The Interior Department will phase out its controversial royalty-in-kind program, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced at a hearing this morning. Interior’s Minerals Management Service is responsible for collecting revenue from oil and natural gas projects on federal lands. The RIK program collects those royalties as oil or gas instead of cash; the government then sells the minerals and sends the revenue to the Treasury. But the program has been plagued for years by ethical problems and accounting difficulties. The program puts MMS managers — federal employees — in the odd position of acting like oil or gas salesman. Managers often don’t…
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The House of Representatives finally voted to approve H.R. 22, 388-32, more than eight months after it was introduced. The bill allows the Postal Service to pay health benefits for its current retirees out of a trust fund earmarked for future retirees. As Rebecca noted earlier, postal managers describe H.R. 22 as a necessity given their $7 billion budget deficit this year. The Postal Service needed to make a $5.4 billion payment into the retiree trust fund by Sept. 30, but the agency doesn’t have enough cash to make the payment. Without H.R. 22, it will be forced to default…
Within the next few hours, the House of Representatives may make a crucial decision regarding the fiscal future of the U.S. Postal Service. Due to a $7 billion deficit, the Postal Service can’t make its scheduled Sept. 30 payment to its retiree health benefits fund. HR 22, which the House debated Tuesday afternoon, would reduce this payment from roughly $5.4 billion to slightly more than $1 billion. Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., praised the bill as a necessary move to protect retirees while Congress debates the future of the Postal Service. Towns is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform…
The Senate voted 57-40 Thursday to approve the nomination of Cass Sunstein to be administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, ending a months-long debate over Sunstein’s writings as a professor and his ideological views. At least two senators had placed holds on Sunstein’s nomination, due to concerns about his opinions on gun control and animal rights. Sunstein, a Harvard University professor, met with the senators, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and John Cornyn of Texas, and assured them he respected the Second Amendment and would not limit hunting or impose stricter gun control. The holds were then lifted.…
“Be prepared,” that’s the Girl Scout motto. And now, a Girl Scout can earn a new, government-approved patch when she lives up to that ideal. Today, the Homeland Security Department and the Girl Scouts of the USA unveiled the “preparedness” patch and a corresponding program to encourage young women and their families to be prepared for emergencies like storms, pandemics or terrorist attacks. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is a former Girl Scout, said: This new preparedness patch will increase citizen preparedness and enhance our country’s readiness for disasters.” To earn the patch a scout must identify and prepare…
The Wartime Contracting Commission is the latest body to announce it will investigate the State Department’s oversight of a controversial contract for private guard services in Afghanistan. The congressionally chartered commission called a hearing for Sept. 14 in the wake of a Sept. 1 Project on Government Oversight letter to the department alleging employees of the private security contractor Armour Group North America engaged in lewd acts and hazed junior employees, compromising the security of U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Kabul. The hearing will focus on “the underlying questions of what the State Department contract require[s] of contract-employee conduct,…
Leadership changes are on the way at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Commissioner for Patents John Doll will retire on Oct. 2 after 35 years at the agency, the Commerce Department announced Thursday in a news release. He will be replaced by long-time patent employee Robert Stoll, who has been nominated by David Kappos, undersecretary of Commerce for intellectual property and director of the Patent and Trademark Office. Kappos also named Margaret Focarino as deputy commissioner for patents. The commissioner for patents is appointed by the Commerce secretary for a five-year term after being nominated by the undersecretary of…
The folks who draw up the Federal Acquisition Regulation have issued their proposal to enact a section of the 2009 Defense authorization meant to ensure a contractor’s poor past performance is not overlooked during the contract award process. The proposed rule published in today’s Federal Register creates a new database called the “Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System,” or FAPIIS for short. Contracting officers will be required to use this centralized database when making contract and task order awards. The timing of the proposal couldn’t be better. Last month, acquisition officials answered some tough questions from Congress about how…
Bloomberg says the Postal Service has pared back the list of post offices that it’s considering for closure. Only 413 facilities are on the chopping block now — down from nearly 3,600 on the original list, and close to 1,000 that we reported on last month. By the way, I’ve been meaning to post some of the e-mails I’ve received in regards to the Postal Service’s recent buyout offer. I appreciate all of your feedback; I don’t have time to respond to every e-mail, but I do read them all. I’ve copied a few e-mails (without names) after the jump.
The Small Business Administration launched a new online course today designed to help small firms win federal contracts. The course gives businesses information about the federal market, such as where to find opportunities, contract rules and how to sell to federal agencies. The course, “Recovery Act Opportunities: How to Win Federal Contracts,” is part of the new Obama administration initiative to increase the use of small business among federal agencies. Last month, the White House announced SBA and the Commerce Department will take part in 200 outreach, education and training events over the next thee months to help small businesses…