Inspection Issues

FGIS Personnel Changes

FGIS Deputy Administrator Randall Jones told the Grain Inspection Advisory Committee in November that 35 percent of the agency's workforce was eligible for retirement.  And, it sometimes seems retirements in key positions come in waves.  These are some key changes that have taken place over the last 60 days.

  • John Sharpe, director, Technical Services Division, went on extended leave on December 17, 2009 until his retirement in the spring of 2010. Don Kendall was named acting TSD Director.
  • At the Board of Appeals and Review, Mike Eustrom, Chairman, and Dale Phetteplace have both retired.  David Lowe, a 30-year veteran of the agency, has been named as the new BAR chair.

FGIS is taking steps to fill the vacancy created by John Giler's retirement last year as director of the Field Management Division.   On February 9, the agency re-posted the vacancy and is accepting applications through March 8, 2010.  The GS-15 position carries a salary range of $123,758- $155,000 per year.  The position announcement may be seen by clicking here: http://bit.ly/cT7FxP.  Robert Lijewski continues as acting director of FMD.


FGIS Topics

FGIS is poised to roll-out a number of applications developed for the new FGISOnline platform.  The following updates are courtesy of the Field Operations and Support Staff (FOSS) newsletter.

  • FGIS Official Licensing (FOL): This application is scheduled for release on March 1, 2010. The program will allow people to take their written tests online, enable the proctor to enter practical results online and receive immediate notification of pass/fail, notify people of license renewals, and more. The training for FOL will continue through February.
  • Quality Assurance and Control (QAC): This program is also scheduled for release on March 1, 2010, and its goal is to help strengthen the results of the entire official system. Service providers should have the opportunity to learn QAC on the staging server.
  • Inspection Data Warehouse: FOSS has been testing the supervision fee billing function. Staff is still making some minor modifications, but expect the application to soon be ready to run on actual data records on the production server. Staff will perform parallel testing with the supervision fee billing generated from the FGIS-922 forms for several months to ensure it is working properly.
  • Inspection Testing & Weighing (ITW): Export field offices have been testing and training on creating Cusum logs for shiplots on the staging server. Tentative implementation for shiplots only is to-be-determined. After completing deployment to all export port locations, Mary Vick will begin gathering requirements for ITW to support Cusum inspections of unit trains.

In addition, the FOSS newsletter listed those items that are being reported as minor or major non-compliances in the Compliance Review reports. The following were identified in recent reports from around the country:

  1. Weigher was absent during the taking of the tare and gross weights.
  2. Official samples were not stored in a secure manner.
  3. Worn dust seals on the primary sampler.
  4. Security seals missing from primary & secondary samplers.
  5. Cracked sieve in dockage tester.
  6. Pan ticket errors consisted of write-overs and corrections not initialed. 
  7. No written lockout procedure for D/T samplers. 
  8. Primary sampler not sealed, pelican was out of tolerance, and inspection door was missing on the secondary sampler.
  9. Incorrect procedures for sieving for insects and checking odors at barge sites. 
  10. GAC 2100's had outdated K values for grains not graded.


Stowage Licensing Process

With the new software for FGIS Official Licensing (FOL), there are inevitable questions about the new process.  Susan Fall, FOSS Licensing Program Manager, FGIS, offers this clarification on the stowage license process.

Agencies will be able to proctor the stowage tests under USGSA if the agency uses someone who has a stowage license as a proctor.  In the FOL computer, when one selects a proctor for a stowage exam, the computer will scan the licenses and add everyone from the agency who has a license for the function to the proctor list.  Any one of these can be used as a proctor.  (The stowage license is now divided into three licenses; all containers, land containers and water containers.)  If a person has a license for all containers they can proctor all tests.  If they have a license for just land or water containers, they can only proctor the type of stowage license that they have. (They will not show up in the proctor list if they do not have a license for a function.)

The Stowage license under AMA is new.  Stowage is one of the functions where the test can be waived under AMA if a person has a license under USGSA.  If a person has a stowage license under USGSA the agency can request a waiver of the AMA test to get an AMA license for that person.   If the agency does this through the FOL program, it will need to put the reason for the waiver in the comments section of the request.  The request should go to the appropriate Field Office for approval.  Once an agency has one person licensed for stowage under AMA, it can use that person as a proctor for additional stowage tests. (They will show up on the proctor list.)

On another proctor matter - As it is now, the program does not recognize an inspector as having a license for test weight, moisture, etc. It will take some programming to fix this so, a temporary fix in the next version of the program is to automatically add the inspector to the proctor list.  The inspector cannot automatically be chosen as a proctor, even though they are on the proctor list.  They must have a license for the function being licensed.


Mileage Rate Declines

The Internal Revenue Service has announced that effective Jan. 1, 2010, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

  • 50 cents per mile for business miles driven (down from 55 cents)
  • 16.5 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes
  • 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

The new rates for business, medical and moving purposes are slightly lower than last year's. The IRS said the mileage rates for 2010 reflect generally lower transportation costs compared to a year ago.  Further information may be found online at:  http://bit.ly/4E52MO.  


Dues Renewal Time

AAGIWA Secretary-Treasurer Dave Reeder reports members are renewing their memberships at a brisk pace.  The following active and associate members have already renewed their memberships.

Agencies 
Aberdeen Grain Inspection, Mike Hoesing
Alabama Department of Agriculture, John Johnson
Cairo Grain Inspection Agency, Keith Fronabarger
Central Iowa Grain Inspection Corp, Kevin Bredthauer
Champaign-Danville Grain Inspection Dept, David Ayers
Columbus Grain Inspection,  Ray Anderson
DR Schaal Agency,   Lewis Schaal
Eastern Iowa Grain Inspection and Weighing, David Slater
Enid Grain Inspection Company, Barry Hibbits
Fremont Grain Inspection Dept, David Reeder
Grain Inspection (Jamestown), Jack Trautman
Hastings Grain Inspection, Ted Hoelck
Kankakee Grain Inspection, Michael Fegan
Kansas Grain Inspection Service, Tom Meyer
Lincoln Inspection Service, Mark Fulmer
Louisiana Department of Agriculture, Len Sanders
Mid-Iowa Grain Inspection, Thomas Sloan
Midsouth Grain Inspection, Joseph Cupples
Minot Grain Inspection, David Thom
Missouri Department of Agriculture, Larry Kitchen
Montana Department of Agriculture Jeff Rumney
North Plains Grain Inspection (Gran,d Forks), Paul Bethke
Northeast Indiana Grain Inspection, Neil Reynolds
Ohio Valley Grain Inspection, Linda Meny
Sioux City Inspection and Weighing, Tom Dahl
Tri-State Grain Inspection, Damon Samson
Washington Department of Agriculture, Randall Deike
 
Associate Members 
AgTrax Technologies, Jeff Jackson
Foss North America, Mark Host
Gamet Manufacturing, Mark Olson
Neogen, Paul Pfieffer
R-Biopharm Inc, Kurt Johnson
Romer Labs, Charlie McGuill
Seedburo Equipment Co, Tom Runyon
Waters Corp. (Vicam), Patricia Jackson