Thursday Morning Federal Newscast – Dec. 2nd

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.

• The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform has laid out its six point plan for reducing growth in the federal deficit. The plan calls for a $464 billion reduction in discretionary spending in fiscal 2012 through 2015. Federal employees would bear part of that brunt. The plan calls fro a three year freeze on Congressional, civilian federal and DOD civilian salaries. And it calls for a reduction in the federal workforce of 200,000 through attrition.
• The House of Representatives has voted to fund the government on a temporary basis – through December 18th. The measure now has to pass a Senate vote. The current continuing resolution – which has been funding the government since October – expires on Friday. The Democrats are pushing for an omnibus bill, but whether it can pass is still in question. So House Dems are also preparing a back-up funding bill that could cover the federal government through the end of fiscal year 2011.
• It is the first federal agency to go to the cloud for e-mail. GSA will acquire the cloud service using a $6.7 million contract to Unisys under the Alliant program. Unisys is partnering with Google and several other companies to fulfill the contract. In addition, NextGov reports, the agency has chosen Google Apps for Government as the cloud platform to help mobile and teleworking employees. GSA officials said e-mail costs will be cut in half over the next five years.
• Bid protests are up for the fourth year in a row. In fiscal 2010, contractor protests reached an all time high of 2,299. According to figures from the Government Accountability Office, most cases were dismissed for procedural reasons, withdrawn, or settled through mediation. GovExec reports, GAO officials had to resolve 441 cases. Of those, 80 percent were decided in favor of the government.
• The sweeping Food and Drug Administration reform bill passed by the Senate yesterday, has hit a snag. The House cannot approve the Senate version on a fast track because it contains taxes in the form of fees. House rules say, any bill containing a tax must originate *in* the House. The Wall Street Journal reports the best option for passage now would be for House leadership to attach the provisions to another bill. The bill would let the FDA order food recalls, track shipments, and require food producers to write safety plans.

More news links

Retirement funds have a volatile November (GovExec)

50,000 inmates claim tax refunds, report no wages

Cables show US envoy warned of bribes in arms case

Senators Push NASA to Carry Out Revamping (NYTimes)

What is NASA’s Secret Astrobiology Announcement? (YahooContributors)

Citigroup May Hire Obama’s Former Budget Chief Peter Orszag (Bloomberg)

Yogurt in, soda out: Army revamps training diet

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on The DorobekInsider:

** In the age of austerity — what does it mean for contractors? Insights from Stan Soloway of the Professional Services Council.

** Those wireless networks — they’re ubiquitous, but are they secure? GAO has their assessment.

** And we’ll kick off our look at the big stories of 2010 — today, Robert Burton talks procurement.

Join Chris from 3 to 7 pm on 1500 AM or on your computer.

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