Monday federal headlines – March 16, 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.

  • The Health and Human Services Department postponed its plans to replace three human resources systems with a shared services provider. HHS was supposed to move its HR system to the Agriculture Department’s National Finance Center in 2016. But the agency said the project is too far off schedule. HHS is stopping the program for 30 days to look at its options again. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Treasury Department said it won’t invest in the Thrift Savings Plan’s G-Fund until the debt limit is resolved. The government hit the debt ceiling at midnight Sunday, when a suspension on the limit expired. Treasury reinvests securities each business day into the G-Fund and that money counts against the debt limit. The G-Fund will be made whole again once the debt ceiling issue is resolved. TSP spokeswoman Kim Weaver reminded participants that they won’t lose any money. (Washington Post)
  • Listen-and-learn is the new strategy at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. In its new “Behind the Buy” podcast series, members of the federal acquisition workforce tell stories about IT contracting strategies. The podcast shares best practices from the Digital Services Playbook and the TechFAR Handbook. OFPP Administrator Anne Rung said the podcast is a “human-centered” approach to government contracting. (White House)
  • The Obama administration is abandoning plans to cut the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 5,500 by year’s end. Officials told the Associated Press, the administration will bow to military leaders who want to keep more troops there. No final decision has been made, but the administration is said to consider letting many of the 9,800 troops now there to stay into next year. The 2,000 U.S. counterterrorism troops that operate in Afghanistan could also stay through 2016 and beyond. President Barack Obama may announce the revised plan when Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visits Washington this month. (Federal News Radio)
  • The congressional budget season for 2016 gets underway this week. Republicans now in charge of Congress will offer a budget blueprint that includes cuts to several entitlement programs including Medicare. It will be introduced by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Price (R-S.C.) and his Senate counterpart Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). They said their plan would balance the budget within 10 years. But it doesn’t address the issue of the Budget Control Act set to cut the military budget. An alternative plan is coming from a bipartisan group of senators. They want to replicate a 2013 deal that partially restored automatic cuts. (AP)
  • The Social Security Administration’s inspector general found Social Security has no death records for 6.5 million Americans born before 1901. That means their Social Security Numbers might still be out there, vulnerable to fraudsters. Social Security regularly issues a list of people who have died, called the Master Death File. But the agency said it would be expensive and time-consuming to update old paper records first generated decades ago. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs plans to hold a hearing today to press the agency into action. (SSA OIG)
  • The Commerce Department named Ian Kalin as its first chief data officer. Kalin will re-join government from Socrata, where he was director of open data. Earlier, he was a Presidential Innovation Fellow. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said in a blog that Kalin would pull together a platform for all of the department’s data sets. He’ll be responsible for making sure Commerce has a comprehensive data strategy. (Commerce )
  • A group of 14 experts from the private, non-profit and government sectors will advise Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald on ways to improve customer service. The MyVA Advisory Committee is part of a broad initiative launched in September, after many instances of falsified records and long patient wait times at facilities. VA said the committee will periodically review goals under MyVA to make sure the department is meeting them. The committee will advise McDonald on short- and long-term plans for the agency and suggest improvements on existing programs. President Barack Obama visited the Phoenix VA hospital on Friday. (VA)
  • A new maritime strategy is out from the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The strategy lays out how the three agencies will organize and use naval forces for national and homeland security. The Defense Department said the new strategy accounts for changes in the security environment and a smaller budget. Under the plan, the Navy would grow its forward presence from 97 ships to 120. It would increase presence in the Middle East from 30 ships to 40. The strategy also includes a plan to maintain readiness of the Navy’s fleet. (DoD)
  • The Congressional Budget Office is suggesting ways the Navy can shrink its shipbuilding budget. The Navy’s 2015 plan would increase the fleet from 281 ships to 306 ships by 2022. CBO said that would cost about $21 billion a year. But over the past 30 years, the Navy has spent an average of $16 billion per year on shipbuilding. CBO said the Navy can still maximize its forward presence with a smaller budget and fleet. The military branch could deploy ships for a longer period of time. That costs less than buying a larger fleet. It could also base more ships and crews overseas. (CBO)

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