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…
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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…
American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox is not happy about the Transportation Security Administration removing small knives, along with bats and other items, from its prohibited items list. “Any knife, regardless of blade size, can be used as a weapon. TSA has created a situation where [transportation security officers] will be required to discern the length and width of a knife blade in a very short period of time. Disagreements over the TSOs’ determination as to whether the knife will be allowed through checkpoints may result in a confrontation. Far too often, TSOs are threatened and…
The sequester is upon us. Budgets are being slashed, pay is frozen and your agency is not hiring anyone. Yet despite all of that, you have a job to do. The only question is, do you have the resources you need to get the job done? Are your workloads increasing? The results of the government’s latest Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey suggest this is a problem across the government. The percentage of employees who disagree or strongly disagree with the statement “I have sufficient resources to get my job done” climbed from 34.1 percent in 2011 to 35.1 percent in 2012.…
The General Services Administration auction of a a 20,000-square-foot heating plant in the high-priced Georgetown section of Washington continues to attract bidders, according to the agency. The latest bid is $19 million, up from $16.1 million a week ago. While the “soft close” date was originally set for Feb. 19 every bid the agency receives extends the amount of time left for others to respond, essentially creating a bidding war amongst interested parties.
So some of you have seen the now viral Harlem Shake and some of you have not. But essentially, one person begins dancing and after a cut scene everyone is. There are weird poses and dances but that is the essential gist of it. But some passengers on a Frontier Airlines flight got the FAA’s attention when they did it on a plane in mid flight. So for all of our FAA readers, or general flight experts. What rules were broken and were there any crimes committed?
In a memo earlier this month, the Office of Management and Budget ordered agencies to step up planning for across-the-board budget cuts set to begin in March. Along the way, OMB added, agencies should involve employee unions “to the fullest extent practicable” in any decisions on hiring freezes, furloughs and other measures to cut workforce costs. John O’Grady questions whether that message made it to the Environmental Protection Agency. O’Grady heads the American Federation of Government Employees local that represents some Chicago-area EPA staff and is also treasurer for the union’s national council of EPA locals. He sees little evidence…
The Office of Personnel Management this evening announced that federal offices in the Washington area will open at noon on Monday. The DC area is expected to face icy conditions during rush hour, and OPM advises federal employees to stay off the roads until 10 a.m.
The Partnership for Public Service has extended until Friday — Jan. 11 — the deadline for nominations for the 2013 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies). The eight medals are awarded to federal employees based on three main criteria: impact of their work on meeting the needs of the nation, on-the-job innovation, and commitment to public service. Medal categories include Call to Service, Career Achievement, Homeland Security and Law Enforcement, Science and Environment, and other categories related to specific government fields. All career civilian federal employees are eligible, and anyone may submit a nomination. Thirty finalists will be…
So another year brings more change for federal employees. In Europe the military draw down will include about 10,000 service members over the next year or so. But the number of Defense Department civilians remain unclear, which leads me to ask. If you are a DoD civilian affected by this draw-down, what are your plans? Are you moving to a new assignment, or retiring if eligible? How are you planning on adapting to this? Feel free to comment below this post, or if you want you can email me at amedici@federaltimes.com.