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

Contractors say upsurge in MACs leads to duplication, added costs

The Coalition for Government Procurement has called on senior administration leaders to take more action to combat increasing contract duplication, largely from the spread of multiple-award contracts (MACs). Member companies say they are seeing more duplicated contracts and that has added to their costs, according to a CGP survey.

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Postal Service pension surplus shrinks as Donahoe renews call for legislation

Surplus payments the Postal Service made to the Federal Employee Retirement System are much smaller than once thought. Last year, the surplus was estimated to be $11.4 billion. But because of a reduction in projected long-term interest rates, OPM estimated the surplus would drop to $2.6 billion. SPS had wanted to use those overpayments to pay down some of its debts

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ELC to begin processing refunds this week

Organizers for the Executive Leadership Conference, which was canceled this year because of Hurricane Sandy, said they will begin processing refunds this week.

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'Unleashing' technology could slash deficit by $200B, report says

Better leveraging technology in a handful of key areas could help solve pressing national challenges, improve the quality of government services and reduce the federal deficit by more than $200 billion. That's the main takeaway from a collection of reports that make up the 2012 Quadrennial Government Technology Review, commissioned by the American Council for Technology-Industry Adivsory Council's Institute for Innovation. Anne Reed and Molly O'Neill, the two co-chairs of the institute's steering committee, and Wendy Henry, a member of the steering committee, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss the reports' findings.

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Bid protests increase in 2012, nearing 15-year high

The number of bid protests filed in fiscal 2012 ticked up 5 percent from last year to 2,475 cases - more than any year since 1995, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

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White House group recommends digital form, less paperwork for presidential nominee

A White House working group recommended Senate and administration leaders design a core set of common questions and develop a single electronic "smart form," similar to tax-filing software, that appointees could use to complete the necessary forms.

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Cabinet Tracker

President Barack Obama may be staying put for four more years, but many of the top officials he appointed to agency posts are eyeing the exits. Federal News Radio's Cabinet Tracker will follow the comings and goings of the leaders in his Cabinet (and other high-level presidential appointees) heading into Obama's second term.

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Federal-employee, veterans groups assail proposal to limit COLAs

Federal-employee groups and veterans organizations say a legislative proposal that would result in lower cost-of-living adjustments for federal and Social Security retirees is a non-starter. Moving to a "Chained" Consumer Price Index method of calculating inflation would curtail future benefits for Social Security retirees, including federal employees and veterans, opponents of the proposal say.

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Lockheed CEO-elect Kubasik resigns after ethics probe

Christopher Kubasik, Lockheed Martin's president, chief operating officer and CEO-elect, resigned Friday after an ethics probe revealed an improper relationship with a subordinate employee. The board named Marillyn Hewson, the executive vice president of the company's Electronic Systems unit, the president and COO, effective immediately. Hewson will also become the CEO in January 2013 — when Kubasik had been slated to become the company's chief executive, taking over for retiring Bob Stevens.

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Report: White House could blunt impact of sequestration - at least for a while

A new report from independent watchdog group OMB Watch suggests the White House has a few tools at its disposal to blunt the impact of the automatic, across-the-board cuts. The strategies include shifting funds around within agencies and the Office of Management and Budget and agencies, themselves, shifting funds and controlling the rate of federal spending, said Patrick Lester, the director of federal fiscal policy for OMB Watch.

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Unions relish Obama victory but temper expectations for second term

Federal-employee unions have hailed the re-election of President Barack Obama over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. But despite the excitement, union leaders are tempering their expectations for a second term. National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley and J. David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, told Federal News Radio their groups are ready to play an expanded role to deal with the budget deficit and alternatives to the sequestration cuts coming in January.

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OPM makes dent in retirement backlog as claims continue rolling in

For the fourth straight month, the number of federal employees filing for retirement has outstripped the Office of Personnel Management's expectations, according to new data released by the agency. OPM also beat its projections for processing retirement claims.

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Committee leadership changes likely after election

The election Tuesday could bring with it a number of changes to the makeup and leadership of key congressional committees with oversight of the federal workforce and management. The changes to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and others are expected from retirements, committee term limits and a few close races.

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USPS countersues Northrop Grumman for contract overruns

Nearly six months ago, Northrop Grumman filed a $179 million lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service, alleging the agency delayed and disrupted its work on a multimillion-dollar contract to create and install high-tech mail sorters. Now, USPS has countered those claims, alleging the company actually owes it millions of dollars because the contract ran over schedule, according to documents obtained by Federal News Radio.

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Delayed software updates leave IRS computers prone to hackers, auditors say

Thousands of IRS computers could be prone to cyber intruders because officials aren't updating software in a timely manner, according to a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

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Lifecycle Funds down as October TSP returns dip

After months of solid numbers, most of the funds in the Thrift Savings Plan posted negative returns in October, including all of the Lifecycle (L) Funds. The G, F and I Fund all posted slight gains.

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After Sandy, feds deploy all-hands-on-deck approach

After superstorm Sandy, the government is putting all hands on deck response to the storm, providing on-the-ground assistance, federal funding and coordinating rescue and clean-up efforts.

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Baltimore federal offices reopen Wednesday

The Federal Executive Board in Baltimore has recommended that federal agencies in Baltimore reopen Wednesday -- with unscheduled leave and telework options in place. There's no word yet from the Office of Personnel Management on the operating status of federal buildings in Washington, D.C. for Wednesday.

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FEMA says funding won't be an issue in storm relief efforts

The pot of money funding FEMA's relief efforts contains $3.6 billion, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate. That includes some funds carried over from last fiscal year as well as new funding from the stopgap spending measure approved by Congress last month.

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House Republicans blast OIRA over late regulations report

The chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees have written to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) demanding to know why the public release of a report on upcoming federal regulations is behind schedule. In a letter to the agency, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chairmen of the Oversight and Government Reform and Judiciary committees, respectively, say OIRA has not been forthcoming about the expected publication date of a report that should have been released months ago.

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