thanks everyone for the input. I exchanged email with a few ASIs and DPEs and got the straight story concerning INITIAL CFI practicals.

Initial CFIs are conducted by FAA ASIs, unless there is no one available, in which case the local FSDO will bring in a local DPE who conducts add-ons and reinstatements. You send a request to the FSDO, and they have 2 weeks get you a checkride.

the process is described in section 5-499 in this document:

http://fsims.faa.gov/wdocs/8900.1/v0...02_011rev1.htm