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- Furlough Friday: Multiple agencies take advantage of holiday weekend
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- VA chipping away at oldest disability claims in backlog
- Congress pressures agencies to speed up office consolidations
- Data breach puts DHS employees at risk of ID theft
- What's the latest on phased retirement?
- IRS replaces official in Tea Party controversy
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- Obama nominates Archuleta as next OPM director
- FedRAMP achieves another cloud security milestone
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- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB reworking financial system requirements
- Federal retirement funds temporarily tapped
- Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal finalists
- Thursday federal headlines - May 23, 2013
Congress blames itself for duplicative programs
Faced with a 423-page report from the Government Accountability Office detailing potential duplication, fragmentation and overlap in nearly every corner of government, lawmakers pointed a finger at themselves for reducing oversight of federal programs and trying to fix problems without understanding what solutions the government already offered.
GAO: 'Virtually all' agencies may have overlapping programs
From food safety to economic development, federal programs are filled with potential duplication, fragmentation and overlap, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. GAO identified 51 new areas that need attention at a time when Congress is debating department budgets and the White House is calling for greater authority to reorganize agencies.
GAO: Work needed to correct errors in TARP financial statements
Gary Engel, GAO's director of financial management, says the Treasury Department's Office of Financial Stability, which implements TARP, still needs to establish a mechanism for effective implementation of its review and approval process for preparing its financial statements.
GAO: EPA has $2B in unobligated Superfund money
Carolyn Yocom is the director in GAO's health care practice.
GAO: Duplicative IT programs total $1.2 billion
David Powner, the director of information technology management issues at GAO, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss a recent report on duplicative IT investments at the Defense, Energy and Homeland Security Departments.
GAO's Rich Stana reflects on a career he never anticipated
Former Government Accountability Office Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues Rich Stana never aspired to public service. As a newly-minted business school graduate, he interviewed for jobs at banks and companies, but didn't find them appealing. Then his dean suggested applying to GAO, where he could apply his business knowledge to auditing government programs. Stana never looked back. He retired in December after 35 years.
GAO: Long-term savings, short-term hurdle in dollar coin switch
The federal government could save $4.4 billion over the next three decades by phasing out the $1 bill with a $1 coin, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. But the cost estimates for the first 10 years actually spell a loss for the government to the tune of $531 million.
Better IT governance helping some agencies reduce duplication
Energy, DHS and DoD CIOs told House lawmakers how each of their agencies is reducing duplicative systems. GAO released its latest report on the IT dashboard and found the three agencies need to improve how they categorize projects.
GAO: DHS makes progress on retaining senior leaders
David Maurer, the director of Homeland Security and Justice issues at the Government Accountability Office, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss the results of a recent report on turnover in the Homeland Security Department's senior ranks.
Congress pushes back against another round of BRAC
DoD officials say as the number of troops shrink so should their real estate holdings. Lawmakers are wary about reducing troop and bases levels too much, and the expense of the Base Realignment and Closure process.
Congress mulls expansion of VA's system to verify veteran-owned firms
The Veterans Affairs Department's process for verifying eligibility in the service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses program could become standard procedure for all agencies. VA is the only department that checks to make sure contractors are eligible.
Legislative agencies' 2013 budget requests spell reduced staff, cuts
The Government Accountability Office, Congressional Budget Office, Government Printing Office and Library of Congress testified before a House committee this week on their fiscal-year 2013 budget requests. While they vary in many ways, none stray too far from 2012 funding numbers that cut the agencies' budgets.
DoD converts 17K civilian jobs under insourcing initiative
The finds of those 17,000 jobs, the Army brought the most contractor positions back to federal employees, 42 percent.
Agencies see success in stemming tide of improper payments
Beryl Davis, the director of financial management and assurance issues at GAO, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss the findings of a recent report detailing how agencies cut improper payments.
GAO: 'Inconsistent' cost estimates plague DoD reports
As Pentagon budgets become tighter, the Defense Department is looking for ways to cut costs in weapons systems. But the only way to make cuts is to know how and where money is being spent. Ostensibly, the full lifecycle-cost estimates for DoD's major acquisition programs are collected in the Pentagon's selected acquisition report — or SAR. Cary Russell, the acting director for defense capabilities and management issues at GAO, told In Depth with Francis Rose the reports contain "inconsistent" information.
GAO: Program for comparing tax information needs better budget practices
Mike Brostek, the director of tax issues at GAO, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss the watchdog agency's recommendations for the IRS program that compares sources of tax information.
Senators take OPM to task over long wait for pensions
The Office of Personnel Management has a new strategy for tackling its backlog of 62,000 retirement applications. But, after 25 years of hearing such promises, lawmakers are skeptical. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Reform Subcommittee on Oversight brought agency director John Berry to Capitol Hill to explain why this strategy is different.
GAO releases update to auditing standards
Jim Dalkin, director of financial management and assurance issues at GAO, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss the updated auditing standards and what it means for GAO's work.
GAO: Capitol Police pay, benefits structure not to blame for attrition
For nearly a decade, some lawmakers and union officials have raised concerns about the United States Capitol Police's pay and retirement benefits, arguing they don't stack up to other federal police forces and make recruiting and retaining difficult. But a new Government Accountability Office report finds the hand wringing over stingy retirement benefits may be unwarranted.
GAO: DoD policy for reporting top-secret procurements unclear
Belva Martin, the director of acquisition and sourcing management issues at GAO, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss the agency's latest report on the use of the national-security exception in defense contracting. GAO concluded the Defense Department's rules for when its agencies must disclose the use of the exception are unclear.
