Wednesday federal headlines – January 21, 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.

  • Costs for four Veterans Affairs construction projects are 66 percent to 144 percent higher than originally expected. Those projects are also 14 to 86 months behind schedule. The Government Accountability Office said the VA is implementing the recommendations it submitted back in 2013 to better manage construction projects. But it will likely take more time to see the results. (GAO)
  • Two Pentagon employees used a fake recruiting website to collect millions of dollars in bonuses. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said a retired Army sergeant and his wife created the site officialarmy.com, designed to look like a legitimate military website. The couple used the site to get names of people interested in joining the Army and submitted those names to the Army. The couple got up to $2,000 for each person they referred. McCaskill said the scheme cost the Army $4 million. (Sen. Claire McCaskill)
  • NASA and the White House today will host their third annual State of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics event. Two astronauts on board the International Space Station will do a live ground-to-space question and answer session. More than 130 middle and high school students will participate in the session. NASA astronauts Terry Virts and Butch Wilmore will answer questions about STEM education. That’s streaming online at 1 p.m. on WhiteHouse.gov. (NASA)
  • A watchdog found the General Services Administration needs to improve how it manages employees who telework. In a new report, auditors said GSA doesn’t know how many virtual employees it has and their hours worked aren’t always reported accurately. GSA also doesn’t assess travel costs related to virtual work. Employees who telework can get reimbursed for traveling to the agency. But the inspector general found travel costs for more than half of employees exceeded the cost estimates. Some actual costs were twice as much as the estimate. The IG recommended GSA maintain an accurate list of teleworkers and put in stricter controls over transit subsidies. (GSA IG)
  • Now you can get a complete tour of the USS Constitution without ever getting up from your computer. Google Maps used Street View technology to publish a 360-degree virtual experience of the ship. Viewers can see most of the decks and spaces on the ship and even some spaces that are usually closed to visitors. The USS Constitution is 217 years old and scheduled for three years of restoration work starting in March. (Navy)
  • Twenty-five whistleblowers at the Veterans Affairs Department will receive back pay and have their conduct records cleared. The Office of Special Counsel said it negotiated the settlements with VA officials. The agreements follow OSC investigations of retribution against employees who called out patient abuse and other problems. In one case, a supervisor failed to call police after the whistleblower reported a patient allegation of rape by a VA employee. In another, a doctor was reprimanded for complaining about a diversion of funds away from clerical help that would have helped prevent errors in patient care. (Federal News Radio)
  • More than a year after the botched launch of HealthCare.gov, the Health and Human Services inspector general issued its assessment. The investigation painted a picture of sloppy program execution by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. The IG said the agency failed to check into past performance of the prime contractor, CGI Federal, nor of CGI’s subcontractors. CMS also took on too much of the risk of cost overruns. And it failed to establish a lead systems integrator to manage the 60 companies who ended up working on the project. So far, HealthCare.gov has cost $800 million. (HHS IG)
  • One in 10 air strikes the Air Force is conducting against the Islamic State terrorist army is done by the A-10 Warthog jet. That’s the same plane Air Force officials want to retire, but members of Congress don’t. Defense News reports of the sorties carried out by the Air Force, 41 percent are using the F-16, followed by the F-15E at 37 percent. The A-10 comes in third with 11 percent. The B-1 bomber and F-22 fighter are also doing a few each. But because the A-10 didn’t join the fight until mid-November, the Air Force must be using it heavily for it to reach that number. Secretary Deborah Lee James said under the Air Force’s retirement plans, the A-10 would still be around until 2019. (Defense News)
  • The U.S. Digital Services group is coming into the limelight. That’s the group the White House established to help federal agencies solve problems with online access to federal services. Last night, service member Kathy Pham sat next to first lady Michelle Obama at the State of the Union speech. Earlier in the day, U.S. Digital Services opened a website of its own. The site has a video featuring team members. And it has a Twitter handle — @USDS. The Office of Management and Budget is calling on agencies to establish their own digital service groups similar to those already underway at Veterans Affairs and the General Services Administration. (White House)

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