Monday Morning Federal Newscast – February 28th

EADS hints at Boeing challenge Chris Vein tapped as deputy U.S. CTO

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.

  • Work to fund the government takes place on two fronts this week. In the House, lawmakers debate a 14-day continuing resolution proposed by Republicans. It would cut $4 billion from FY 2011 spending. Reductions would come from cuts already proposed by the president, plus the elimination of earmarks. In the Senate, Democrats propose a seven-month continuing resolution. It would also cut earmarks. National Journal reports the Senate proposal would also accelerate about $25 billion in cuts by having them occur in 2011. The president requested the cuts for 2012. Congress has until Friday to pass a funding bill to avert a federal government shutdown.
  • In case of a shutdown, there may be NO back pay for furloughed workers. A source tells Senior Correspondent Mike Causey a furlough would be, in the sources words, “a done deal.” Instead of a current GOP proposal in the House to furlough federal employees one day a month for ten months, a federal lobbyist tells Causey not paying feds for time the government is shut down would “be like yanking a bandage off quickly rather than easing it off.”
  • By now you know that Boeing has won the $35 billion Air Force tanker contract. What we don’t know yet is whether EADS will challenge the award. The Washington Business Journal reports that EADS has hinted that it might do so. EADS can protest the Boeing contract award within 10 days of being briefed by the Air Force. That briefing is reportedly scheduled for later today.
  • The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are at loggerheads over information sharing. The FAA has data on airline safety lapses. It won’t share it with the NTSB. The Wall Street Journal reports, the FAA is afraid widespread dissemination of the information would chill the airlines’ willingness to self-report. The NTSB requested access to the data while investigating an American Airlines jet that ran off the runway in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. FAA has long kept the data close to the vest. But the safety board has stepped up pressure to have access.
  • The White House has a new Deputy CTO. Published reports indicate Chris Vein will take over where Beth Noveck left off. Vein is the former San Francisco Chief Information Officer. He was instrumental in leading that city’s open data initiative. Information Week reports that Vein also served under the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations as director of administrative and financial services for the White House.
  • QinetiQ North America is going to consolidate its offices near Quantico into one location. The Washington Business Journal reports QinetiQ has signed a lease for more than 70-thousand square feet in a new building at Quantico Corporate Center. Financial terms of the lease weren’t disclosed. Construction starts this spring and 300 employees from three different locations will be moving in by summer of 2012.
  • The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has signed a new 15-year lease. The Washington Business Journal reports the agency is slated to take over 640,000 square feet of space at the Constitution Center, for nearly $489 million. About one thousand workers will be moving into the building on Seventh Street in SouthWest in the fall of 2012. OCC is growing thanks to the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation. It will take over the Office of Thrift Supervision in July.

More news links

Google Glitch Disables 150,000 Gmail Accounts (Mashable)

4.7-magnitude earthquake hits central Arkansas (CNN)

How Hackers Could Exploit Federal Government Shutdown (FastCompany)

GSA Stops Funding of Telework Centers; Laurel, Prince Frederick, Waldorf to Close (SouthernMarylandOnline)

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