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The Federal Drive
Top News
- SES bonuses under fire at GSA, other agencies
- VA's Gould moves the needle on VA challenges
- Obama appoints Danny Werfel acting IRS head
- Photo Gallery: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- Next-gen Apple devices cleared to join Defense IT networks
- In fight over intelligence IT system, Army prioritizes access to data
- White House wants to root out copycat programs - starting with STEM
- Pentagon furloughs to begin July 8
- Causey: Don't work or we'll fire you!
- House bill protects homeland security budget
- Intelligence Community free from furloughs
- DoD aims to speed approval process for mobile devices
- OMB fuels the passion, synergy between mobile, open data
- GAO, OMB spar over whether to measure data center cost savings
- Agencies craving STEMM talent should bolster skills of persuasion
- DoD wants to know real costs of IT business systems
Monday - Friday, 6-10 a.m.
Hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp bring you the latest news affecting the federal community each weekday morning. Be up-to-date before you step in the office.
VA testing cash prizes to improve its health record system
The Department of Veterans Affairs is trying out a new system of contests to make upgrades to its electronic medical record system. The agency plans to award up to three prizes worth $3 million to vendors who create open-source based components to VistA.
US looking at action against China cyberattacks
The Obama administration is considering more assertive action against Beijing to combat a persistent cyber-espionage campaign it believes Chinese hackers are waging against U.S. companies and government agencies.
New SBA union contract emphasizes flexible work policies
The Small Business Administration and the American Federation of Government Employees inked a new three-year deal Thursday, extending a number of flexible workplace policies to more than 2,000 federal employees. Among the new benefits are streamlined telework privileges and the ability for employees to opt in to a four-day work-week with expanded hours each day.
Congress sends bill to Obama averting govt default
Congress sent President Barack Obama drama-free legislation on Thursday raising the debt ceiling, averting a government default and putting off the next tax-and-spending clash between the White House and Republicans until later in the year.
DoD slow to codify some interagency contracting standards
Despite a big policy push from the administration, some agencies have lagged in implementing guidance dealing with interagency contracting, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office. Still, GAO said the creation of a policy framework by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy had gone a long way toward ameliorating some of the issues that landed interagency contracting on the watchdog agency's high-risk list eight years ago, such as duplication and unclear lines of authority between agencies.
APNewsBreak: Afghan massacre trial set for Sept.
A military judge has scheduled a Sept. 3 court martial for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the U.S. soldier accused of massacring 16 Afghan villagers during nighttime raids last year, his lawyer said Thursday.
OMB lays out 11 goals to give Section 508 some punch
Steven VanRoekel, the federal chief information officer, and Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Joe Jordan issued a memo detailing a new strategic plan after a recent Justice Department compliance survey found mixed results. This is the fourth memo since 2005 from the Office of Management and Budget trying to get agencies to meet the law's requirements. David Capozzi, executive director of the Access Board, said new 508 regulations could be to OMB for approval this spring.
Joint Chiefs: Looming cuts would 'hollow' military
The military's top leaders are warning Congress that automatic spending cuts looming in March would force the Pentagon to slash operating budgets, weakening the armed forces and possibly forcing furloughs of 800,000 civilian employees.
Federal Drive Interviews -- Jan. 31, 2013
Mort Rosenberg of the Constitution Project details the implications of a recent court ruling on recess appointments by the Obama administration. Cameron Leuthy of Bloomberg Government talks about nine civilian agency programs that look particularly ripe for a little carving. OFPP Administrator Joe Jordan discusses data collection. Al Banghart of Deloitte Consulting LLP discusses why federal agencies and Congress are concerned about the supply chain.
Thursday morning federal headlines - Jan. 31, 2013
The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air. In today's news, the Office of Management and Budget now says March 4 is the earliest the White House will send its proposal to Congress.
DoD moves meetings online, but IT systems can't keep pace
Spending on conferences is among first casualties as various defense components make cutbacks. DoD's online meeting service is suffering from its own popularity.
Congress grapples with gap on scofflaw contractors
With thousands of civilian contractors remaining in Iraq and Afghanistan, Justice Department officials want Congress to resolve a legal issue that they say obstructs efforts to prosecute any such workers who rape, kill or commit other serious crimes abroad.
Employees skeptical of managers' ability to cut deadwood
Federal employees are skeptical their managers are making effective decisions about the federal workforce, according to a new report from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Just 24 percent of the employees agreed that their agencies properly addressed poor performers, while 29 percent of respondents indicated their organizations eliminated unnecessary programs and positions, according to the survey of 42,000 feds from 24 agencies and departments.
GOP lawmakers see automatic cuts as leverage
There's a growing sense of resignation that the country's political leaders will be unable or unwilling to find a way around looming automatic spending cuts despite fresh signs the cuts would threaten the recovering economy.
NASA CIO Cureton to retire in April
Linda Cureton has decided to leave government service after 30 years, including the last four as the space agency's chief information officer.
Fort Hood suspect still faces possible execution
The Army psychiatrist charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage still faces the death penalty if convicted in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Wednesday morning federal headlines - Jan. 30, 2013
The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air. In today's news, the Labor Department is moving its email to the cloud and NASA Chief Information Officer Linda Cureton is retiring from government.
Navy details two rounds of budget cutbacks for 2013
Round one is already in effect and includes a civilian hiring freeze, cancellation of conferences, cutbacks on training, and a reduction in IT spending for the Navy. Round two would involve unpaid civilian furloughs, operational reductions for deployed ships, and cuts to tuition assistance for sailors.
White House petitions: Huge response, headache too
As the Obama administration kicks off its second term, it's upping the threshold for responding to Americans' petitions from 25,000 signatures to 100,000, a reminder that government by the people can sometimes have unintended consequences. In this case, a wildly popular transparency initiative has spawned a headache of the administration's own making.
CBP turns inward to modernize IT infrastructure
Charlie Armstrong, the agency's assistant commissioner for the Office of Information and Technology and chief information officer, said a new cloud initiative is the target environment for mission support systems. CBP recently moved all of its employees to email-in-the-cloud.
January 3, 2013
