Jason Miller covers civilian agencies in the federal government with a focus on technology and acquisition. He is also an executive editor at Federal News Radio. Jason's reports can be heard Monday - Friday on the Federal Drive and In Depth.

Agencies making inroads with workforce, succession planning

IRS, DoD and Interior all are pursuing an assortment of initiatives to prepare for personnel reductions. DoD will release an updated workforce strategic plan by 2015. The IRS is using an online assessment tool to measure how ready employees are to move into leadership positions. Interior is getting managers to understand their important role in workforce planning.

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New contracts set EPA's roadmap toward IT centralization

Malcolm Jackson, the agency's CIO, said two new contracts for IT hardware and email will begin to transform the way EPA buys and uses technology.
November 29, 2012

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House Republicans deride VA for non-answers on conference spending

The Veterans' Affairs Committee is turning up its oversight heat after Veterans Affairs officials "stonewalled" their questions. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said there are 66 outstanding questions on conference spending that the committee has been waiting for answers from VA since August. VA pushed back saying it has responded as quickly and as accurately as possible.

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OPM's new closure policies aim to clear up confusion

The Office of Personnel Management wants to ensure the confusion over the status of federal offices during Hurricane Sandy is not repeated for future natural or man-made events. OPM officially released the new language Tuesday and updated its dismissal and closure procedures by incorporating the lessons learned from last month's superstorm and last January's ice storm. The language tries to simplify and clarify what federal employees should during natural or man-made disasters. OPM also wants agencies to refocus their efforts on telework so as many employees are able to work during an emergency as possible.

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Army awards $10B contract to speed up communications technology deployment

Twenty large and small vendors won a spot on the five-year Global Tactical Advanced Communications Systems contract.

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NIST's Leaf to become Labor deputy CIO

Dawn Leaf takes over for Tom Wiesner who retired in June.

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McConnell breathes life back into Senate cyber bill

The Republican leader said today on the Senate floor that after the debates over the DoD and Intelligence authorization bills, lawmakers could address concerns about the Cybersecurity Act of 2012.

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Baitman starts HHS commodity consolidation effort with HR systems

Frank Baitman, the HHS chief information officer, said the agency will move its HR systems to a shared services provider in the coming year. He said HHS also will issue a solicitation for cloud services in 2013.
November 15, 2012

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Senate cyber bill is 'dead'

The upper chamber fails to move cyber bill out of starting blocks by receiving 60 votes to end cloture. Lawmakers couldn't get past their concerns over the requirement for regulations and DHS' oversight role.

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Locality pay, official time reports likely to rekindle federal pay debate

The Federal Salary Council will submit to the Federal Pay Agent in the coming weeks a recommendation to increase the number of localities that get special pay rates. OPM also will release the annual report on how much time federal employees spend on union activities during working hours. CHCO Council will also consider certification process for HR employees.

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For DoD, better buying demands high quality acquisition workers

The Pentagon releases Better Buying Power 2.0 with a new focus on professionalizing the procurement workforce. The updated program includes seven major focus areas with 36 initiatives. Ashton Carter, the deputy secretary of Defense, said version 2.0 takes the lessons learned and data from the last two years to further improve efficiency and cost savings of DoD procurement.

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GSA, Treasury try to breathe new life into SmartBUY

A new request for information asks vendors at answer 10 questions about improving the strategic sourcing of commodity software titles. This is at least the fourth attempt to get more agencies using the enterprise software licensing initiative.

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Kirit Amin heads to Commerce as deputy CIO

Amin spent the last eight months as HUD's chief technology officer.

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IRS reaches 'world class' stature for technology, management processes

The tax agency earned level 3 certifications for the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Terry Milholland, the IRS CTO, said the standard approach to developing IT systems will increase productivity and capacity, while also bringing in much needed discipline.

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USDA laying the groundwork for BYOD

Deputy CIO Charles McClam said the Department of Agriculture is developing a policy and has awarded a mobile device management contract to figure out how best to let employees use their own smartphones and tablet devices on the agency's computer network. NASA Goddard also is creating a BYOD policy that depends on its virtual desktop infrastructure.

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Feds should expect minor tweaks in Obama's second term

President Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday night. History shows administrations entering a second term tend to stay on the performance management path they initially lay out with an eye toward extending some priorities. Budget pressures, including the looming cuts from sequestration, will drive many of the priorities over the next four years for the President.

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First set of cloud providers to get cyber approval by Dec. 31

FedRAMP is reviewing six applications from vendors and plans on awarding at least three with the authority to operate by the end of the year. GSA's Kathy Conrad said a survey identified more than 80 opportunities for cloud services. GSA to hold FedRAMP webinar tomorrow.

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Virginia Senate candidate wants to pay feds for cost-cutting ideas

Former Virginia Governors George Allen and Tim Kaine offer contrasting ideas on issues affecting federal employees and contractors. In Maryland, former federal employee Dan Bongino is challenging incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin for his seat. Bongino and Cardin hold similar views on a number of employee issues.

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Deputy FAS Commissioner Jordan retires

Jon Jordan, the deputy commissioner in the General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service, retired Nov. 3. Bill Sisk has been named to replace Jordan on an interim basis.

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Army to rebalance workforce at expense of civilians, contractors

Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said the service wants to bring more uniformed men and women into the institutional Army. He said they have relied too much on civilian employees and contractors over the last decade. Odierno said the Army also has to change the way it trains its leaders to be more adaptable.

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