Tuesday federal headlines – March 10, 2015

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.

  • Agencies are still struggling to process Freedom of Information Act requests. Ten out of 15 agencies earn a failing grade on the Access to Information Scorecard from the Center for Effective Government. The CEG looks at how agencies process FOIA requests and how quickly and accurately they release information. The Agriculture Department is the highest performer, while the State Department is the lowest. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Census Bureau isn’t ready to introduce an Internet response option for the 2020 Census. Census said it will cost about $73 million to implement. But the Government Accountability Office said the estimate isn’t accurate because the bureau didn’t consider changes to the Internet option since 2011. (GAO)
  • A group of Iraqis launched a lawsuit against the State and Homeland Security departments. It alleged federal foot-dragging on granting them special visas to resettle in the United States. They helped U.S. forces during the war in Iraq, but faced severe retaliation by Islamic State operates and other militants. A 2008 law created the Special Immigrant Visa program for Iraqis who aided U.S. forces. The Wall Street Journal reports some 2,000 Iraqis are waiting for their visas. More than 6,300 have been approved. The firm Freshfields Bruckhasus Deringer filed the lawsuit. It seeks prompt administrative action on the visa applications, some of which were filed four years ago. (Wall Street Journal)
  • Auditors said the Census Bureau miscalculated timelines and costs to make the 2020 census Internet-ready. The agency estimated the online response option cost about $73 million. But the Government Accountability Office found that was not a reliable estimate. It doesn’t reflect changes related to the Internet option since 2011. The Census Bureau also plans to have its preliminary design decision by this September. GAO said the bureau doesn’t yet have methodologies in place to measure Internet self-response and the IT infrastructure needed to support the Internet response option. Auditors recommended Census update its cost estimates and make sure it developed methodologies for research questions. Census hasn’t agreed or disagreed with the recommendations. (GAO)
  • The FBI upped the reward for a missing former agent, Robert Levinson. The bureau said the government would pay up to $5 million for information that would help bring Levinson home. The FBI previously offered $1 million. Levinson went missing eight years ago from an Iranian resort. He was working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence-gathering mission. Levinson retired from the FBI in 1998. (Federal News Radio)
  • Auditors determined the probationary period wass the best time to fire poorly performing federal employees. New hires typically enter federal service under a one-year probationary period. But the Government Accountability Office found that supervisors don’t always use that time to make performance-related decisions. That’s because they lacked the right training and skills, and sometimes they didn’t know when the probationary period was ending. GAO said 3,500 employees were dismissed for poor performance in 2013, down from more than 4,800 in 2009. Auditors recommended training supervisors on ways to more effectively use the probationary period. They also suggested extending the probationary period to more than a year. (Federal News Radio/GAO)
  • The Secret Service is flying drones at night over Washington while testing ways to disable them. An official told the Associated Press agents are experimenting with ways of jamming drone communications so as to disable the aircraft and bring them down. Tests are occurring between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. The Secret Services was concerned when a consumer-grade drone got away from its operator and crashed onto the White House lawn. One challenge for the Secret Service is the danger of interrupting legitimate WiFi or other wireless communications nearby. Jamming usually requires permission from the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Senate confirmed Michelle Lee as director of the Patent and Trademark Office. The position has been vacant more than two years, after former director David Kappos left in February 2013. Lee became deputy director of the agency last January. She joined the agency in 2012 as director of PTO’s Silicon Valley office. Before that, Lee worked at Google as head of patents and patent strategy. (Federal News Radio)
  • For the Defense Department, some good is coming from an animal attack that nearly killed a Connecticut woman. Charla Nash, in a notorious 2011 incident, was attacked by a 200 pound chimpanzee. The attack caused severe mutilation requiring a face transplant. The Defense Department has been paying for Nash’s surgeries, and is now underwriting an experiment to wean her from anti-rejection drugs. It’s part of a program to learn more about techniques to restore the appearance of those severely wounded in battle. Dr. Brian Pfister is a manager for the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. He said 560 soldiers suffered severe disfigurement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sixty might be candidates for face transplants. (Federal News Radio)
  • Contractors looking for their best shot at new business need to check out several recompetes of existing governmentwide acquisition contracts. The biggest opportunity will be the $60 billion Alliant Two deal, a GWAC the General Services Administration is cooking up. That’s according to Bloomberg Government. Its list of the top 20 upcoming sales potentials have a combined ceiling of $259 billion. That means contractors have got to win places on the biggest GWACs. They account for eight of the top 10 programs. The single biggest buying agency would be the Army. Bloomberg said it has four new buying vehicles in the works. Those include ITES 3- S, a $25 billion IT contract. (Bloomberg Government)

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.