in a plug with their area committee members to switch over to the Notice Committee.

There were discussions on eliminating the print site tour.  Many members agree that the print tour was very informative to them and help them to understand the insert project better.  A couple members felt that if it is valuable to have the face to face earlier in the year then the print site tour is less important.  This will be talked about at a later date.

Dave Jones asked Sidney if they can use former TAP members to test surveys on.  Sidney will research and get back to the committee.  He thinks that would be a good idea.

Closing Remarks/Survey/Adjournment
Chuck Tice recapped the meeting and wished everyone a safe trip back home.  He also mentioned that you see on TAPSpace the success stories for what the Notice Committee has done. 

Nancy mentioned that she was glad that Dave Meister spoke up to Sidney about not getting responses back from the Program Owners.  Dave Meister stated that he has noticed in the last couple of years the Program Owners have progressed with the input and working with the committee.  Lee Stieger is going to send an email to Bernie Coston regarding the meeting room situation.  He feels that we could have paid for a meeting room with the amount we spent in cabs to get to the IRS building. Sallie acknowledged that Neil Mitchell, Ed Uhrig, David Jones, Joe Hurr, David Meister, Max Scott, Howard Stahl and Lee Stieger will be rotating off the panel this year and she will truly miss them.  She thanked them for all of their hard work and time put in to the committee.  He doesn’t think it is advantageous to the IRS to have the meetings in an IRS building.  The meeting was adjourned at 11:00am.

Next Meeting is a teleconference on May 21, 2008 at 12:30pm EST.

*Certification:  These minutes were approved by the committee by consensus on May 21, 2008.