Browsing: Agencies

Every so often there are petitions on the “We the People” section of Whitehouse.gov that deserve some attention, for good or for bad. Since 2011, people have been submitting their petitions, hoping to get the 100,000 required to get an official response from the administration. Here are a few petitions you all might be interested in: More than 37,000 people have signed a petition asking President Obama to award former (and legendary) baseball player Yogi Berra the Presidential Medal of freedom. The creator, C.S. from Colts Neck, N.J., cited Berra’s military service and continued support for the armed services. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/award-yogi-berra-presidential-medal-freedom-his-military-service-and-civil-rights-and-educational-activism…

As the debate over funding DHS continues to drag on, former secretaries are starting to get in on the fight. Former DHS chiefs Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff and Janet Napolitano are all pushing Congress to fund the agency through the end of the fiscal year. Here is Napolitano’s full statement below: During my more than five years as Secretary of Homeland Security, I saw firsthand the dedication and commitment of those who serve on the frontlines across the country, from the Border Patrol Agent in the Rio Grande Valley to the Transportation Security Officer at LaGuardia. In that time, we…

John Hamilton is joining the FedRAMP Program Management Office as the new program manager for operations. Before coming to the public sector, Hamilton worked at Accenture and Booz Allen Hamilton and contributed to cybersecurity projects at the Department of Labor and Department of Defense. In the new role, Hamilton will focus on the future of FedRAMP and improving the program’s workflow processes, according to the January newsletter. John will oversee much of the development work of the FedRAMP PMO and facilitate full implementation of the FedRAMP Forward plan released in December. He’ll also work with [PM for Cybersecurity] Claudio [Belloli]…

The General Services Administration is celebrating its 65th birthday by highlighting how much government work has changed over the decades. Ori Hoffer, social media strategist at GSA, said in a blog post that employees used to use manual typewriters and process contract bids by hand, but now use a wide array of technology to help shorten and simplify the process. The agency also has evolved from testing natural gas as a vehicle fuel to using electric and hybrid cars in its rental fleet. “While the people and the technology have changed, and the mission statement may be a bit different,…

Federal employees have taken a lot of heat over the last few years. They are called overpaid and underworked. The fight over their pay and benefits has been well documented. Politicians have called for closing entire agencies, while others push bills to end the civil service . We did this list a few years ago, but I thought it was long due for an upgrade. So here are some now very famous people who at one point would have been considered federal employees. 7. Wanda Sykes This one is from reader Drew Fletcher, who pointed out that before she became…

The United States Coast Guard is asking small businesses for bids from small businesses for about 580 swords and accompanying scabbards, according to a solicitation posted on Fed Biz Opps on May 23. The solicitation is only for small businesses who are able to supply officer swords with specialized grips, pommels and blades with the appropriate insignia. Small businesses have until June 3, at 5 p.m. to submit their proposals. Here are some sketches of the scabbards in question. The rest are available here.

On May 8, the House Armed Services Committee voted on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 – about 15 minutes after midnight. The committee voted on hundreds of amendments and debated the legislation for more than 12 hours before finally passing it. You have probably heard some of the highlights of whats in the bill, but here is a longer list of stuff that made it in that you might not have heard about. Now remember, the bill still needs to be voted on by the full House and then by the Senate, so there are still changes that…

Things are getting scary out west for federal workers. On May 6 on Interstate 15 in Utah a pair of masked men in a pickup truck rode up beside a Bureau of Land Management car and, brandishing a gun and holding a note reading “you need to die” before driving off. The license plate was covered with duct tape and law enforcement has yet to locate the vehicle or the suspects. Jeff Krauss, spokesman for BLM, said the agency is looking into the matter with the help of law enforcement. “Threats against BLM employees will not be tolerated.  We are…

SPOILER ALERT: The NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation ended its sixth season last night with the endlessly-optimistic public servant Leslie Knope becoming a federal employee by accepting a job as the National Park Service’s Midwest Regional Director, and then talking her new boss into relocating the office to her hometown of Pawnee, Indiana. Which is great news for the show’s viewers, but raises troubling questions about multiple violations of civil service rules. FedLine has exclusively obtained a copy of the Interior Department’s inspector general report into Regional Director Knope’s activities: To: Jonathan Jarvis, director, National Park Service From: Mary Kendall,…

On Oct. 1, 2013 the federal government became the victim of a gridlocked Congress and began to shut down. Hundreds of thousands of workers were furloughed without notice while many more kept working – unsure of when they would be paid. Just one day later the 50 or so employees at the Bureau of Land Management’s Cliffside Gas Field – the last remaining federal helium plant – breathed a sigh of relief. The facility had only been allowed to operate until Oct. 7, but Congress had managed to finalize legislation that would keep the facility open for more than six…

1 2 3 125