After 11 years, at least 300 cover stories, and a few thousand articles, today marks my last as a reporter at Federal Times. This afternoon, I will move over to our sister paper, Air Force Times, where I will cover Air Force personnel issues. The pay and benefits beat is now in the exceptionally skilled hands of Sean Reilly, and if you’d like, you can follow my Air Force Times coverage at my Twitter feed. I’m excited to have this opportunity to cover the military, and write about all new issues at a time of unprecedented change for our armed…
Monthly Archives: June, 2013
Starting this January, federal employees and their families will have an expanded lineup of both vision and dental insurance plans to choose from, the Office of Personnel Management announced this afternoon. The number of dental plans will increase from seven to 10, according to a news release, while the number of vision carriers will rise from three to four. The last time OPM opened up the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) to new entrants was 2006. Premium rates and coverage will be announced later this year before Open Season begins, acting Director Elaine Kaplan said in the…
The Veterans Affairs Department’s outreach strategy to try get Boston area vets enrolled in benefits is targeting the town’s famous love of sports. The VA is paying $7,500 a piece to run ads in annual yearbooks for the New England Patriots and Boston’s Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins, which, by the way, need two games to win hockey’s Stanley Cup. Michael B. McNamara, outreach program manager for the VA’s New England healthcare system, said in a phone interview that the VA as been running ads in the yearbooks for two years. So far, the strategy of reaching out to vets…
Congressional budget cuts have taken a chunk out of salaries, travel, office supplies and even the size of employee cubicles. But as agencies keep looking for ways to cut, they are turning increasingly to sharing workstations and implementing ‘hoteling’ solutions. So for all you feds out there: Do you still decorate your cubicle? If you share your workstation do you still put up photos or do you leave them at home or keep it to Facebook? Please feel free to chime in in the comments section, or email amedici@federaltimes.com.
An undercover investigation by the General Services Administration’s watchdog office has traced second-hand computer equipment originally costing the U.S. government about $25 million to more than a dozen sham educational organizations and, ultimately, back to one man: Steven Alexander Bolden. Federal prosecutors in Tacoma, Wash., earlier this month filed fraud charges against Bolden, saying he tricked the government into believing he represented schools and thus was eligible for access to GSA’s Computers for Learning program. Under the program, agencies, as permitted by law, can transfer surplus computers and technology equipment to schools and nonprofit educational groups. The investigation, which was…
The White House this week announced that, with the government facing massive budget crunches, there will be no Presidential Rank Awards handed out this year. What do you think about this development? Is it unfair and a bad sign for the overall federal workforce? Or do you think it’s a necessary step to take? Sound off below, or write me at slosey@federaltimes.com. I’ll keep your comments anonymous if you’d like.
The mailing industry is regrouping for battle over the possibility of an emergency rate increase request from the U.S. Postal Service. After lying dormant for the last 2-1/2 years, the Affordable Mail Alliance, made up of nine trade groups and companies, issued a news release yesterday stating that the USPS Board of Governors “is set to decide on the matter imminently.” The board, which is scheduled to meet in closed session next Tuesday, ordered postal management to study the possibility of an “exigent” rate increase earlier this spring after abandoning plans to end Saturday mail delivery. At this point, no…
Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has just released a “discussion draft” of a bill intended to put the U.S. Postal Service on a more stable, long-term financial footing. The bill, which has not yet been introduced, bears some resemblance to the measure that the California Republican unsuccessfully pushed in the 2011-2012 session of Congress. It would, for example, temporarily replace the USPS board of governors with a presidentially appointed panel of five outside executives who would have the power to shake up the agency’s top management and take any steps necessary under the…
The proposed overhaul of the Combined Federal Campaign has gotten Congress’s attention. Although a final date hasn’t been nailed down yet, the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce is looking into holding a hearing late this month or in early July, Meaghan Cronin, a spokeswoman for the panel’s chairman, Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, said in an email. The purpose, she said, is “to better understand the impact” of what the Office of Personnel Management is proposing for the CFC. No witness list at this point. Confirmation of the impending hearing comes five days after OPM closed…
Federal Times is proud to announce the Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalist honored us with two first-place Dateline Awards last night: My June 4, 2012 story “At GSA, almost everyone rates a bonus” received first prize for weekly investigative reporting. This story dove into bonus data across the government and uncovered how nearly 9 in 10 employees at the troubled General Services Administration — which had just been rocked by its Las Vegas conference scandal and revelations of lax bonus policies — received bonuses in 2011. The SPJ judges said the story’s “Interesting analysis of public records…