Jack Moore is a web editor and general assignment reporter for Federal News Radio.

Some feds feel frozen out by OPM status

Federal employees in the Washington, D.C. region took to Twitter to vent their frustration with the Office of Personnel Management's decision to open federal offices on time Monday, even as snow blanketed the area.

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OPM in talks to add 6 new carriers to FEHBP

The Office of Personnel Management is in talks with six additional health care providers to join the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, according to John O'Brien, OPM's director of health care and insurance. OPM has been working over the past few years to add plans to the FEHB program in a bid to increase competition, O'Brien said in a keynote address at the 2013 FEHB Carrier Conference in Arlington, Va.

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Debate rages over USPS delivery changes

The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service announced last month it would end Saturday delivery of first-class mail. But a new legal decision from the Government Accountability Office seemed to offer more questions than answers.

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Shutdown averted, pay freeze extended as Congress passes 2013 funding bill

The House voted today to approve a measure to fund federal agencies through the remainder of fiscal 2013. The bill averts a government shutdown but extends the freeze on federal employees' pay through the end of 2013. The bill now heads to President Barack Obama for his signature.

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The curious case of Jeff Zients' changing title

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters this week President Barack Obama has asked Acting OMB Director Jeff Zients to stay on until his successor is named. But for about the last six months, Zients was not the acting OMB director because his initial interim role quietly expired last year.

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2014 budget battle lines drawn around federal pay, benefits

When it comes to the federal workforce, the competing House and Senate budget plans differ greatly in tone and style. But when it comes to making the federal government run more efficiently and finding cost-savings in federal operations, the two plans are more alike than you might think.

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Military 'quality of life' to suffer under sequestration

Military pay is exempt from the automatic budget cuts, known as sequestration, that went into effect earlier this month. But scores of military programs that impact service members in their everyday lives, such as tuition assistance and family programs, are not protected from the across-the-board budget reductions. Officials from the Defense Department and the military services testified before the House Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on military personnel on the impact of the budget cuts on training, retention and family-assistance programs.

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Agency CAOs fear budget woes put workforce at risk

Many contracting reform efforts over the past few years have focused on building up the federal acquisition workforce. Now, faced with near-crippling budget uncertainty, agency acquisition officials are worried the progress of the past few years could stall. Nick Nayak, chief procurement officer at the Homeland Security Department, discusses Federal News Radio's exclusive survey of chief acquisition officers on In Depth with Francis Rose.

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Members of Congress confident budget deal can be reached to avert shutdown

Congress missed the deadline to avert sequestration last week. And now a deadline to prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month is barreling toward lawmakers. But members of both chambers and from both sides of the aisle say they're confident they can work out a deal to keep the government running.The likely sticking point is how the the automatic budget cuts, known as sequestration, will continue to play out. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R- Okla.) discuss the continuing resolution and sequestration on In Depth with Francis Rose.

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As sequestration cuts loom, unimplemented IG recommendations could save billions

Over the past few years, unimplemented agency inspector general recommendations that could potentially save the government billions of dollars have piled up. Now, with $85 billion in automatic budget cuts kicking in, lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are telling agencies there's no excuse for them to further delay implementing the cost-saving measures and best practices identified by their IGs.

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Upsurge in February retirements causes backlog to balloon

The number of federal employees filing retirement claims last month spiked to more than 20,000 -- nearly four times what the Office of Personnel Management projected, according to new OPM data released Tuesday.

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New OMB report lacks details on sequestration cuts

A report released by the White House to detail automatic budget cuts details reductions only down to the budget account level -- not to the more granular program, project and activity level and varies in the level of detail describing cuts to specific agency budgets.

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Sequestration Tracker: Guide to agency furloughs

In the weeks leading up to March 1, agencies across government have painted increasingly dire pictures of life under sequestration. Along with hiring freezes, spending reductions, and curtailed travel and training, many agencies are planning for furloughs. With Federal News Radio's Sequestration Tracker, find out how agencies have said they'll slash their budgets to comply with the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts.

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Obama signs sequestration order; what's next for feds?

Sequestration is officially a reality for federal employees and agencies. President Barack Obama signed the sequestration order into effect Friday night. After more than 15 months, fierce debate and a delay at the beginning of the year, the $85 billion in automatic, across-the-board budget cuts are officially here. Find out what steps civilian agencies and the Pentagon are taking, including employee furloughs. Plus find out what comes next in terms of negotiations between the White House and Congress.

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SSA, IRS take different paths on sequestration furloughs

The Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration — two of the largest federal agencies with very public missions — are taking divergent paths when it comes to dealing with the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration. IRS says it is planning for five to seven furloughs days, while SSA says it hopes to forego furloughs through alternative savings.

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House committee worried DoD, VA 'moving the goal posts' on e-health records

A House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on the decision by the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments to scale back plans for a joint integrated electronic-health records systems dredged up longstanding issues with the two departments' EHR efforts.

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Feds sound off on sequestration impact

Federal workers are sounding off about how sequestration, the across-the-board budget cuts slated to kick in Friday, will impact their jobs and their families. The Federal Workers Alliance, a conglomeration of 20 federal-employee unions, has launched a message board to allow feds to share their concerns and to put a human face on the cuts.

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Navy mulls extending NMCI contract, increasing contract ceiling

The Department of the Navy has announced it may spend up to $1.2 billion more for support of its Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI). In a Feb. 20 FedBizOpps posting, the Navy issued sole-source justification, detailing a notice of intent to increase the price of Hewlett-Packard's continuity-of-service contract (CoSC). The notice also allows the Navy to extend the CoSC services from April 2014 through September 2014 to ensure the department can complete the transition to its Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN). However, that contract option would only be exercised if the NGEN transition is further delayed.

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Union: EPA plans agencywide furlough days under sequestration

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning at least three agencywide mandatory furlough days through the end of the fiscal year if sequestration goes into effect, according to union officials who say they were briefed on agency plans. EPA also will implement employee furloughs in two phases, according to John J. O'Grady, the president of AFGE Local 704, which covers the Chicago region.

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After Navy role, Work to head CNAS think tank

Undersecretary of the Navy Robert Work will become the CEO of the Center for a New American Security, a prestigious defense think tank with close ties to the Obama administration. Work will start at CNAS April 22.

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