As we reported yesterday, the members of the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations sounded a red alert Wednesday on the state of the federal government’s recruiting and retention efforts. With the ongoing pay freeze, furloughs, sequester budget cuts and threats to cut benefits, union leaders and administration officials alike fear the federal workforce could crack under the pressure. Longtime feds with decades of experience could throw in the towel and retire, they fear, and talented young up-and-comers could conclude that the federal government isn’t a good place to work and take their skills elsewhere. Office of Personnel Management Director…
Yearly Archives: 2013
About halfway through this American Forces Press Service story today, Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall tosses out an observation likely to catch the attention of Defense Department civilian employees. Although furloughs will still take place even if a fiscal 2013 spending bill now in Congress wins approval, fewer furlough days could be needed, the story paraphrases Kendall as saying at a conference. Currently, DoD plans to furlough most of its approximately 800,000 workers for 22 days between April 25 and the rest of the fiscal year as the result of the sequester-related spending cuts that began this month. But as…
One of the great unknowns of sequestration is how many hours of federal agency staff time have been consumed by drafting, discussing and implementing the steps needed to handle the across-the-board spending cuts. And it’s not over yet. Under an April 1 deadline stemming from the continuing resolution approved last fall, more than three dozen agencies are supposed to give Congress updated operating plans that reflect the impact of the reductions for fiscal 2013. Inconveniently, however, lawmakers are still tinkering with a final version of the FY13 budget, meaning that some agencies—the Defense Department in particular—may have to rewrite those…
The General Services Administration has launched a full review of its key online procurement system, after discovering a security vulnerability that may have exposed users’ sensitive data. The security flaw was reported to GSA on March 8, and the agency has since issued a software patch on the system and is investigating potential impacts to vendors registered in GSA’s System for Award Management (SAM). “When we got the word that this might be the case, we got right on it,” GSA Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini told reporters Tuesday following a congressional hearing. “And there is nothing that we won’t do,…
Federal employees in the Washington area pledged $61.6 million to charities through the Combined Federal Campaign in 2012 — about 99.4 percent of the $62 million goal set for the National Capital Area CFC, said Global Impact, which ran the charity drive. This year’s results of the CFC’s largest campaign reflect some of the broader troubles and plummeting pledges plaguing the government’s charity drive nationwide, which we wrote about in January. The CFC NCA’s 2012 results mark the second year in a row that its pledge totals fell, and failed to meet the goals it set. While CFC NCA came…
About 400 civilian employees will be leaving Robins Air Force Base in the latest of a series of early-out offers, according to a news release today. The package, unveiled last month, combined an early retirement option with a buyout worth up to $25,000. The 403 workers at the Georgia installation who ultimately accepted must be off the payroll by the end of next month. The base, an Air Force logistics hub about 100 miles from Atlanta, employs some 15,000 civilians, spokesman David Donato said in a phone interview. This early-out round is the fourth since 2011; a total of 680…
As the realities of the sequester sink in, more and more agencies are finalizing their plans for massive furloughs — by our count, at least 1.1 million feds are likely to be furloughed by the end of the fiscal year. Check back in with Federal Times Monday for our cover story diving into these furloughs, and how they might shape the federal workforce for years to come.
This week’s edition of Silver Screen Feds goes back to the Roaring Twenties and the lawless days of Prohibition, to look at the best and worst Treasury agents who ever busted up a still on-screen: Legendary lawman Eliot Ness from the 1987 film “The Untouchables,” and deeply disturbed Agent Nelson Van Alden from HBO’s series “Boardwalk Empire.” BEST FEDS: Eliot Ness, Treasury Department, “The Untouchables” (Andy Medici) How do you take down one of the most notorious criminals in America’s history? How do you capture and convict a man responsible for gang violence, murder and untold corruption? Why, with a…
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will vote on legislation Wednesday to overhaul how agencies buy and manage information technology. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., introduced the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Act on Monday after months of circulating the draft bill to industry groups for feedback. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., has expressed general support for the bill, which has since undergone revisions to address concerns voiced by industry and others. (Click here to view the revisions) Under Issa’s new plan: – CIOs at 16 major civilian agencies, including Veterans Affairs and Agriculture department, must be presidential appointees or designees and report directly to the head of their agency.…
The General Services Administration accepted a bid of $19.5 million on its vacant heating plant in the pricey Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. The agency had been under pressure from congressional committees to ditch the property. Acting administrator Dan Tangherlini said the sale was just the latest in an all-hands-on-deck attempt to cut costs and unload excess property. “GSA remains committed to using innovative ways to put excess properties to new uses. We are hosting auctions, requesting industry input, and offering proposed exchanges, which helps us to deliver on our mission to provide better value to the American people.” The…