Electronic Country Clearance (eCC) Instructions for Foreign Travel on Behalf of the United States Support Program (USSP)
Background
Contractors and National Laboratory personnel funded by the USSP for
travel to Vienna, Austria for work at the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA ) or to other foreign destinations for USSP=related
business are required to submit Foreign Travel Management System (FTMS)
forms along with an approved travel authorization, and to obtain an
electronic country clearance (eCC) from the Department of Energy (DOE).
This page explains the steps to be taken in getting foreign travel
approved, and in preparing the eCC. Teresa Montuori of ISPO is the
contact for all related eCC matters, and maintains the below procedure
in order to assist Contractors and National Laboratory Coordinators with
obtaining electronic country clearance for USSP-funded foreign travel.
Procedure
The foreign travel approval request MUST
be submitted 45 days prior to departure.
Before beginning the eCC request process,
the Contractor or Laboratory should notify the assigned ISPO Task
Monitor (see list below) about the planned travel so that ISPO can
confirm that it has been approved by the USSP government sponsors, the
Subgroup on Safeguards Technical Support (SSTS). If the travel has not
yet been approved, ISPO will contact the SSTS to get their
determination. Once ISPO verifies that the travel has received
approval, then ISPO (for Contractors) or the Laboratory can begin
processing the travel and eCC request.
Each traveler must have an active
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Guest ID before any travel
authorization can be initiated. If the traveler has never had a BNL
Guest ID number before, they should register here: https://www.bnl.gov/guv/gis.php
Once the travel has been approved, either ISPO (for Contractors) or
the traveler's home Laboratory’s personnel responsible for processing foreign
travel will enter the trip information into the DOE Foreign Travel Management
System (FTMS). Some items to note regarding the FTMS forms:
In section II, list all the names of other
personnel that will also be on this trip (this should match the names on
the eCC).
In section III, include the following statement
with the Justification for the trip: “Funding for this travel has been
approved by the SSTS under USSP task #______”. (The USSP task number is
available from the traveler or the assigned ISPO Task Monitor.)
Include Teresa Montuori, Debra Basozmen, and the
assigned ISPO Task Monitor (Brookhaven National Laboratory) in the
“notify-local” routing, and Bobby Carter (NA24) as Programmatic
RPSO-approver. (see #4 below)
If Counter Threat Awareness Training (CTAT) Training is required
for the trip, please note the date of completion, and attach the
certificate in the appropriate section. For additional information
on CTAT training, please visit:
https://fsitraining.state.gov/home/7480/.
This training must be retaken after 6 years.
Traveler must complete Smart Traveler Enrollment
Program (STEP) registration at this site: https://step.state.gov/.
Date of completion should be noted in section I.
When traveling to Austria, the traveler’s
passport MUST be valid for six months AFTER your departure date.
For all travel to the IAEA, in the Destination
drop-down choose the destination country as “Austria, UNVIE Vienna".
This list will distribute the eCC to the Subgroup on Safeguards
Technical Support (SSTS), ISPO, and the U.S. Mission Vienna.
The approval process will be as follows:
BNL or the traveler's Laboratory will notify the ISPO Liaison Officer,
Katherine Bachner, that the trip has been approved for the traveler(s).
If the eCC needs to be revised, the Liaison Officer will not approve
it and it will be sent back to the originating Laboratory.
The U.S. Mission in Vienna will approve or decline the eCC based
on the notification from ISPO.
The approval will be distributed automatically to all the personnel
listed as the carbon copied recipients on the eCC
Note: It is expected there will be cases where the laboratories will
not submit the eCC properly. However, the system is fail-safe in that
the U.S. Mission Vienna will not approve the eCC for a traveler unless
they have been informed the SSTS has approved the travel. If the SSTS
and ISPO personnel are bypassed in the eCC submittal, the ISPO Liaison
Officer will not approve the travel.
If an emergency occurs, or there are questions, or the Embassy/Post
needs additional information on this eCC, please notify Chantal Wilson,
NNSA, phone: 202-586-5234; email: chantal.wilson@nnsa.doe.gov and/or
Vicki McCoy, NNSA; phone: 301-903-0505; email: vicki.mccoy@nnsa.doe.gov.