Tuesday federal headlines – October 7, 2014

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.

• Federal employees will pay an average of 3.2 percent more for health care in fiscal 2015. New costs for the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program are out from the Office of Personnel Management. It’s the fourth year in a row rates increases stay below 4 percent. FEHBP carriers will also start to implement the Self-Plus One enrollment option. That starts in 2016. 2015 premiums go up Jan 1. (Federal News Radio)
• Federal employees worked nearly 3.5 million hours in official time in fiscal 2012. That’s worth about $157 million. The total is up slightly from fiscal 2011 official time totals. The Office of Personnel Management released its report on official time about six months late. (Federal News Radio
• The talley for spending on military operations against the Islamic State is $1.1 billion. The U.S. Central Command said Navy munitions totaled $62 million. The Navy has dropped about 185 pieces of ordnance since mid-June. The Air Force far exceeds that, launching nearly 1,000 munitions. Before airstrikes in August, daily costs averaged $7.5 million. Now Pentagon officials say that number could be as high as 10 million. DoD has more than 1,300 troops stationed in Iraq. (Federal News Radio)
• Army pilots used an Apache attack helicopter to strike Islamic State targets in Iraq. The weekend activity marked the first use of an Apache in the campaign against the Islamic State militants. A Central Command press release mentioned rotary wing aircraft. Defense News confirmed it was an Apache. Apaches can fire Hellfire missiles to reach targets several miles away. The Telegraph reports the Apaches were sent to Iraq three months ago to defend the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. CENTCOM also deployed RQ-7 Shadow drones to Baghdad at the same time. (Defense News)
• The Veterans Affairs Department is using its new legal authority to remove members of the Senior Executive Service. Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson confirmed he’s proposed the removal of Susan Taylor, the deputy chief procurement officer. Taylor is accused by the VA inspector general of fraud, lying to investigators, creating a conflict of interest and whistleblower retaliation. Gibson named Ricky Lemmon as acting deputy procurement and logistics officer. The Wall Street Journal reports the VA has also begun the removal process for the chiefs of its medical centers in Pittsburgh; Dublin, Georgia; and Central Alabama. (Federal News Radio)
• Customs and Border Protection received a gold star. The Homeland Security Inspector General said the agency has improved the way it handles unaccompanied minors. IG John Roth made several surprise visits to makeshift detention centers on the Southwest border. This is after civil liberties advocates complained of unsanitary conditions and inadequate food at the detention centers over the summer. In the report, Roth said one inspection revealed that the CBP did not properly isolate a child with a contagious disease. But after a second inspection a week later, all issues from the previous surprise inspection were resolved. (DHS OIG/GovExec)
• The Obama administration is tightening screening protocols for airline passengers. The move came as President Barack Obama tries to reassure the public there’s a low chance of an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. Bloomberg News reports the health officials have learned lessons from the first diagnosed case in the U.S. And President Obama said procedures are now in place to rapidly evaluate anybody who might be showing symptoms. Currently, United and Delta airlines are the only U.S. carriers serving Africa. (Bloomberg News)
• The Veterans Affairs Department will make veteran employment a priority on an upcoming IT contract. It’s the Transformation 21 Total Technology Next Generation contract, or T4NG. The VA will award up to 20 contracts under the $22 billion vehicle. Eight awards will go to veteran-owned companies, including four veteran-owned small businesses. Other evaluation factors will include past performance, small business commitment and price. T4NG will replace the Transformation 21 Total Technology contract awarded in July 2011. ( target=”_blank”>Federal Business Opportunities)
• The Professional Services Council hired Jerry Punderson, the outgoing director of contracts for the Naval Sea Systems Command. He will become the council’s senior vice president of defense and intelligence. He spent 33 years in the government, mostly at the Navy in acquisition. There, he oversaw a multibillion dollar portfolio of ship and weapons systems construction. Punderson also supervised the Navy’s online services acquisition marketplace, SeaPort-e. He is the second big former DoD hire for the council. In May the agency lined up Dave Wennergren, the former Defense Department deputy CIO. (Federal News Radio)
• NASA’s SEWP V will have the lowest fees of any governmentwide acquisition contract when it launches next month. NASA confirmed it will charge agencies 0.4 percent, down from 0.45 percent under SEWP IV. GSA charges 5 percent to use its governmentwide acquisition contracts, although officials have mulled reducing the fee. The National Institutes of Health also charges 0.75 percent to 1 percent, but caps the fee at $150,000. Program manager Joanne Woytek describes what’s new in SEWP V on Federal Drive. (Federal News Radio)

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