Updated 6:15 p.m.: A GSA spokeswoman just provided me a statement regarding the delayed vehicle contract: There is no set schedule for when vehicle contracts must be awarded. The previous contract expired in Sept. 2009. For the first time in GSA’s history under the Recovery Act, we have been able to infuse an additional $300 million dollars into vehicle purchases for more fuel efficient vehicles. Due to the additional focus of manufacturers on these additional Recovery Act purchases and the fact that this was a new competitive procurement that resulted in additional awards and product offerings, the contract award was…
Browsing: Agencies
And now, the rest of the story, courtesy of The Washington Post. The Post has obtained previously confidential FBI files showing a close friendship between the late broadcaster Paul Harvey and the late former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The two exchanged frequent letters throughout the 1950s and 1960s, according to the Post. The Post says Harvey frequently sent Hoover “advance copies of his radio script for comment and approval. Harvey wrote Hoover and his deputies regularly. Hoover, in turn, helped Harvey with research, suggested changes in scripts and showered the broadcaster with effusive praise.” The two bondered over a…
Starting Feb. 2, Susan Brita will be the new deputy administrator of the General Services Administration, FedLine has learned. Brita is the staff director for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. The subcommittee has oversight of GSA’s Public Building Service and federal real property management. She replaces Barney Brasseux, a GSA career veteran, who recently retired. This announcement fills one gap in the agency’s leadership team which has seen an unusual amount of turnover in recent weeks. Just before Christmas, Stephen Leeds took over the role of acting administrator from Paul…
Here’s a story that must be read to be believed. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Daniel Rubin writes that earlier this month, an oh-so-hilarious Transportation Security Administration screener allegedly thought it would be a hoot to plant a baggie of white powder in an airline passenger’s bag: A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him. Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on – the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder. She remembers his words: “Where did you get it?” Two thoughts came to…
The Pentagon has less than two years to completely shut down its much-maligned National Security Personnel System, and it’s just set up a new office to do the job. The NSPS Transition Office will oversee efforts to transition roughly 220,000 employees from the pay-for-performance system to their old personnel systems. For most, that will be the General Schedule. John James Jr., previously the executive director for logistics, maintenance and industrial operations at the Naval Sea Systems Command, will head the new transition office. James will also oversee the design and implementation of a new department-wide performance management system that will likely resemble…
Update: My colleague at MarineCorpsTimes.com reports Trijicon will no longer inscribe its products with Bible verses. The U.S. military plans to continue to use tens of thousands of gun sights that are inscribed with references to Bible passages, AP reports. Army officials are investigating whether Trijicon, the company that makes (and scripturally inscribes) the sights, violated any procurement rules by including the markings on the aiming devices. The Army told AP the company didn’t break rules that prohibit proselytizing by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. I blogged about this earlier this week and wondered whether the company did anything legally…
The driving techniques they teach Secret Service agents must be pretty effective. An off-duty Secret Service agent escaped unscathed from a serious crash on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in New York yesterday, according to the New York Post. The agent’s government-owned car spun out of control and smashed into a concrete barrier on the busy highway after he was cut off and hit by a tractor trailer during rush hour, the Post reported. The rear wheels of the truck flattened the front of the agent’s car, but the agent was not hurt and declined medical care, according to the report.
Federal Chief Performance Officer Jeff Zients wants to know how you’d improve the government’s IT systems. Obama administration officials, led by federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, met Jan. 14 with CEOs of companies such as United Airlines and Weyerhaeuser to discuss how to better employ technology to make agencies more efficient and responsive. Zients posted summaries of the executives’ recommendations on his Office of Management and Budget blog and invites readers to comment on the suggestions. Some of the recommendations include: Agencies should serve customers through their preferred channels, such as self-service online. Agencies should keep IT projects from…
(Updated below) Erroll Southers, President Obama’s nominee to head the Transportation Security Administration, has withdrawn his nomination, according to the White House. Southers was nominated in September, but his nomination has been stalled in the Senate for months. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., placed a hold on Southers’ nomination; DeMint was worried that Southers would allow TSA employees to join labor unions. We’ll have more on this, on the blog and the homepage, throughout the day. Update, 11:10 a.m.: Responses are starting to trickle in from union leaders. Here’s Colleen Kelley, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union: I am…
If a company inscribes a rifle with code from the Bible, but is neither required to nor prohibited to take such an action by the contract, have any rules been broken? That’s the question I have after reading this ABC News report about rifle aiming equipment manufacturer, Trijicon, inscribing its military scopes with references to New Testament passages about Jesus Christ. The article suggests the inscribed scriptural references violate military rules banning proselytizing in the war zone. The rules exist out of concern U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan would be viewed as a new Crusade. But it is not…