Tuesday federal headlines – November 11, 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.

• Veterans have new guidance about their employment rights from the Merit Systems Protection Board. MSPB described the claims process for veterans under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act and Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. It also reminded agency managers about their roles in hiring veterans to the federal workforce. (Federal News Radio)
• Defense Department contracting officers may have overspent on 411 contracts woth nearly $32 billion. The Pentagon’s Inspector General said the DoD didn’t follow an interim Federal Acquisition Regulation rule for cost reimbursement contracts. Some contracting officials said they didn’t know about the rule. (DoDIG)
• More details have emerged about the reorganization of the Veterans Affairs Department. VA Secretary Bob McDonald says the year-long effort will result in a single customer service organization run by a chief customer service officer. McDonald said he wants the agency to simplify how it delivers health care and other services. The goal is for veterans to have a single point of entry for all VA services, from health care to cemetery plots. As it’s organized now, the department has nine regional structures and more than a dozen websites. McDonald dubbed the new structure MyVA, and says it will have a single metric to measure success — the outcomes it provides for veterans. (Federal News Radio)
• The Obama administration is dialing back expectations for how many Americans will use the federal health care insurance exchange to buy coverage, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell says. Enrollment opens Saturday, and Burwell says she expects 9.1 million customers will have signed up this year — well below the 13 million projected by the Congressional Budget Office. Last’s year’s inauguration of HealthCare.gov resulted in disaster when the site failed. HHS staff have spent the last year rebuilding it. (Federal News Radio)
• Officials at the Patent and Trademark Office will face questions on telework abuse and fraud at a House hearing next Tuesday, the Washington Post reports. The House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees will jointly hold the hearing. An internal PTO report in August found some employees lied about hours they worked, but still received overtime pay and bonuses. The report points to poor supervision and gaming of the system. PTO Deputy Director Michelle Lee, who’s been managing the agency since January, was asked to testify at the hearing. She was nominated by President Barack Obama last month, but has not yet been confirmed. (Washington Post)
• Hackers broke into some of the Postal Service’s information systems, exposing the information of about 800,000 employees. The breach happened in September, the agency said, but was only made public yesterday because of an FBI investigation. In a video message, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe said he’s among those hit by the breach. Compromised information includes names, addresses and Social Security numbers. The breach also affected members of the Postal Regulatory Commission and the Postal Inspector General. Donahoe said there’s no evidence the information has been used maliciously. (Federal News Radio)
• The first U.S. government-funded Ebola treatment unit recently opened in Liberia. The Defense Department oversaw construction of the 25-bed hospital. The U.S. Agency for International Development is funding management and clinical care of the unit. Sixty-five public health service personnel staff the facility. The hospital is part of the $30 million approved for Ebola response efforts. The funds also go to delivering and paying for equipment, supplies and training. Liberia now has eight Ebola treatment units. The U.S. plans to build a total of 17 units in the country. (DoD)
• The Pentagon says 50 U.S. troops have arrived in Western Iraq. The troops will help in the fight against Islamic State militants, Defense News reports. Cmdr. Elissa Smith, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said the service members are conducting a site survey of facilities at Al-Asad Air Base, and will not give weapons to Sunni tribes. Last week, President Barack Obama announced plans to double the number of American troops deployed to Iraq. To that end, he approved an additional 1,500 forces, including trainers and advisers for Iraqi soldiers. (Defense News)
• The Iraqi Air Force is buying eight new F-16 fighter jets, but the planes won’t be delivered just yet. Instead, they’ll go to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, a Pentagon spokesman said. Currently, the security situation at Iraq’s Balad Air Base is too iffy. Advances by the Islamic State army earlier this month caused contractors to evacuate Balad. Iraqi pilots have been using trainer planes in Tuscon, but will soon get to use their new F-16s: Three will be delivered this month, then one per month until May. (DoD)
• Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will lead a Veterans Day ceremony today. He’ll speak at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall. This year’s ceremony marks the 30th anniversary of the dedication of the Three Servicemen Statue, which pays tribute to Vietnam veterans. Unveiled in 1984, the sculpture depicts three soldiers: one Caucasian, one African-American and one Hispanic. Today’s ceremony begins at 1 p.m. and is open to the public. (Federal News Radio)

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