Coast Guard Service Day.

On Tuesday afternoon the Coast Guard opened Professional Development Institute (PDI) 2005 with brief remarks by Mr. Robert Horowitz, Chief Financial Officer of the Coast Guard, who spoke on the current state of Coast Guard financial issues. Mr. Frank Wood of the Planning and Performance Office and Professor Carol McNair from the Coast Guard Academy then provided a brief presentation on cost- and performance-based management and the state of the Coast Guard's efforts in activity-based costing and activity-based cost management.

Following a short break, Mr. Michael Leathe from the Deepwater Project staff provided a presentation on efforts within the project to account and track total ownership costs for the various items and initiatives currently underway within the project.

Following the afternoon events, a no-host social and dinner was held at the Orbit Card, a short walk from the Convention Center. Over 100 Coast Guard civilian and military members and guests from around the country were in attendance to enjoy lively conversation, a tasty barbeque buffet dinner, and great company.

Mr. Horowitz began Coast Guard Service Day early Wednesday with a warm welcome to all of the attendees. He provided a brief description of the week's events and encouraged everyone to make the most of the outstanding training opportunities available at the PDI.

Mr. Horowitz then introduced Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the Coast Guard Chief of Staff. Vice Admiral Allen spoke to the audience about the importance of the work of the financial management community in supporting the senior leaders of the Coast Guard and the Department. He explained the concept of the Coast Guard Enterprise Leadership Architecture and described how tools such as activity-based costing and a uniform performance logic model enable the Coast Guard to fuse mission information and business information to create the knowledge needed to make risk-based decisions and reduce maritime security risks, ultimately enabling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a whole to meet strategic goals.

After completing his presentation, Vice Admiral Allen introduced Mr. Andy Manet, the Chief Financial Officer of the DHS. Mr. Manet provided insight on the stand-up of the new Department, the complexities of bringing together the various agencies under one department, and his vision on how he thought resources and processes could be used to standardize and optimize all of the various agency functions.

Following a short break, Mr. Maner gave a brief presentation on the DHS's Project eMerge2. This project will implement a DHS-wide enterprise solution for accounting and reporting, acquisition and grants management, asset management, cost and revenue management, and budgeting using a standard commercial off-the-shelf product for all agencies within the Department. The goal of this project is to increase efficiencies and effectiveness by optimizing the investments for all agencies.

Following the opening remarks, Mr. Maner, Vice Admiral Allen, and Mr. Horowitz presented the annual Chief Financial Officer Awards for Excellence to Coast Guard personnel demonstrating exceptional service in financial management for 2004. The awardees included the following:

Enlisted Member up to E-6: Storekeeper Second Class Patricia Johnson, Marine Safety Office, Charleston, South Carolina 

Enlisted Member E-7 and Above: Chief Storekeeper Charles Crabb, Coast Guard Cutter Reliance (WMEC-165), New Castle, New Hampshire 

Civilian Employee up to GS-9: Mr. Scott Dressel, Office of Planning and Budget, First Coast Guard District, Boston, Massachusetts 

Chief Warrant Officer: Chief Warrant Officer Eric Cain, Assistant Supply Officer, Air Station Traverse City, Michigan 

Commissioned Officer up to O-3: Lieutenant Eileen M. Lutkenhouse, Deputy Comptroller, Integrated Support Command, Portsmouth, Virginia

Commissioned Officer O-4 and Above: Commander Michael Sim, Planning Programming and Budget Section, Maintenance and Logistics Command Pacific, Alameda, California

Civilian Employee GS-10 and Above: Sandra Hardison, MWR Director, Integrated Support Command, Portsmouth, Virginia

Team: Marine Safety and Security Team 91-111 Logistics Support Team, Ketchikan, Alaska

Following lunch, Commander Dan Christovich and Lieutenant Commander Robert "Buck" McClure gave a lively presentation entitled Reexamining/Managing the Base. This presentation gave a brief overview of a recently released Government Accountability Office report titled 21st Century Challenges: Re-examining the Base of the Federal Government and of the ongoing efforts within the Coast Guard to reallocate our existing resources and budget authority to meet our growing the expanding missions we perform.

Captain Larry White, Chief of the Financial Policy and Systems Division, and Ms. Paula MacNeil of the Internal Controls and Asset Management Office then provided the audience with a presentation the Coast Guam internal controls programs. Captain White explained the various financial statements needed by the Coast Guard for CFO audit purposes and components of internal controls that directly relate to those statements. Ms. MacNeil provided an overview of the current state of Internal Controls within the service and new efforts that are being developed to enable the Coast Guard to pass the CFO audit process.

Mr. Richard Freethey, Chief of the Office of Procurement Management, conducted the final presentation of the day, an overview of process changes impacting the Coast Guard procurement process. He discussed the oversight philosophy of the DHS, the Department's acquisition goals and objectives, as well as acquisition policy changes brought on by the DHS. Mr. Freethey then explained how these changes will affect Coast Guard procurements and what impact these changes will cause on the acquiskion force.

Electronic versions of the Service Day presentations may be obtained by contacting Lieutenant Craig Smith in the Office of Financial Policy at [phone] or [e-mail].