The House just approved the 2010 Defense authorization bill, which would (among other things) kill the National Security Personnel System. The Senate won’t vote on the bill until Friday at the earliest, and could wait until next week to consider it. You can read more about the bill here, here and here.
Monthly Archives: October, 2009
It looks like the Defense Authorization Bill is going to throw a monkey wrench in the intelligence community’s pay for performance system as well. The bill (all 1,492 pages of which can be read here — skip to page 780 for the NSPS provisions) would suspend the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System for everybody except employees at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, who have had that system for the last decade, until the end of 2010. And since the IC’s system is based in part on that system, that’s going to slow Chief Human Capital Officer Ron Sanders’ efforts to pay…
Here’s a few new details on the Defense Authorization Bill’s repeal of the National Security Personnel System that lawmakers on a House-Senate conference committee have agreed upon: All 205,000 employees currently under NSPS will be transferred back to their original pay system by Jan. 1, 2012, according to a statement from Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y. The bulk of NSPS employees were originally under the General Schedule system. American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage — who in June compared NSPS to Dracula — thinks the Defense Authorization Bill will be the final stake in the heart of the program. But…
OMB director Peter Orszag sent an 8-page memo to agencies today outlining new performance management guidelines. Here it is (pdf). Thoughts to come later this morning once I’ve actually had a chance to read it…
President Barack Obama issued an executive order this afternoon that requires agencies for the first time to measure and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Obama nixed an earlier idea, included in a draft executive order I reported on back in August, to set a governmentwide percentage target. Instead, each agency must recommend its own target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. It will be up to the heads of the Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Management and Budget to approve those targets. Obama’s order also sets new requirements for cutting gas and water consumption, reducing landfill waste and…
America’s one and only public crank, Andy Rooney, weighs in on the Postal Service’s plan to close hundreds of post offices (h/t Ed O’Keefe). He hates the idea: There’s definitely a generational gap here: People of Rooney’s age have a sentimental attachment to the mail that just doesn’t exist in younger generations. And obviously that stems from how frequently each group uses the mail. My grandparents still send me hand-written letters. My friends? Not so much. They rarely go to their post office, so they don’t have any sentimental attachment to the place. (If Gmail were shut down, on the…
It’s official: Daniel Gordon, the acting chief counsel of the Government Accountability Office, is President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the Office of Federal Procurement Policy inside the Office of Management and Budget. Gordon has a long history in procurement law since he joined GAO in 1992. From 2000 through 2006 he led GAO’s procurement law division, which hears bid protests on government contracts. GAO’s bid protest decisions frequently set precedent for government contracting officers. In 2006, he was named GAO’s deputy general counsel and has served as GAO’s acting general counsel since May. As administrator of OFPP, Gordon will…
Agencies are still having trouble spotting contractors on the battlefield, the Government Accountability Office reported today. That’s because they aren’t consistently using the new SPOT (Synchronized Redeployment and Operational Tracker) system designed to track information about contracts and contractor employees in Iraq and Afghanistan, GAO found in a new report. Congress established the system in 2008 to help the Agency for International Development, the State Department and the Defense Department monitor and share information on contracts and contractor personnel in the combat zone. The information meant to be collected includes the number of contract personnel on the battlefield, the number…
Feds, put down those BlackBerries. At least while you’re behind the wheel. President Barack Obama issued an executive order today that bans federal employees from using their cell phones, BlackBerries or other electronic devices to send or receive text messages, read e-mails or perform other electronic tasks while driving . The order applies to employees behind the wheel of government owned or leased vehicles or those driving their own vehicles while on government business. Agencies also were instructed to encourage federal contractors to enforce similar polices on their own workforces. Obama issued the order to coincide with a Washington summit organized by Transportation Secretary…
If you work at the Homeland Security Department, the House of Representatives has some kind words for you. Members of Congress love to bash DHS and interrogate officials at frequent congressional hearings, but the House voted Thursday to approve a resolution, H.Res. 731, expressing appreciation for the work DHS employees do. Here’s the official description of the bill: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the employees of the Department of Homeland Security, their partners at all levels of government, and the millions of emergency response providers and law enforcement agents nationwide should be commended for their dedicated…