1. New Pay, New Thresholds.

   After the new year,s pay adjustments, which will take effect January 7, 2007, the new statutory thresholds for provisions that rely on the General Schedule or the Executive Schedule for the application of certain ethics provisions (including outside earned income and employment restrictions) are:

   • 120% of the minimum rate of basic pay payable for grade 15 of the General Schedule is $111,675.60.
   • 15% of the annual rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Schedule is $25,200.
   • 86.5% of the annual rate of basic pay for level II of the Executive Schedule is $145,320.
      
2. Former NASA Employee Pled Guilty to False Statements and Acts Affecting a Financial Interest.

   The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia announced in a press release that a former NASA employee, Michael J. Peters, pled guilty to false statements and acts affecting a financial interest. The press release states that Peters, a Senior Analyst at NASA who was responsible for evaluating and recommending financial software, recommended that NASA purchase a software product from OSS at the same time that OSS was paying Peters to develop and market the product. Peters disguised the payments on his SF-278 and did not list OSS as an employer on his security questionnaire form. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 23, 2007.

3. File Those Training Plans.

   Remember that all DAEOs should have their Annual Training Plan on file by the end of the calendar year for the next year,s training cycle. This requirement is found in 5 CFR 2638.706 and JER 11-302. A sample format for the plan may be found on our website.

DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this advisory is to disseminate relevant information and sources of general guidance, policy and law on Government Ethics issues to the Department of Defense ethics community. Advisories are not intended to be and should not be cited as authoritative guidance, DoD policy, or law.