Thursday federal headlines – October 2, 2014

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com reade...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows each day. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

  • Forty-three technology companies earned a spot on the NASA SEWP V governmentwide acquisition contract. NASA named the first firms under SEWP V groups A and D. It will announce vendors for the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses and other small business categories over the next few days. The contract is worth about $20 billion over five years. (Federal News Radio)
  • Agencies have new guidelines to help measure their oversight over federal awards. The Office of Management and Budget released new metrics for Uniform Guidance. OMB said these metrics could help government save 50 million a year in audit expenses. (White House)
  • The General Services Administration is testing a new car-sharing program for agencies. It awarded contracts to Enterprise CarShare, ZipCarm, Hertz and Carpingo. GSA said the pilot would help it decide whether car-sharing is more cost effective than maintaining its federal fleet. (GSA)
  • The face of the new acting Secret Service director might be a familiar one. Joseph Clancy was a member of President Barack Obama’s personal detail and appears behind the President in many photos. The administration appointed Clancy to replace Julia Pierson, who resigned yesterday under bipartisan pressure after incidents involving dangerous security lapses at the White House came to light. Clancy retired from government in 2011 and became the director of security at Comcast. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson promises to appoint a special commission to examine the Secret Service. It will be headed by Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched another website riddled with flaws. The new Open Payments site is supposed to let consumers find out if their doctors are getting payola from drug companies or medical device manufacturers. But there’s no way to find individual doctors. Plus, the site can be difficult to navigate and displays poorly on some browsers. CMS says a find-your-doctor button will come soon. Consumer advocates have long wanted disclosure of freebies, travel or other financial benefits companies give doctors. For now, the site is buried within the CMS main website. (CMS/Federal News Radio)
  • The nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository has been shut down since February following a radiation leak. Now, the Energy inspector general blames the failure on the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It found what it calls major weaknesses in the lab’s procedures for packing waste headed for permanent storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico. In several cases, the IG found a disconnect between procedure writers and the lab’s white papers documenting best practices. Lab management agreed with the findings. Four lab workers have already been reassigned as a result of the incident. Energy officials have pulled nuclear waste cleanup operations from the contractor that runs the lab. (Department of Energy/Federal News Radio)
  • The Health and Human Services Department made $9 million available to help unaccompanied children who have arrived in the U.S. illegally. The Wall Street Journal reports that the funds will go to two organizations that give legal assistance to minors applying for asylum or other relief. Those organizations are the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Non-profits are overwhelmed by the number of minors entering the country who cannot afford private attorneys. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • About 1,400 soldiers will deploy to Liberia in late October to combat the spread of Ebola. Defense Department Spokesman Rear Adm.John Kirby said about half of those troops would come from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The rest would come from engineering units across the country. Troops will be there for at least six months. Major Gen. Gary Volesky, Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, said the mission is critical. Three thousand troops in total will deploy to West Africa this fall. The mission will include constructing 17 hospital facilities with 100 beds each, and a health care facility to treat infected physicians and health care workers. Kirby said the U.S. military will not provide direct care to Ebola patients. (Army/DoD)
  • The Norfolk Naval Ship Yard is the latest place to be dinged for misconduct. Military.com reports that nearly 300 employees have been placed on restricted duty. The move comes after officials discovered that employees were given credit for nuclear training they didn’t receive. The eight employees responsible for administering the training have been reassigned pending the outcome of an investigation. Last week, the Virginian-Pilot reported the shipyard had stopped all nuclear work after a civilian employee, on two occasions, improperly handled potentially radioactive equipment. The lapse in training was discovered through a whistleblower. Shipyard Spokesman Jeff Cunningham said the investigation will likely further delay the ongoing review of nuclear safety procedures. (Military.com)
  • A group of lawmakers are supporting a former Air Marshal’s whistleblower case against the Transportation Security Administration. The Wall Street Journal reports Robert MacLean was fired in 2003 after he told the media about TSA’s decision to use fewer air marshals on long-distance flights despite warnings of possible hijacking threats. Up for debate are two sets of federal laws — one protecting the rights of whistleblowers and the other limiting disclosure of sensitive but unclassified information about transportation security. The group of lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said the Obama administration’s legal position would grant agencies unprecedented power to decide when employees may expose misconduct. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case on Nov. 4. (The Wall Street Journal)

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