UPDATE: OMB says the definition of inherently governmental functions is still being worked on. Expect to hear something by the end of the year. The Office of Management and Budget just released two long-awaited procurement reform memos. The first is about increasing competition while reducing risk in contracting. The second is about strategic planning for the civilian agency acquisition workforce. So far no word on a A third piece of expected guidance meant to clarify the definition of inherently governmental functions was not released today as expected [see update above]. That memo will help agencies carry out earlier guidance to…
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Update: Nearly 2,800 ideas for greening the federal government have been submitted so far through the White House’s GreenGov Challenge. Those ideas have been voted on more than 93,000 times since voting began Oct. 19. Federal employees and military service members have until Saturday to make their suggestions and cast their votes. ———————————————————————————————– Original post: Think you have a great idea for how the government can reduce its environmental footprint? The Obama administration wants to know it. The White House is challenging federal civilian employees and military service members to come up with ways in which the government can get…
UPDATE: Full story now on FederalTimes.com. Click here. Embattled Defense Contract Audit Agency director April Stephenson was removed from her post earlier today, the Defense Department has announced. Stephenson, who was spent her entire career at DCAA, was reassigned to the staff of DoD Comptroller Robert Hale. Hale, who oversees DCAA, replaced her with Army Auditor General Patrick Fitzgerald, said Navy Cmdr. Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman. Fitzgerald takes over Nov. 9. The move was announced during an internal teleconference at 2 p.m. today. Following the teleconference DCAA staff was notified via email, James said. Fitzgerald was chosen to take…
Are you one of the 18,000 people who accepted the Postal Service’s $15,000 buyout offer? Want to talk about why you took the deal? E-mail me. (Alternatively, if you didn’t accept the deal, I want to hear why not!) I’m working on a story about the buyouts, and I’d love to include your stories. Glad to keep you anonymous, of course.
Former White House official David Safavian was sentenced to a year in prison today for obstructing justice and lying to investigators about his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. This was the second conviction for David Safavian, who served as chief of staff at the General Services Administration under President George W. Bush. His 2006 conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 2008. He was tried again and convicted in December. The case stemmed from allegations that Safavian lied to GSA ethics officials when he had asked for advice on whether he…
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., continues to hold up the vote on Martha Johnson’s nomination to lead the General Services Administration. Bond placed a hold on her confirmation this summer to squeeze the agency for information about why it wasn’t closing down the federally owned Bannister Complex outside Kansas City, Mo. and relocating staff to leased space downtown, as previously planned. GSA’s new Public Building Service commissioner, Robert Peck, responded to Bond, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., in a letter last week. In the Oct. 9 letter, Peck explained that plans to close Bannister are still on…
Two Defense Department agencies announced the release of their fiscal year 2008 contractor inventories in today’s Federal Register. The inventory for the Missle Defense Agency, which posted its headcount here, doesn’t appear to include much information about the number of contractors performing the work. In fact, that column appears to be blank for most of the contracts listed in the 210 page document. The Defense Contract Management Agency also posted a notice about its list, but at the time this is being posted, the list isn’t on the agency’s site. The notice says it has 30 days to post its…
A few of you have e-mailed me about the latest list of post office closures, released on Friday. I think there’s an interesting gap between how the public perceives the closures and how the Postal Service perceives them. The closures are getting a huge amount of attention. Newspapers across the country are running stories about them; Congress has called hearings about them; even Andy Rooney threw in his two cents. To the Postal Service, though, these closures are a pretty minor item. I don’t mean they’re not taking them seriously. But the closures represent a tiny fraction of the agency’s…
A request for our readers: I know OMB’s new performance management guidelines are still pretty new, and I’m sure many agencies haven’t had a chance to discuss them yet. But if your agency is planning to apply for the extra program evaluation funding that’s available in 2010, send me an e-mail — I want to hear from you.
Here’s the updated list (pdf) of proposed post office closures from USPS. There are 371 post offices on the list, down from nearly 700 on the initial list released in July. Most of them are in major urban areas. California has the greatest number of proposed closures — roughly 70 of them, mostly in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. New York City, Atlanta, and several cities in Florida would also face cuts. The Postal Service started the summer with almost 3,600 post offices under review. It pared that list down to 677 before a July 30 congressional hearing on…