February 17, 2017
M E M O R A N D U M
RE: CBP – Redesigned CBP Agriculture Specialist Basic Training Course MOU
The main provisions of the MOU are:
- Management has determined that the testing and re-testing procedures for the Newly Redesigned CBPAS Basic Training course (Pilot), e.g. passing scores, remedial procedures, pass-fail requirements, will mirror the testing procedures that apply to the CBP Officer Basic Training students at the Field Operations Academy (FOA).
- 2. Management has determined that all trainees subject to withdrawal from their current session of CBPAS Basic Training for academic failure will be allowed to participate in the FOA Academy Second Chance (ASC) program. Throughout the course trainees will be kept informed of their progress.
3. The Office of Training and Development (OTD) follows standard instructional design procedures and the redesigned CBPAS Basic Training course is in compliance with all applicable regulations to include 5 CFR 300 and 29 CFR 1607. CBP has used a valid task analysis, conducted by the Personnel Research and Assessment Division (PRAD) of the Office of Human Resources Management (HRM), and convened a Critical Task Selection Board of 12 members from the CBPAS job series to validate the task list. A complete report was generated compiling the proceeding of the process and is available for review.
4. OTD has a standard instructor qualification program and remediation policy that applies to all testing for the CBPAS program.
5. Management has determined that sufficient study and practice time will be built into the Pilot and Post-Academy training process to enable employees to perform these activities during regular duty hours.
6. As part of this training and remediation the following procedures will apply. For remediation during Post Academy Training there will be two possible scenarios, non-consecutive and consecutive remediation, respectively:
- Non-consecutive remediation.
i. Trainees will be allowed a maximum of three (3) retakes on Post-Academy classroom module assessments with no more than two (2) retakes on any one assessment.
ii. Trainees will be allowed a maximum of ten (10) retakes on Post-Academy on-the-job Training (OJT) lesson assessments with no more than two (2) retakes on any one assessment.
- Consecutive remediation (Three strike rule) – a trainee may remediate once on up to three consecutive modules before deemed unsuccessful. For example, a trainee fails the Primary Inspections module and remediates once to successfully move on to Secondary Reporting in TECS, to fail and remediate once again to successfully move on to Secondary Inspections module to fail and remediate once again for a third time, s/he will be deemed unsuccessful.
- Upon completion of the Pilot session of the redesigned CBPAS Basic Training course, management will perform an assessment of the success of the Pilot. A summary of the results of the assessment will be shared with NTEU.
- Normally, all Post Academy Training examinations will be conducted at the employee’s post-of-duty during their one-year probationary period, if practical. Employees who are required to travel to attend such examinations will be compensated in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and NTEU-CBP agreements.
- Refresher training for non-probationary Agriculture Specialists on subjects addressed in the redesigned CBPAS Training Course will be provided upon request subject to the availability of Port resources and workload demand.
10. If either party becomes aware of significant unanticipated problems that arise following implementation of this initiative, CBP or NTEU will inform the other, and the parties will discuss and attempt to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
As you can see in provision 2, those trainees who fail the academic provisions of the course will be permitted to participate in the Field Operations Academy (FOA) Second Chance Program. Secondly, as a result of our prior FOA litigation, management has built in sufficient study and practice time during regular duty hours so that employees should be able to pass the course without studying during off-duty hours. Finally, based on the feedback that NTEU received when CBP began its post-academy training program for CBP Officers, CBP will provide refresher training for non-probationary Agriculture Specialists upon request and subject to port resources and workload demand so that they can benefit from the up-to-date training provided to the probationary Agriculture Specialists.
