Jack Moore Reports 
Top News
- Senators push Tangherlini for assurances GSA is improving
- Contractors with security clearances lack path to report problems
- Senator: IRS to pay $70M in employee bonuses
- Furlough song: Laugh or you'll cry
- Navy strikes enterprise licensing deal with Oracle
- 8 contract executives guilty of 8(a) contracting fraud
- Whistleblower suit leads to $12M false claims settlement by SAIC
- 29-year-old NASA engineer going where no one has gone before
- USPS reaches energy reduction goal ahead of schedule
- NOAA meteorologist helps save lives one storm at a time
- NASA picks 8 new astronauts, 4 of them women
- House passes sweeping $638 billion defense bill
- NIH tops list of best companies for baby boomers
- Latest postal reform proposal OKs 5-day delivery
Jack Moore is a web editor and general assignment reporter for Federal News Radio.
Lawmakers skeptical of proposed cost-saving commission's future
A new commission, proposed by David Walker, former U.S. comptroller general, would recommend ways to streamline government by removing duplication and extraneous spending from government agencies. Federal-employee unions criticized the proposal and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee lawmakers expressed skepticism that such a proposal could gain congressional approval.
Whistleblower suit leads to $12M false claims settlement by SAIC
The lawsuit, filed by Richard Priem, a 16-year SAIC employee and Army veteran, alleged the company inflated contract costs by claiming the training program would be staffed by full-time SAIC employees. However, according to the lawsuit, SAIC instead used cheaper part-time employees and pocketed the difference.
ICE Director John Morton stepping down
The director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Monday he is stepping down next month to work in the private sector. John Morton, who has served as ICE director since May 2009, made the announcement in an email to staff, obtained by Federal News Radio.
GAO: Agencies should expand TechStat reviews to all high-risk projects
Federal agencies need to step up their use of TechStat sessions, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report. The face-to-face meetings of IT officials and agency leaders have been put to use by the Office of Management and Budget and individual agencies to turn around or terminate dozens of failing IT projects. But only about a third of the agency projects deemed most at risk of cost overruns or schedule slips have undergone the reviews, GAO reported.
Issa's postal reform proposal OKs 5-day delivery, modifies prefunding
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released a draft postal reform bill that supports ending Saturday mail delivery and would modify how the agency pre-funds retiree health-care payments that now threaten to sink the agency into financial insolvency. Congressional postal reform efforts have remained dormant so far this year, even as the Postal Service's financial outlook has worsened.
Regulatory czar nominee pledges to speed up review process
President Barack Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) pledged to clear up delays in the regulatory process if confirmed by the Senate. Appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday, Howard Shelanski said improving the timeliness of OIRA's work -- which has come in for criticism from Republican lawmakers and transparency groups, alike -- is among his top priorities.
Postal Service cost-saving initiatives fast-tracked under new rule
The cash-strapped Postal Service has proposed a number of service and delivery changes to right its financial ship and says it needs more timely decisions from the commission to implement them. The commission has been criticized in the past for taking too long to issue its opinions. Of the five major cases brought before the commission since 2006, three took more than eight months to complete and one took nearly a year, according to PRC.
Booz Allen fires employee involved in NSA leaks
Booz Allen Hamilton announced Tuesday it has fired Edward Snowden, the contractor employee who admitted leaking details about classified National Security Agency programs to reporters. The company said Snowden was fired June 10 because he violated company policies, including its code of ethics.
DoD using flawed approach to calculate $1.1B in improper payments
The Defense Department reported making just $1.1 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2011, a small fraction of the Pentagon's total outlays of more than $1 trillion. But, in a new report, the Government Accountability Office said those estimates are neither reliable nor statistically valid because of "longstanding and pervasive" weaknesses in DoD financial-management practices as well as specific deficiencies in the department's procedures for estimating improper payments.
Performance.gov faces identity crisis
Nearly two years after the site launched, the Office of Management and Budget still hasn't clearly defined its purpose or its intended audience, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
Pentagon preparing 2014 spending plan that factors in sequestration
By July 1, the Pentagon will provide the Senate Armed Services Committee its plan for managing reduced fiscal 2014 budget levels, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in a speech Wednesday. The committee had asked DoD to provide a list of spending reductions after the White House submitted a budget proposal for next fiscal year that simply ignored sequestration, ostensibly in the hope that the automatic budget cuts would be canceled or otherwise avoided in 2014.
GSA, Trump release plans for Old Post Office Building
After more than a year of negotiations, the General Services Administration and business magnate Donald Trump's organization have inked a deal to redevelop Washington, D.C.'s historic Old Post Office Building into a luxury hotel. Now it's up to Congress, which has 30 days to review the agreement, to finalize the deal.
OPM processes fewer retirement applications than expected in May
The Office of Personnel Management's efforts to process retirement claims and reduce a longstanding backlog slipped last month, after the agency was forced to cancel employee overtime because of automatic budget cuts. OPM processed 10,954 claims in May, according to new data, 546 fewer than it had projected. That's only the third time in the past 16 months - since the agency rolled out a new plan for clearing the backlog — that OPM failed to hit its processing goal.
OPM issues phased retirement guidance
Federal employees who choose to retire part-time and return to federal service under a new phased-retirement option will have to spend at least 20 percent of their time on mentoring activities, according to proposed rules from the Office of Personnel Management, which were released today in the Federal Register
IG: IRS violated few policies in spending millions on conferences
The Internal Revenue Service held 225 employee conferences between 2010 and 2012, at a total cost of $49 million, according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The report also revealed the embattled agency used funding originally slated to hire front-line employees to foot most of the bill for a $4.1 million conference held in Anaheim, Calif., in 2010.
Analysis: Management reforms key to rebuilding IRS after scandal
The revelations of improper targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service has so far been isolated to lower-level offices. But the former head of the IRS says an overall failure of leadership must be corrected if the embattled agency wants to rebuild its reputation. Mark Everson, head of the IRS under George W. Bush, told Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp President Barack Obama should appoint a permanent IRS commissioner.
TSP gains lag in May
After solid showings in March and April, Thrift Savings Plan funds lost a little steam last month, according to new data from the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. Overall, two of the five regular funds posted ended May in negative territory, including the F Fund (the bond market) and the I Fund (international stocks). The F Fund is down 0.76 percent for the year.
OMB takes first step toward comprehensive inventory of federal programs
The Office of Management and Budget took the first step Friday in attempting to compile a comprehensive list of federal programs with the launch of a new online inventory. Hosted on Performance.gov, the Federal Program Inventory aims to be a one-stop shop for information about the more than 1,600 programs agencies operate and how they complement -- or even duplicate -- the work of other programs.
Agencies fight uphill battle to retain critical knowledge and skills
Even though a massive federal retirement tsunami has been a no-show, even a moderate uptick in retirements could pose challenges for agencies -- especially as they face decreasing budgets and declining staffs. In part three of our special report, "Retirement Conundrum," Federal News Radio examines how agencies plan to retain institutional knowledge and fill critical skills gaps as longtime employees head for the exits.
Sequestration threatens OPM's low-tech plan to beat retirement backlog
Not that long ago, the Office of Personnel Management faced a crisis in processing retirement claims. In part two of our special report, "Retirement Conundrum," Federal News Radio examines how OPM set out to beat its backlog, and how it can stay ahead of an unexpected surge in claims amid automatic budget cuts that threaten to derail progress.
