The American Postal Workers Union has returned to national television with three new 30-second commercials. But unlike a softer-focus ad campaign that ran last summer, these spots have a definite target: the U.S. Postal Service’s downsizing agenda and, in particular, its plans to close or consolidate more than 220 mail processing plants. If a Maine plant closes, “we would have to consider layoffs” because of increased mailing times, says the president of a Bangor company that produces billing statements, appointment reminders and other documents, in one ad. The other commercials suggest that the processing plant closures could slow delivery of…
Monthly Archives: March, 2012
The Navy on Friday released a revised draft request for proposal to industry for its Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) program. The updated draft reflects comments from industry and Navy stakeholders and will provide further clarification of development requirements for NGEN, the Navy said in a news release. Industry has 10 working days to review and comment on changes to the initial draft, which was released in September. NGEN will replace the current Navy-Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) as the world’s largest network. It will serve both sailors and Marines on land and overseas.
Two senators are making another push to lower how much the government reimburses for contractor compensation costs with a bill introduced late Thursday. Senate bill 2198, sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would limit the taxpayer reimbursement for government contractor compensation to the amount of the President’s salary — $400,000. Compensation includes wages, salary, bonuses and deferred compensation. The measure would extend the cap to all government contractor employees. “The direct taxpayer-funded salaries of government contractors clearly need to be contained,” Sen. Grassley said in a statement. “There’s no justification for these payments to be higher than the salary of the…
More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition asking the president to issue an executive order ensuring workplace protections for gay federal contractors. Administration officials will not confirm any action, but Tico Almeida, president of the Freedom to Work advocacy group, said Labor and Justice department lawyers have recommended President Obama issue a policy requiring federal contractors to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. Freedom to Work, which seeks anti-discrimination policies for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender workers, created the online petition at Change.org. More than 16 million employees of federal contractors either work for companies or reside in states that do not…
The Veterans Affairs Department will not openly recompete a $102.6 million contract to manage a critical portion of its future integrated electronic health record (iEHR) system with the Defense Department. Instead, VA will award the contract to the second most qualified bidder, said VA Spokeswoman Jo Schuda. The firm has not been named. Last month, VA canceled the contract it had awarded to Fairfax, Va.-based ASM Research Inc. to manage a portion of the iEHR, called the enterprise service bus, which will allow various components of the future system to communicate with each other and with VA and DoD health…
A new $32 million Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Karnes County, Texas, is the first designed specifically to hold what the agency calls low-risk detainees, according to an ICE announcement last week. The facility, with recreational facilities such as a gym and soccer field, allows the detainees more freedom of movement than the prisons that house most detainees, said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen. Karnes County paid the upfront cost and partnered with a construction company to build the facility in exchange for a contract with ICE to house about 600 detainees. It’s a model ICE hopes to replicate:…
Robert Gates was back in Washington this evening with a display of the understated candor that was a trademark during his five years as secretary of defense. It was Gates, after all, who last year described members of Congress as a group “with oversized egos and undersized backbones”—a line he cheerfully repeated during tonight’s award ceremony hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration. Gates, on hand to receive the academy’s Elliot L. Richardson Prize for excellence in public service, spoke during a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with James Kitfield, senior correspondent at National Journal. Here are a few other excerpts: *…
The Orlando Sanford International Airport is reattempting to opt out of using Transportation Security Administration employees for screening under new rules that should make it easier for airports to contract the work. A law enacted last month requires TSA to approve applications from airports that want to contract their passenger screening and security services if contractors can do the job as good or better than federal screeners without affecting costs. TSA has to provide feedback on the basis for any decision, including how denied applications could be improved. Four Montana airports and the Springfield Branson National Airport in Missouri applied for the …
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has joined forces with the Corporation for National And Community service to create a new program that takes 18 to 24 year old volunteers and trains them to be the next generation of FEMA managers, according to the agency. The program would draw upon 1,600 members of AmeriCorps who will spend a minimum of 1,700 hours working directly in disaster response. The first members will begin serving in this August and the program will reach its full capacity within 18 months, according to FEMA. FEMA says the program will “enhance the federal government’s disaster capabilities,…
A routine fact-check has become an excursion into the federal contracting wilderness as I try to wrangle the exact number of governmentwide acquisition contracts, or GWACs, that agencies hold for information technology products and services. The proliferation of multiple award contracts has been well documented and federal procurement officials have yet to come up with a definite count of how many exist among the various agencies. But GWACs are different because the contracting agency must first be approved to hold a GWAC by the Office of Management and Budget. That should make them easier to count, right? So far, I’ve come across…