Tuesday Morning Newscast – November 23

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Amy Morris discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air.

• North Korea fired barrages of artillery onto a South Korean island near their disputed western border Tuesday, setting buildings ablaze and killing at least one marine after warning the South to halt military drills in the area, South Korean officials said. The island houses military installations and a small civilian population. In addition to the one casualty, three were seriously wounded and 10 slightly wounded, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. Island residents were escaping to about 20 shelters in the island while sporadic shelling continued, the JCS said. The White House released a statement confirming they are in close and continuing contact with Korean allies and that they strongly condemn the attacks. AP White House Correspondent Mark Smith will join the Federal Drive with more information at 7:00 a.m.
• The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to change guidelines for collecting debt from dead people. The current laws limit the people that collectors can contact to receive payment even after a death. Collectors can contact someone with authority to pay the money — typically a spouse or family member. But in a proposed policy statement, the the Washington Post reports, the FTC said changes to court procedures have widened the pool of those who may be able to pay to include a host of other legal representatives.
• GSA is clarifying some of the requirements for its leased facilities. Federal News Radio has told you that the General Services Administration had increased the requirements for new construction by the federal government to LEED gold…but there were still questions about the leased property. The Washington Business Journal reports those questions are being cleared up now. New construction lease projects of 10,000 square feet or more will require LEED silver certification. Also, leases in existing buildings will have optional LEED requirements, at the request of the tenant agencies. And, new leases awarded after December 18th for 10,000 square feet or more must have earned the Energy Star label. There are exceptions”
  • the agency is staying in current facility
  • the lease will be in a building of historical, architectural, or cultural significance
  • the lease is for 10,000 sq ft or less, and
  • no space is offered in a building with an Energy Star label in the delineated area that meets the functional requirements of an agency, including location needs.

  In all excepted buildings, the lessor must still agree to complete all identified cost-effective (over the life of the government’s lease) energy-efficiency improvements prior to the government’s occupancy. Where the agency is already occupied in a building, the work must be completed within one year of lease award. Lease renewals in GSA’s terminology are options in existing leases permitting continued occupancy of space at specified terms and conditions including price. Lessors will not be required to make energy efficiency and conservation improvements in those facilities.

• ManTech International is buying MTCSC. The deal is for $75 million and should be closed by the end of this year. ManTech says MTCSC provides command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems integration — you might know it as C4ISR – and they offer cyber security and network engineering solutions to customers in the federal government. The company already has several large contracts with the Marine Corps. MTCSC will become part of ManTech’s Systems Engineering and Advanced Technology group.

More news links

CAPITAL CULTURE: Team Obama’s man with a marker

Pistole: Relatively few travelers getting pat down

Auto industry success a hard sell for White House

Small bump expected in economic growth in Q3

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on Best of the DorobekInsider:

** We spend a lot of time trying to attract the best and the brightest, but can you do something to keep the good people you already have? We’ll tap lessons learned…

** And OMB has put forward plans for improving IT management and acquisition. We’ll get an assessment on the plan from the head of the American Council on Technology…

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