The Office of Management and Budget estimates that $83.5 billion in previous years' Department of Defense funds will remain unobligated on Sept. 30, the end of fiscal 2012, reports Kevin Brancato and Robert Levinson of Bloomberg Government.
As more agencies make changes to streamline operations and save money, more employees are complaining about unfair labor practices. In response, the Federal Labor Relations Authority is taking steps to educate the workforce and labor groups about labor-management and collective bargaining rules.
The State Department's share of overseas contingency contracting has grown over the last few years as the department took on new activities and functions as the military departed Iraq. Still, the budget shows, the Defense Department is the main player in overseas contingency contracting. And there's no guarantee Congress won't turn to the foreign affairs budget in its efforts to dramatically reduce the deficit.
Defense Deputy Secretary Ashton Carter said for every dollar lawmakers add to the military's budget or for every program they continue that the Pentagon wants to cancel, it requires cuts elsewhere. He also called sequestration irrational and said DoD is not planning for it.
Host Mike Causey will talk retirement, the TSP, and more with attorney Tom O'Rourke and Federal Times senior writer Stephen Losey. May 30, 2012
Federal employees were less satisfied with their pay after the two-year pay freeze went into effect in 2010, according to a report by the Partnership for Public Service. Although higher-ranking feds were most satisfied with their pay, the highest-ranking feds — those at the SES level — had the biggest dip in pay satisfaction over the previous year.
The U.S. Postal will offer buyouts and early retirements to more than 45,000 mail handlers, USPS announced Friday. Employees opting for the early-out will receive a $15,000 incentive payment — half to be paid in December, and the other half to be paid in December 2013. The new buyout offers are the result of "in depth discussions" between USPS and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and an agreement that was inked Tuesday.
Jason Wilson, a reporter for Bloomberg Government, examined federal defense spending on cybersecurity for a new Bloomberg study. He joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss the overall trends he's noticed.
Senate panel rejects Air Force's proposed decreases to National Guard aircraft and personnel, orders cutbacks in DoD civilian and contractor personnel and imposes contractor salary caps.
Host Mike Causey will talk about several issues affecting federal workers with Bill Bransford, general counsel of the Senior Executives Association and Steve Watkins and Stephen Losey of the Federal Times. May 23, 2012
In a letter to Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini, a bipartisan group of senators called for an evaluation of the structure of GSA's Public Buildings Service, tying it to the wasteful spending of the Las Vegas scandal.
In two memoranda released late Friday, the Office of Management and Budget told agency heads they must cut 5 percent from their 2014 budgets and use evidence-based evaluations.
Two high-ranking senators requested information about conference travel and spending in all GSA regions in a detailed letter on Friday.
The nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service is moving ahead with plans to close and consolidate 229 mail-processing facilities. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe (pictured) said the postal service can no longer wait for Congress to decide how to cut postal costs, and the processing network had simply become too big and too costly. The consolidations are expected to reduce the USPS workforce size by 28,000 employees.
On this week's Capital Impact show, BGOV economic analysts Nela Richardson and Christopher Payne examine JP Morgan's unexpected $2 billion derivatives loss. Plus, BGOV Defense Analyst Robert Levinson and Congressional Analyst Loren Duggan outline the FY2013 Defense Authorization bill.