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Top News
- Data breach puts DHS workers at risk of ID theft
- DoD to pursue commercial alternative to VA's VistA system
- Obama to nominate Tangherlini as GSA administrator
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB fuels synergy between mobile, open data
- IRS official Lerner: 'I did nothing wrong'
- OMB reworking financial system requirements to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- Retirement funds temporarily tapped to avoid debt limit default
- VanRoekel to lead OMB management team
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- New Apple devices cleared to join DoD IT networks
- Bonuses under fire at GSA, other agencies
- Wednesday federal headlines - May 22, 2013
Few retired feds cash in on dual compensation
Among six federal agencies surveyed, few are using a defense waiver allowing partially retired workers to collect a salary and their full pension benefit, a new Government Accountability Office report says.
Agencies doing job they already paid FPS to do
A new Government Accountability Office report says the Federal Protective Service isn't doing enough to safeguard more than 9,000 federal buildings.
Bill would give DoD incentives to audit its books on time
New legislation from several senators would let DoD reprogram funds without congressional approval.
DoD, State implement only fraction of wartime contracting recommendations
A new Government Accountability Office report found that three main actors in contingency contracting — the Defense and State Departments and the U.S. Agency for International Development — will likely only implement a fraction of the recommendations set out by the Commission on Wartime Contracting. The agencies have either determined their existing policies already address the commission's concerns or they disagreed with the recommendation in the first place, GAO found.
Gov't report: Tax cheats getting paid by Medicaid
Thousands of Medicaid health care service providers still got paid by the government even though they owed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal taxes, congressional investigators say. A legal technicality is making it harder for the IRS to collect.
Federal Drive interviews - Aug. 2
BGov's Kevin Brancato explains how tight budgets are reversing a trend from best-value to best- price in government contracting. And the GAO looks at the effectiveness of food recalls.
VA not doing enough to verify service-disabled veteran owned firms
GAO highlights a need for tighter controls to fix the contracting program.
Multiple roles more help than hindrance, say agency CAOs
The Government Accountability Office looked at how agencies were complying with the Services Acquisitions Reform Act of 2003. It discovered that while many chief acquisition officers had assumed duties far beyond what the act intended, that might not be such a bad thing.
DoD extends civilian hiring restrictions through 2018
Pentagon hiring freeze for civilian employees will last several more years, although Defense Department leaders say they'll grant exemptions to give the department flexibility.
TSP faces challenges in adopting socially responsible investment fund, report says
The Government Accountability Office compared an existing socially responsible investment stock index to the stock portfolio of the federal Thift Savings Plan and discovered several barriers existed for feds hoping to adopt a more socially conscious approach to their retirement planning.
Sequestration and pay
AFGE's Public Policy Director Jacque Simon and
Stephen Losey and Sean Reilly of the Federal Times
will talk about the big issues affecting federal
workers.
July 25, 2012
State's lack of middle managers risks diplomacy
The State Department has a gap in its work force. It has too few experienced, mid-level career foreign service employees. It's the result of several factors...and it's a serious problem.
GAO, FPS disagree over ability to assess federal building risk
The Modified Infrastructure Survey Tool does not provide information about the consequences of security incidents at federal facilities, a GAO auditor said. As a result, agencies cannot effectively deploy countermeasures. Still, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) said he was happy with FPS' progress in developing MIST.
Federal pay statistics are easily manipulated, GAO reports
The Government Accountability Office looked at six studies about federal pay and found that the different approaches taken in each made their findings potentially problematic.
Government accountants issue advice to Treasury to help clean up its books
After a year-long study, the Association of Government Accountants issued a report suggesting a dozen changes and steps that would improve how the U.S. Treasury Department tracks government-wide revenue, spending and the federal deficit.
DoD needs to consolidate data centers to become more efficient
A Congressional Research Service report found DoD accounts for 63 percent of energy consumption in the U.S. The White House's move to consolidate data centers could save at least $3 billion by 2015.
FERC goes back to Congress again for more cyber oversight
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it needs authority to enforce cybersecurity standards. The agency also wants Congress to expand its jurisdiction over electric grid operators.
GAO: Special hiring authority not a free pass
A Government Accountability Office report found the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency need to do a better job managing their employees under Title 42.
Agencies face 'hodge-podge' guidance on security clearances
The federal government has issued more than 4.8 million security clearances to federal civilians, military service members and contractors. But the process for determining what positions require clearances amounts to little more than a "hodge-podge" across agencies, an official with the Government Accountability Office told Federal News Radio.
7 agencies make progress on implementing 'cloud first,' GAO says
The Government Accountability Office assessed the performance of seven federal agencies in migrating some of their services to the cloud as required by the Office of Management and Budget. Five of the seven agencies succeeded in meeting OMB's requirements and the other two are expected to be compliant by year's end.
