Federal Drive

Wednesday Morning Federal Newscast – May 25th

Women feds less satisfied than men,

Federal News Network Staff

May 25, 2011 10:30 am

4 min read

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.

An exclusive Federal News Radio survey finds agency technology managers disagree with President Obama and federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s recent statements about the poor status of federal IT. More than half of the respondents say the perception of federal technology is worse than the IT itself. Sixty percent say their agency’s IT is helping them meet their mission.
Women in the federal workforce are slightly less satisfied than their male counterparts. Especially when it comes to perceptions of fairness and feeling empowered. The Partnership for Public Service analysed employee surveys conducted by the Office of Personnel Management. They found 66 percent of women reported overall workplace satisfaction, compared to almost 68 percent of male coworkers. A separate report out from the Merit Systems Protection Board finds women now occupy about 30 percent of positions in the Senior Executive Service, up 19 percent since 1990.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has painted the picture of a smaller U.S. military. It has less reach throughout the world. And it offers military workers reduced pay and benefits. In his final speech before retiring, Gates said the money and political support for booming defense budgets aren’t there anymore. He said they won’t return unless the U.S. faces a catastrophic threat. President Obama has proposed reducing defense spending by $400 billion over the next 12 years.
The Office of Management and Budget is citing a skinny budget as the reason it plans to terminate or cut back open government web sites. The administration had requested $35 million dollars for e-government initiatives, but Congress only agreed to $8 million for 2011. Slated for closure is FedSpace, a social media site where federal managers collaborate. Development will slow down for other sites, such as the Citizen Services Dashboard. Agency staff detail the cuts in a letter to Delaware Senator Tom Carper.
Look for some exotic cars with federal plates plying the streets. The White House has ordered agencies to make the federal fleet use less fuel. A new directive sets a December 2015 deadline for all federal vehicles to be hybrid or run on non-gasoline fuels. In the meantime, the General Services Administration will spend $4.3 million to buy 116 all-electrics. That buy will consist of a combination of Chevrolet Volts, Nissan Leafs, and teensy THINK City cars. GSA will install charging stations in Washington, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego, California.
The Office of Management and Budget wants to help state and local governments cut improper payments. Four new pilot projects are aimed at curtailing waste in programs funded by the federal government. Projects will cover the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Food and Nutrition Service, unemployment insurance and state collection of federal debt. The pilots will boost data sharing to help localities identify recipients of improper payments.
NASA says it has found the ideal spaceship to take astronauts well out of Earth’s orbit. It is the same spaceship they’ve been working on for years. Only now, the $5 billion Orion capsule is being called the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. The capsule can handle four astronauts on 21-day missions. It won’t be reuseable. Instead of landing like the shuttle, it will splash down in the ocean with a parachute. NASA gave Lockheed Martin a $7.5 billion contract in 2006 to build it.
The drama over the extra office space for the Securities and Exchange Commission continues. Now, the inspector general has weighed in. It appears the SEC could owe $94 million dollars in damages for the space it leased, but backed out of. The IG calls the leasing agreement a real estate debacle, saying that the SEC has a history of misguided leasing decisions since it was granted independent leasing authority in 1990. The IG recommends that the SEC get a formal opinion from the comptroller general on whether the agency violated the Antideficiency Act. The SEC says it did not violate the act, which states that agencies can’t spend money that has not yet been appropriated.
Northrop Grumman will continue work on its biometric database of terrorist suspects. Washington Business Journal reports, the contract extension is worth as much as $141 million dollars. Northrop began work on the Defense Department’s Automated Biometric Identification System, or ABIS, in 2006. ABIS is a central repository for fingerprint, iris, face and palm print data on suspected terrorists. The information is used by both the military and other federal agencies.