Management

• Treasury overhauling qualifications for financial shared services providers

  Treasury's Office of Financial Innovation Transformation (OFIT) issued a draft set of requirements that agencies must meet if they want to be federal shared services providers. The requirements should be finalized this fall, and a new set of providers will be in place in the coming months.

  Technology

  September 26, 2013
• McCaskill wants more oversight of SES bonuses

  Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) wants to know whether many of the federal government's Senior Executive Service members are deserving of the bonus payments they receive. McCaskill, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on financial and contracting oversight, wrote to the head of the Government Accountability Office, asking the watchdog agency to investigate whether bonuses paid to SES employees involved in contract management are effective tools in reducing costs or improving contract performance.

  Congress

  September 25, 2013
• Shutdown roulette – what are the real effects on government?

  What will a government shutdown really mean for federal employees and government HR offices if it goes into effect next week? Advice from someone who knows - former DHS Chief Human Capital Officer Jeff Neal.

  Budget

  September 25, 2013
• Navy moves forward with next-gen AEGIS system

  CAPT James Kilby, deputy for Ballistic Missile Defense, AEGIS, and Destroyers in the Navy's Surface Warfare Directorate, joins host Sean McCalley on this week's Agency of the Month program to discuss the agency's next-gen AEGIS system.

  Defense

  September 25, 2013
• Phased retirement, potential shutdown, and USPS

  This week's guests on the Your Turn radio program include Bob Braunstein, an expert on the upcoming phased retirement option, and Federal Times Senior Writer Sean Reilly with the latest on the possible shutdown.

  Mike Causey

  September 25, 2013
• Spinella: Coins turn into dollars during annual Combined Federal Campaign

  Mike Spinella, the CFC coordinator at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, fills in Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp about what his agency is doing for the 2013 fundraising campaign.

  Federal Drive

  September 25, 2013
• Shutdown poll: Will they or won’t they?

  Partisan disagreements over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul have Congress lurching toward a deadline to fund federal agencies in the upcoming fiscal year -- or risk a government shutdown. So, what do you think? After all the political rhetoric and wrangling, is the government heading for a shutdown — this time for certain? Take our poll and let us know what you think the odds are.

  Congress

  September 25, 2013
• Graybeards rule Survivor Island

  Why are government gray-beards, folks who have been around a long time, in such demand today? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey wants to know: Why are these once ignored fossils suddenly being sought out by their frightened, younger colleagues?

  Mike Causey

  September 25, 2013
• Quality not a priority in security clearance process, GAO says

  Concerns over missed red flags in Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis's background have thrust the federal government's security clearance program into the spotlight. But the problem is likely bigger than one company. The Office of Personnel Management — and its contractors — which accounts for 90 percent of the federal government's background investigations, has faced persistent challenges with security clearances over the years, according to the Government Accountability Office.

  Federal Drive

  September 24, 2013
• Fewer feds, contractors attending conferences

  Budget cuts and bad publicity have combined to put the kibosh on both the number of government conferences scheduled this year and the number of employees and contractors attending them, according to a new poll from Market Connections, Inc. and Boscobel Marketing Communications. Among federal employees, nearly 72 percent of survey respondents said they have attended fewer events in fiscal 2013 than they did last year.

  Budget

  September 24, 2013
• DoD releases shutdown guidance to employees, warns of furloughs

  Following a memo released from the Office of Management and Budget Wednesday, the Defense Department has issued a memo preparing employees for the possibility of a government shutdown. DoD answers several questions regarding furloughs, pay and retirement during an appropriations lapse.

  Congress

  September 24, 2013
• Coburn asks for details on year-end spending spree

  OMB Director Sylvia Burwell received a letter from Sen. Tom Coburn earlier this month asking for the facts and figures on how agencies are spending acquisition funds in the fourth quarter.

  Budget

  September 24, 2013
• No offense, but is your job really necessary?

  Do the taxpayers really need to keep funding your career? What does the government think about your services? You may find out soon, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

  Mike Causey

  September 24, 2013
• GSA faces third protest of OASIS solicitation

  Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Co. has now filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office a week after losing its agency-level protest over what the company says restricts competition in the professional services governmentwide contract.

  Congress

  September 23, 2013