The House Energy and Commerce Committee met Feb. 11 to begin marking up the legislative language it will report to the House Budget Committee as part of the reconciliation process. Currently, there is $7.6 billion allocated by the committee to bolster the E-Rate program, as well as funding for COVID-19 testing and data management. […]
The U.S. Army Materials Command is forgoing a competitive bidding process for cyber training services while it waits for a bid protest between two contractors to be resolved. […]
The White House has issued a memorandum to revitalize the U.S.’ national security and foreign policy workforce and institutions and establish an Interagency Working Group on the national security workforce. […]
The Office of Management and Budget told Federal agencies in a Jan. 24 memo that Federal workplaces should run at no more than 25 percent of occupancy while the coronavirus is running at high rates. […]
Almost all Federal agencies are hiring employees based solely on information provided by the candidate, according to new data from a public dashboard report. […]
In a detailed report that compares the compensation and benefits for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) employees in the both the Federal and private sectors, it was found Federal employees have more advanced degrees, but make less money annually. […]
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act on Jan. 21, to give Federal employees a 3.2 percent pay raise for 2022. […]
Getting in and out of the District of Columbia will likely be more trouble than it’s worth until after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration with the Secret Service adding bridge closures to mounting restrictions. The Secret Service announced restrictions on seven bridges Jan. 18, with all but one restricting all access into the city. […]
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., asked Office of Management and Budget (OMB) leaders in a Jan. 15 letter to halt implementation of the Trump administration’s 2020 executive order that created a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions. […]
A bill introduced in the House by Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Ryan Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., on Jan. 13 aims to invalidate a controversial executive order issued by the Trump administration in October 2020 that created a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions and makes it easier to hire and fire them. […]
A group of women in senior IT leadership positions at Federal agencies is calling for increased gender diversity in top government positions. […]
The Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) has issued guidance for Federal agencies to allow employees to telework and use all other “workplace flexibility” to keep employees out of downtown in the District of Columbia for the next week. […]
Reps. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, have released a new bill that aims to improve science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science (STEM) education in rural communities. […]
The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University – which focuses on data and technology issues to drive more equitable practices in society – has named Cori Zarek executive director. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is seeking public comment on a proposed rule that would change the relative value of performance in decisions to lay off Federal employees. The proposed rule, published Dec. 17, would correspondingly deprioritize length of service in layoff decisions, making it the least important factor in the proposed order of retention. […]
Online learning provider Coursera is scoring a big Federal sector win by making its services available – via an agreement with immixGroup – to the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) to help with Federal government employee reskilling efforts. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the completion of all IT initiatives for the implementation of the Forever GI Bill – also known as the Colmery Act – and the full deployment of associated software and systems, finishing the implementation of a policy initiative that initially put VA’s IT in the headlines for the wrong reasons. […]
President Trump on Dec. 11 signed an executive order (EO) giving Federal employees the full day off on Christmas Eve. While Christmas Eve is not officially a Federal holiday, President Trump gave Federal employees Dec. 24 off in 2019 and 2018, as well. Department heads will still ultimately have the last call as the EO […]
The National Security Agency (NSA) released a cybersecurity alert on Dec. 7 warning that state-sponsored hackers based in Russia have been attacking remote workspaces and exploiting a vulnerability in a suite of VMware products. […]
For the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) to further narrow the pay gap for Federal workers, better quality data on promotions is needed as it is often incomplete. […]
As Federal agencies increasingly look to capitalize on the rich data they are collecting, they need to ensure their workforce is up to the challenge. However, many agencies are finding that their current workforce lacks the needed skills. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that approximately 400,000 Federal employees will need to be reskilled by Fiscal Year 2021 – accounting for nearly 20 percent of the government’s current workforce. To help get the workforce they need in place, agencies are looking for ways to effectively retrain and reskill their workforce to enable an agency-wide digital transformation. […]
The Trump Administration has expressed its support for a pay freeze for civilian Federal employees – a step back from the one percent pay raise that the White House proposed in its initial budget, and a move that has ramifications for budget negotiations between the House and the Senate. […]
In a press release from House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Ranking Member Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, a bicameral agreement has been reached on the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). […]
The chairs of 23 House committees and subcommittees sent a letter to Federal agency heads on Nov. 25 inquiring about the extent to which Trump administration political appointees may have “burrowed” into more permanent employment with the government through conversion of their jobs into civil service positions. […]
The Defense Department (DoD) is putting in place additional workplace restrictions for the Pentagon Reservation area over the Thanksgiving weekend – effective at 5:00 a.m. EST on Nov. 26 – due to the increased spike COVID-19 cases in the National Capital Region. […]
More than three dozen Senate Democrats and independents have lined up to support new legislation that would block implementation of President Trump’s controversial executive order that would create a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions and make it easier to hire and fire them. […]
A new report from the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) examines human capital challenges facing the Federal government, and lays out several recommendations to modernize the Federal workforce in 2021 that could be accomplished via executive order from the next presidential administration. […]
The draft appropriations bills released by the Senate Committee on Appropriations today would put a pay freeze in place for civilian Federal employees in fiscal year 2021 – falling below even the Trump administration’s one percent pay increase proposal – while providing a three percent pay raise for members of the military, which matches the number from the White House. […]
Innovation does not happen when people do the same thing day in and day out. It happens when we step out of our comfort zone, embrace challenges, and support inclusivity, industry experts said Oct. 29 at General Dynamics Information Technology’s Women + Technology event produced in association with MeriTalk. […]
Renewed focus on empowerment, communications, and flexibility are among the top management lessons learned at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) in eight months navigating the coronavirus pandemic, GDIT President Amy Gilliland said this week. […]