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Congress
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Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sends another letter to another agency on ways to cut spending. This is the Senator's second letter in June; he wrote to the DOJ earlier this month.
June 24, 2013 -
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The Veterans Affairs Department made it a top priority earlier this year to handle all disability claims from veterans who've been waiting two years or longer. The department mostly succeeded in its two-month surge operation, but serious questions linger about the sustainability of the backlog elimination effort.
June 21, 2013 -
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In an effort to incorporate iris, facial and fingerprint recognition technologies across the government, the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee pressed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to set a date for the release of national biometric recognition standards.
June 21, 2013 -
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Patrick McFarland, the inspector general of the Office of Personnel Management, confirmed to a Senate subcommittee Thursday that his office has been investigating USIS, the government's largest contractor for background-investigation services, since late 2011. He said at least 18 security clearance investigators have been convicted of falsifying investigations since 2007. McFarland said there may be "considerably more" fraud that hasn't been uncovered due to "alarmingly insufficient oversight" of the security-clearance process.
June 20, 2013 -
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Reducing the contractor compensation cap to the level of the salary drawn by the President ($400,000) or the Vice President ($230,700), as suggested by some lawmakers and the White House in the past, would dramatically increase the number of employees who earn compensation above the allowable limits GAO said. But the changes would mostly affect large companies, auditors said, because few of the small companies it surveyed pay their employees more than the amount earned by the President and Vice President.
June 19, 2013 -
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GSA acting administrator Dan Tangherlini said the agency wants to work with Congress to offer creative ways for agencies to maximize their assets. In its own headquarters, the GSA is using modern techniques to save space.
June 19, 2013 -
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USPS issued final determinations Wednesday to close three Capitol Hill post offices by July 21, which is expected to save about $2 million over the next 10 years. That's only a drop in the bucket in the agency's stretched-thin budget, but top House Republicans on the Administration and Oversight and Government Reform Committees hailed the move for sending a strong message.
June 19, 2013 -
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Under intense congressional and media pressure, VA has moved aggressively to eliminate its backlog of new claims for disability benefits. But veterans who appeal VA's decisions are still waiting years, on average.
June 19, 2013 -
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Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee members support Dan Tangherlini to be the permanent administrator of the General Services Administration. Lawmakers, however, wanted more answers about the troubled SAM program and the recent IG report on management interference of contract negotiations.
June 19, 2013 -
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A new commission, proposed by David Walker, former U.S. comptroller general, would recommend ways to streamline government by removing duplication and extraneous spending from government agencies. Federal-employee unions criticized the proposal and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee lawmakers expressed skepticism that such a proposal could gain congressional approval.
June 18, 2013 -
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Federal agencies need to step up their use of TechStat sessions, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report. The face-to-face meetings of IT officials and agency leaders have been put to use by the Office of Management and Budget and individual agencies to turn around or terminate dozens of failing IT projects. But only about a third of the agency projects deemed most at risk of cost overruns or schedule slips have undergone the reviews, GAO reported.
June 14, 2013 -
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The first major IT reform bill in a decade has cleared the first of three hurdles to become law. The bill would empower CIOs by reducing the number of people with that title to one per agency, and give that person authority over the IT budget and personnel decisions.
June 14, 2013 -
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House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and ranking member Michael Michaud (D-Maine) sent Secretary Eric Shinseki a letter asking for an explanation on why VA didn't tell the committee about multiple nation state attacks. The lawmakers call for VA to offer credit monitoring services to tens of millions of veterans.
June 14, 2013 -
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Amid nearly unanimous congressional opposition, the Defense Department says it needs to stop operating military facilities it no longer wants or needs.
June 14, 2013
