Tuesday Morning Federal Newscast

Written by Ruben Gomez & Jane Norris
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

Federal labor groups set their sights on scrapping pay for performance at the Pentagon. Congress returns from its August recess today, and union leaders say getting rid of the Defense Department’s National Security Personnel system is a first step to broader government personnel reforms in. Government Executive reports that union groups also want to reform hiring and paid leave policies.

Thousands of Pentagon IT workers are scheduled to move to Fort Meade, Maryland next year, but now comes word that another defense agency may take over that space. NextGov reports that military leaders may plant their new Cyber Command in a space built for the Defense Information Systems Agency. That information comes from a slide presentation scheduled for delivery Thursday. No official word from DISA or the Pentagon, but the Cyber Command starts up on October 1st.

Federal contractors begin using E-Verify today, under mandate, as a new rule takes effect. Companies can use the program to confirm their workers are legal. The Wall Street Journal reports the rule will apply to about 169,000 contractors.

A new government database, The Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, will track past performance and criminal histories of contractors, reports GovExec. Awardees with more than $10 million in current grants or contracts will have to submit data on any criminal, civil or administrative proceedings against them dating back three years. The proposed new rule projects that 5,000 contractors will file reports each year. The database will be private and only federal officials will have access.

Microsoft Word will remain on store shelves for now. Newsfactor reports that a federal judge in Washington, D.C. will let Microsoft sell its software while a patent infringement suit is appealed. In August, another judge ordered software giant to stop sales, saying parts of the program violate a patent filed by a Canadian company. But Microsoft argued that ruling would cause permanent harm to customers.

Some postal employees are being paid to do nothing. The FederalTimes reports the U.S. Postal Service is spending more than a million dollars each week to pay thousands of employees to stand by at their facilities. With Mail volume down 12.6 percent this year postal supervisors don’t have enough work to keep their employees busy and union rules prevent managers from laying off or reassigning employees. The agency is averaging about 45,000 hours of standby time each week at a cost of $50 million per year.

The Air Force has blocked its own Pentagon Channel, according to NextGov. The Defense Department’s 24/7 news channel is designed to provide military news and information to 1.4 active duty service members. The policy was put in place to conserve bandwidth on Air Force networks and applies to other web sites that stream media according to the Air Force. That means that anyone with an internet connection can watch the Pentagon Channel except Air Force personnel.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julias Genachowski will release a comprehensive report on the FCC’s ability to respond to a major public emergency this morning. The report follows a top to bottom review of the agency’s ability to facilitate media communications in the face of a national emergency. The FCC will launch an action plan to improve coordination between agencies like FEMA and HHS.

Projections show that employment in the Washington DC area could pick up next year. The Washington Post reports the federal government is expected to hire up to 120,000 people for jobs in the region through 2012 which would help the Washington area economy rebound faster than most of the nation. In a recent report the Partnership for Public Service projected hires for hundreds of agencies including 19,000 nurses at the Department of Veterans Affairs, 9,800 Border Patrol agents, 3,774 criminal investigators for the Labor Department, 6,282 contract representatives at the Treasury Department, and 3,500 claims assistants and examiners at the Social Security Administration.

Private guards are replacing combat forces in Iraq. As the United States withdraws its combat forces from Iraq, the government is hiring more private guards to protect U.S. installations at a cost of nearly $1 billion according to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, according to the Washington Post. On Sept. 1, the Multi-National Force-Iraq awarded contracts expected to be worth $485 million over the next two years to five firms to provide security and patrol services to U.S. bases in Iraq.

If you’ve been wondering how the First Lady achieves those sculpted arms, her trainer is spilling the beans. Cornell McClellan, Mrs Obama long-time personal trainer, described her workout routine in the October Issue of Women’s Health Magazine. McClellan said that at the end of an intense routine of cardio workouts and weight training, Mrs. Obama finishes with the “arm-shaping superset” of tricep pushdowns and hammer curls to tone her upper arms. The trainer says the first lady is truly committed to health and fitness.

More news links

EXCLUSIVE: Obama nominee omitted ties to biotech (WashingtonTimes)

‘Green the Capitol’ initiatives save energy, set a good example (USAToday)

US probes USAID funds in Afghanistan

CMS provides guidance to states on stimulus grants for health It (NextGov)

Bill would set lab security standards (GovExec)

States will get federal help for electronic health records programs (FCW)

Prepared text of Obama’s speech to school students

Case of Abramoff protege puts lobbying on trial

Samurai Mind Training for Modern American Warriors (Time Magazine)

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