Monday Morning Federal Newsstand

Written by Phil Vogel and Jane Norris
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

As the Obama Administration begins hiring more federal workers to do “inherently governmental” work, the contracting acquisition group FAIR is warning in a report that there are risks in moving too quickly to bring the jobs back in house. GovExec reports contractors have mission critical skills they say that will be difficult to replace short term.

Those who do get hired in federal government jobs can expect the hiring process to change. GovExec reports the heads of two key agencies, Management and Budget and Personnel Management have set a December 15th deadline for major revisions that include job descriptions in plain language a mandate to keep candidates informed about the status of their applications.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has named their new Chief information Officer. FederalComputerWeek reports Jerry Williams is a recent deputy CIO at the Interior Department. He also has worked at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Agriculture Department and the Small Business Administration. He fills the vacancy left by Lisa Schlosser in December when she took a job with the Environmental Protection Agency.

After a long, drawn out battle the Tobacco Bill looks to be headed into law. The bill gives the government sweeping authority to regulate tobacco products. The Senate’s version of the bill was passed be the House, which means that The Thrift Savings Plan reforms were included. The TSP will now support a Roth option and the ability to use mutual funds outside of the federal 401(k) plan.

Unemployment may be at a 25 year high but DHS is hiring! FederalComputerWeek reports the infrastructure protection division hired 300 people in the last year and are looking for another 621. Many of the jobs are being added in an attempt to reduce contractor funding by building up government personnel capabilities. A focus of these new jobs is cybersecurity.

The Digital Age has come at last. The FCC had its hands full on Friday making the historic swtich to digital television. By having a fully stocked call center throughout the day and workers ready on the ground, the FCC claims the day went well and without any major meltdowns. Nearly 800,000 people called the federal hotline. Small issues are expected to persist for a time but the switch has been made.

At a time when energy prices are going up and there are calls for more renewable energy, one military facility is getting it right. The Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore is running entirely on methane gas pumped in from a nearly landfill, according to GovExec. Officials at the base say that the savings will exceed $2 million dollars a year. In addition to the monetary savings the cut in greenhouse has emissions is equivalent to removing 33 thousand cars from the roads.

The Postal Service is losing money and losing it quickly. The WallStreetJournal reports the agency reported a nearly $2 billion dollar loss for the second quarter of the year with a 15 percent decrease in mail volume. One of the proposed changes that would save the service millions of dollars is to stop delivering mail on Saturdays. Congress would have to pass a bill for this change to occur.

Other Stories We’re Following

Shuttle bottleneck costly for taxpayers (USAToday)

Hearing for museum shooting suspect set for Monday

Guards sue over S.F. Federal Building security (SFGate)

Hearing to air VA mistakes with hospital equipment

US Gen. McChrystal takes command in Afghanistan

Fighting the war on terror with outsourcing (AFP)

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