Wednesday federal headlines – April 15, 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.

  • Drug Enforcement Administration Director Michele Leonhart wants more authority to fire her employees. Leonhart told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee she has no control over what punishment, if any, her employees receive. The Justice Department Inspector General said some DEA agents involved in sexual misconduct were not disciplined. GovExec reports Leonhart wants to deal directly with employees instead of going through an internal or external review process. (GovExec)
  • The House will vote on a bill requiring agencies to fire federal employees who don’t pay their taxes. Another bill prohibits agencies from awarding major contracts to companies who aren’t tax compliant. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Calif.) sponsored both bills. (GovTrack)
  • The National Institutes of Health awarded 65 vendors spots on its new Chief Information Officer – Commodities and Solutions Governmentwide Acquisition Contract. CIO-CS replaces the Electronics Commodities Store III G-WAC, and has a ceiling of $20 billion. ECS III will remain open for orders until May 9. NIH program officials pointed out the new vehicle adds software agencies can install locally or use as cloud services. Seven of the winning vendors are manufacturers, the rest are value-added resellers. The NIH awards come just weeks after the NASA SEWP program office launched its fifth generation G-WAC encompassing some 100 contractors. (Federal News Radio)
  • Comptroller General Gene Dodaro laid out 66 recommendations for reducing waste boosting revenues in federal programs. He said Congress has the most leverage in making the recommendations happen. The latest annual study by the Government Accountability Office includes 24 recommendations just for the Defense Department and Medicare-Medicaid. Dodaro said there’s big potential for savings in having DoD consolidate or close underused facilities. The report also cites consumer safety oversight as an area brimming with both overlap and fragmentation. This year’s report adds 12 new wasteful areas of government. (Federal News Radio)
  • Defense officials said they’ll exhume the remains of unidentified sailors and Marines killed on the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. A spokeswoman for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting agency said they hoped to identify 388 service men within five years. They’ll use modern medical forensics and genealogy records. Of the 429 killed on the Oklahoma, only 35 were identified in the years immediately after. The rest were buried as unknowns, often with multiple remains in a single casket. Officials said work would start within six weeks. (Federal News Radio)
  • A Veterans Affairs contracting specialist saw the writing on the wall about the infamous Aurora, Colorado, VA hospital — now $1 billion over budget — months before construction began three years ago. The warnings came in the form of an email to 23 senior VA executives and contracting officials. It said the agency could be making a huge mistake on the contracts. According to the Denver Post, Glenn Haggstrom, the agency’s construction chief, was copied on the email warnings. The latest estimate for the half-finished Aurora campus is $1.7 billion. (Denver Post)
  • The White House responded to GAO’s annual report on reducing duplication and inefficiencies. In a blog post on Tuesday, Beth Cobert, deputy director for management, listed examples where the administration has made progress on GAO’s recommendations. Cobert said agencies will continue to save on real property costs by reducing their footprint beginning in Fiscal Year 2016. And several of the 47 training and employment programs GAO identified, Cobert said, have already been eliminated or consolidated. (White House)
  • The Pentagon Channel, DoD’s broadcast news channel, is going dark on Friday. DoD News will only be seen on the American Forces Network and through the Internet at Defense.gov. The new service will carry live events on AFN or as an Internet video stream 24/7. DoD said the Internet is a more efficient way to reach the military’s geographically dispersed audiences. The Pentagon Channel operated as a separate broadcast channel for more than 10 years. (DoD)
  • The Veterans Affairs Department extended its program for veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury. The program was slated to end last year. It will now go through October 2017. The TBI program gives assisted living services to eligible veterans. VA places those veterans in private TBI residential care facilities. Some veterans participate in team-based care to improve speech, memory and mobility. Dr. Carolyn Clancy is VA’s interim undersecretary for health. She said the program enhances veterans’ rehabilitation, community integration and quality of life. About 100 veterans are participating in the program. (VA)

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