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09/20/2024

The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday advanced 13 bills to the full House floor. Among them was the unanimously passed “Federal Acquisition Security Council Improvement Act,” which would bolster the council’s ability to ban products from federal supply chains. Read the story by Justin Doubleday.

The Federal Acquisition Security Council would get a big update under legislation that's on the move in the House.

09/20/2024

A total of 13 agencies received an overall A letter grades on a semiannual Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard. Another 10 agencies got a B grade for their overall IT and management. Only one agency received a C grade. No agencies received a D or an F. Read the story by Jory Heckman.

The higher scores stem from major improvements in two categories — CIO investment evaluation and cloud computing.

09/20/2024

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has a big real estate footprint. So it has a big environmental impact. Since 2022, it’s also had a Sustainability Plan, something the White House ordered all agencies to have. A review by the Inspector General finds, Veterans Affairs still has some work to do.

"Health care in the United States apparently contributes to about 10% of greenhouse gases," Jennifer Baptiste said.

09/19/2024

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission has seen more than three-quarters of its recommendations picked up for implementation. But with cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure on the rise, the four-year-old panel is pushing for renewed action on in the next administration and . Read the story by Justin Doubleday.

The Cyber Solarium has an 80% success rate, but its remaining suggestions face an uncertain outlook in Congress amid rising threats to critical infrastructure.

09/19/2024

Legislation to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset is nearing the finish line in the House. Just over a week after it was filed, a discharge petition for the Social Security Fairness Act has reached the 218-signature threshold needed to force the bill to a floor vote. Read the story by Drew Friedman.

The Social Security Fairness Act, a bill to undo WEP and GPO, has enough support to force a floor vote. But that’s unlikely to happen until at least November.

09/19/2024

Can it be that the repeal of the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset will actually happen? The WEP and GPO that hold back Social Security benefits for certain federal and other government employees?

"The biggest challenge on this has been the cost of repeal," NARFE's staff vice president John Hatton said.

09/19/2024

Obesity among members of the military is not only expensive — it’s also a national security threat. That’s according to the non-partisan American Security Project, which says Americans can no longer ignore this crisis.

"When you have two-thirds plus of the active duty military force that's obese ... you know you've got a huge problem," Stephen Cheney said.

09/19/2024

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is one step closer to getting billions of dollars in supplemental funding to avoid disruptions in veterans’ benefits payments. Read the story by Jory Heckman.

VA needs the emergency funding by Friday to avoid delays in compensation and pension benefit payments that go to 7 million veterans and their survivors.

09/19/2024

Maj. Gen. Mark Mitchum, who most recently served as a special assistant to Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, will lead the command. Allvin said the command will be fully operational in 2025. Read the story by Anastasia Obis.

Along with the new command, the service stood up the Integrated Development Office as part of its sweeping set of plans announced in February.

09/19/2024

The Defense Intelligence Agency is reaping the benefits of a salary supplement that allows DIA and other defense intelligence agencies to offer higher pay to employees in technical fields. Read the story by Justin Doubleday.

DIA is taking advantage of targeted local market supplement that was approved by the Pentagon last year for cyber, IT and STEM positions.

09/18/2024

The U.S. Small Business Administration has proposed two important rule changes for federal contractors. One has to do with popular mentor-protégé partnerships.

"Currently, there's close to 2,000 approved mentor-proteges on SBA's list, so it is definitely very popular," Shane McCall said.

09/18/2024

Researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, USU, have been at the forefront of su***de prevention developing an online game designed to help clinicians who deal with service members at risk of su***de.

"It's essentially an opportunity to to practice skills that they may not have many chances to use on a regular basis," Dr. David Riggs said.

09/17/2024

Artificial intelligence has penetrated deeply into the world of medical devices. The DA has approved nearly a thousand AI-enabled medical gadgets. Given that nature of , the question must be asked of how to keep these devices working properly over time.

The DA has approved nearly a thousand AI-enabled medical gadgets. The question must be asked of how to keep these devices working properly over time.

09/16/2024

State election officials, members of and former President are raising concerns about the US Postal Service’s ability to deliver mail-in ballots on time in November. Read the story by Jory Heckman.

USPS will go through ‘extraordinary measures’ between Oct. 21 and Nov. 15 to ensure mail-in ballots are counted on time.

09/16/2024

The Pentagon is developing training and tools to ensure its program managers know when and how to mark sensitive information that will trigger Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification ( ) requirements. Read the story by Justin Doubleday.

A DoD inspector general report found DoD inconsistently marked controlled unclassified information (CUI). Under CMMC, that could be a big problem.

09/16/2024

There’s a loophole in air transportation security: chartered public flights that sell seats in advance, but don’t have the passenger screening that scheduled airlines do. A bill sponsored by New York Congressman Nick Langworthy would change that.

"The flying public needs to be safe. The pilots deserve to be safe. The flight attendants deserve to be safe," New York Congressman Nick Langworthy said.

09/13/2024

The U.S. is struggling to fill the ranks of its medical corps — while the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on training and retaining its physicians, the rate of is not keeping up with the number of personnel leaving the service. Read the story by Anastasia Obis.

The Army Medical Corps is shrinking as more and more Army physicians are separating from the service rather than extending their careers.

09/12/2024

Like the Sword of Damocles, the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program known as has been hanging over the heads of defense contractors for several years now. Well, it’s about to fall and companies doing business with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) should be ready.

"What the CMMC program is doing is adding new verification mechanisms," procurement attorney Dan Ramish said.

09/11/2024

Michael Sulmeyer, the first-ever assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, plans to spend the “weeks and months ahead” focusing on developing better ways to measure progress across the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Read the story by Anastasia Obis.

'There is power in quantity, but how we talk about our return on the nation’s investment is an area I’m looking to try to work on," Michael Sulmeyer said.

09/11/2024

It’s taken a generation, but now federal benefits have become available for first responders harmed during the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Attorney Michael Barasch gives more details.

"Anxiety and depression still haunt this population today, 23 years later," attorney Michael Barasch said.

09/11/2024

SkillBridge — it’s the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) name for a program to help service members, mostly enlisted, transition to civilian life. In examining it, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that DoD doesn’t track program data very well. That means it can’t really tell how effective is or how to improve it.

"The goal is really to match civilian opportunities to military job training ... [and] enhance an individual's market ability," Kristy Williams said.

09/10/2024

They don’t want it, but contractors are preparing for a possible lapse in appropriations at the end of the month: a government shutdown, that is. Even if they agree on numbers, members of don’t agree on the policy riders each party wants on a spending bill.

"There's really no telling just how much of an impact election year politics could have if we do face a shutdown," Larry Allen said.

09/10/2024

The posted a revised policy last month. It requires each component agency to appoint a career staff person as scientific integrity officer. But to one group of scientists, the policy differs little from protections that were greatly weakened during the administration.

"Confidentiality is anathema to the purpose of these policies, which is to restore public trust," Jeff Ruch said.

09/10/2024

Federal employees working overseas could see a 22% cut in pay, if doesn’t reauthorize a critical funding source by Oct. 1. Read the story by Jory Heckman.

State Department officials notified the American Foreign Service Association about the possible lapse of funds in July.

09/09/2024

Applications are now open for the upcoming class of Presidential Management Fellows. Even though it's been around for 45 years, the 2025 version of the PMF program might look a little different. Read the story by Drew Friedman.

With OPM's final rule, agencies can move Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) graduates to full-time jobs at different agencies in certain circumstances.

09/09/2024

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board may soon announce its latest review, as a top DHS official also calls on to authorize the CSRB into law. Read the story by Justin Doubleday.

DHS is asking Congress to help the Cyber Safety Review Board with legislative authorities, funding and subpoena powers to aid its cyber incident investigations.

09/09/2024

The U.S. Department of Labor rarely found success in making its case to Congress for more funding for technology upgrades. Gundeep Ahluwalia, the now former Labor chief information officer, saw an opening to convince lawmakers to give the agency some funding relief. Read the story by Jason Miller.

Gundeep Ahluwalia, the former Labor Department chief information officer, said in an exit interview that the agency reduced its spending on outdated technology.

09/09/2024

There are new rules coming from the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board and they apply to federal building accessibility. General Services Administration Deputy Administrator Katy Kale and Charles Hardy, the chief architect of the Public Buildings Service, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss.

There are new rules coming from the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board and they apply to federal building accessibility.

09/09/2024

Congress is back in town this week. However, the big question is whether the House and Senate can agree on a continuing resolution by Sept. 30. WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss the possible scenarios.

Congress is back in town this week. However, the big question is whether the House and Senate can agree on a continuing resolution by Sept. 30.

09/06/2024

The White House Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger called AI a “classic dual use technology.” But Neuberger is bullish on how it could improve , including analyzing logs for , generating more secure software code, and patching existing vulnerabilities. Read the story by Justin Doubleday.

AI could be a big factor in a potential second cybersecurity executive order, but federal cyber pros are also wary of the risks of relying too much on AI.

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Director of OPM thanks federal employees

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Sammie's nominee, Dr. Gary Disbrow

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Sammie's nominee, Mitchell Zeller

Sammie's nominee, Steven Musser

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