Wednesday Morning Federal Newscast

This morning's federal news as heard on WFED:

About 18,000 U.S. Postal Service employees are likely to take a buyout to leave their jobs. But the post office was planning on 30,000 people to leave. The buyouts pay up to $15,000. The FederalTimes reports the deadline for signing on to the buyout plan was last week, but most employees have to the end of November to make a final decision. The Postal Service is hoping the employee buyouts will save it $500 million.

The Internal Revenue Service paid out million of dollars in refunds to people who overpaid their taxes. Trouble is, the refunds went out before the IRS realized the taxpayers sent in bad checks. NextGov reports a Treasury Inspector General report found that a quarter of a million people sent the IRS checks that bounced. Some of them were for more than the people owed, triggering automatic refunds. Altogether, the IRS sent out $53 million in undeserved refunds.

They're pledging to help your agency fix disputes between managers and employees. The president's nominees to lead the Merit Systems Protection Board telling a Senate panel Tuesday they expect an uptick in the number of complaints in coming years. So they plan to focus on recruiting for the board, to better manage those complaints and address them in a timely manner.

If you're looking for government contracts, set your eyes on IT, but not in the Defense Department. TechAmerica says pressure from the record deficit and a troop draw down in Iraq will push Pentagon spending down. But the group predicts that civilian agencies will kick IT spending up by nearly 18-percent in the next five years. They say more focus on cybersecurity and operational investments will drive that surge.

Ever nod off at work? So do a lot of transportation workers. The National Transportation Safety Board says truck and bus drivers and merchant ship captains should be screened for sleep apnea. The board earlier made the same recommendation for airline pilots and train engineers. Board chairman Deborah Hersman says sleep apnea has been a factor in accidents in the air, over land and in the water.

Now that the big banks and financial institutions have taken their share of federal bailout money, the Obama administration wants smaller community banks to get their share. The government is refocusing the $700 billion TARP program to help these smaller banks cover bad loans and get good credit flowing again for jobs and morgages. The administration also wants to raise the size limits on loans backed by the Small Business Administration. But some in Congress want to see the bailout program ended to reduce the national debt.

More news links

Local real estate flap in way of GSA confirmation (FederalTimes)

Bill would make fraud-detection available for TARP (FCW)

Lockheed's 3Q profit rises; outlook weak in 2010

Think tank makes high-tech suggestions for human rights movement (NextGov)

Defense has vested interest in tracking flu (GovExec)

Wind industry uses federal grants to add capacity

FAA investigating Colo. balloon flight

AT&T asks employees to lobby FCC on net neutrality