HUD's FY 99 Budget
Congressional Justifications
Field Direction and Operational Support

Salaries and Expenses

BUDGET ACTIVITY 12: FIELD DIRECTION AND OPERATIONAL SUPPORT

SCOPE OF ACTIVITY

The Field Direction and Operational Support activity funds staff which: (a) direct and coordinate the delivery of the Department's programs in the field and (b) provide cross-program technical support in the areas of Economic and Market Analysis and Labor Relations. Specifically, the Field Direction function includes the staff required for the coordinated administration of the Department's Field programs and activities in accordance with delegated authority and with policy and other directives of the Secretary or principal officials. These staff are "Community Builders." EMA and Labor Relations directly support Housing and Community Planning and Development, Public and Indian Housing workload processing.

FIELD

Under the implementation of management reform, the 81 existing Field Offices will continue to be maintained in 1998. However, many of the traditional regional review and management oversight functions have been eliminated, with as much authority and responsibility as possible shifted to the Field Offices.

Thirty-two HUD offices have been designated as Area (Core) Offices to ensure the coordination of HUD programs, including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Another 39 Community Service Centers have been designated to serve individual communities and their surrounding localities.

A.FIELD DIRECTION STAFF

1.Secretary's Representative

There are ten multi-state jurisdictions, each coordinated by a Secretary's Representative. They report to the Secretary/Deputy Secretary and provide management oversight and evaluation of the Senior Community Builders/Coordinators. They also coordinate the accomplishment of program and management priorities within their multi-state jurisdictions. The groupings of States served by each Secretary's Representative have been named after their geographic regions, both for greater clarity and customer service.

Secretary's Representatives: (1) serve as the Secretary's "eyes and ears" for their geographic area, and represent the Secretary with governors, mayors, State officials, private sector groups as well as broad-based interest groups; and act as the Senior Community Builder/Coordinator for the State in which they are physically located; (2) take lead responsibility for the implementation of the Customer Service Plan, required by Executive Order; (3) evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of HUD programs within their jurisdiction, both externally and internally; (4) serve as the primary point of contact for coordination of HUD and other Federal programs within their jurisdiction; and (5) coordinate disaster assistance activities. Secretary's Representatives also provide management direction to the operational support staff within their offices.

2.Senior Community Builders/Coordinators

The Senior Community Builder/Coordinators report to the Secretary's Representative within the appropriate geographic grouping. They coordinate the accomplishment of management and program priorities within their respective offices and make sure HUD customers are well served by the Department.

Senior Community Builders/Coordinators: (1) represent the Department for all HUD programs within their geographic jurisdiction; (2) serve as the Department's liaison with State and local officials, private sector organizations and public interest groups; (3) coordinate and implement the Customer Service Plan for their geographic jurisdiction; and (4) evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of HUD programs within their geographic jurisdiction, both internally and externally.

Salaries and Expenses, Housing and Urban Development

Budget Activity 12: Field Direction and Operational Support

B.OPERATIONAL SUPPORT STAFF

1.Labor Relations

The Field Office Labor Relations staff is responsible for ensuring the proper and uniform administration and enforcement of construction labor standards pertinent to all HUD programs within the office jurisdiction and for advising the Senior Community Builder/Coordinator and program managers on labor relations matters. Specific functions of a Labor Relations staff include: processing wage requirements; conducting labor standards investigations and compliance reviews; determining maintenance wage rates for public housing agencies; providing technical assistance and guidance to local public agencies on labor standards/labor relations matters; promoting employment and training opportunities for the disadvantaged in HUD programs; preparing recommendations for sanctions against labor standards violations; and conducting Davis-Bacon residential wage surveys.

2.Economists

The Field Office Economist supervising the Economic and Market Analysis (EMA) staff is the principal economic advisor to the Senior Community Builder/Coordinator and program managers. Depending on workload requirements, EMA staffs in the various Field Offices generally range from two to five professional economists and statistical assistants. EMA provides critical economic and market analysis reviews of all major housing and CPD program applications. As a result of these cross-program responsibilities, EMA plays a key technical support role in program delivery efforts.

Travel

The table below identifies travel requirements unique to this activity.

Travel costs reflect the representational obligations unique to field policy and management�s function. Substantial travel is required to effectively represent the Department throughout each of the Field Office jurisdictions, in addition to supporting the operational support functions managed by the Secretary's Representatives and Senior Community Builders/ Coordinators.

The increase between the 1998 current estimate and the 1999 estimate reflects the increased representation and programmatic involvement related to Community Builders under Reform 2020.