Monday federal headlines – February 29, 2016

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive.

• Republican leaders are sidelining a bill that calls for privatizing the nation’s air traffic control system. Congressional leaders plan to instead pass a stopgap measure to fund the Federal Aviation Administration through March. They’ll continue debate on its $69 billion reauthorization bill. That bill would reauthorize the FAA and set aviation policy for the next six years. The transportation committee approved the reauthorization earlier this month. (U.S. News and World Report)

• The Transportation Department’s inspector general said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s vehicle defects program needs work. The IG made 10 recommendations to enhance the ability of the Office of Defects Investigation to identify and deal with vehicle safety defects. The IG cited significant safety concerns overlooked during a 2014 investigation into a General Motors recall. (DoT OIG)

• Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he’ll oppose authorizing the Air Force’s Long Range Strike-Bomber if it uses a cost-plus contract. Defense News reports, McCain said he doesn’t like the additional costs he thinks inevitably come with cost-plus deals. The Air Force said only part of the LRS-B contract is set up that way. (Defense News)

• Auditors at the Government Accountability Office looked at the last two years of consolidated financial statements, and found them wanting. In the newest annual report, they cite persistent material weaknesses at the Defense, Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development departments, and big uncertainty over claims of reductions in the growth of Medicare costs. GAO said federal agencies have an urgent need to improve financial management. (GAO)

• The Defense Information Systems Agency is requiring employees to redo their telework policies over the next month as an effort to reduce the number of employees working outside of the office. A new policy cuts non-union workers’ telework days from three to two. Non-union supervisors are only eligible for one telework day per week. Some union employees are wondering if their telework hours will be cut next. DISA said it does not plan to amend the union employee telework policy at this time. (Federal News Radio)

• Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson said the agency is taking steps to improve the Veterans Crisis Line. That’s after he visited the line’s operations center on Friday. Gibson said the crisis line will form a stronger bond with VA’s Suicide Prevention Office and Mental Health Services. That will put the hotline under direction of VA’s Member Services. Critics said the crisis line has long wait times and a lack of response to some veterans who called. (Federal News Radio)

• The Veterans AffairsDepartment is working to get rid of more than two dozen long-standing cybersecurity weaknesses over the next 18 months. LaVerne Council, VA’s assistant secretary of the Office of Information and Technology and chief information officer, said new Chief Information Security Officer Brian Burns is leading efforts to fix all 30 material weaknesses highlighted by auditors. VA’s inspector general laid out material weaknesses in the agency’s cybersecurity for a 16th straight year in 2014. (Federal News Radio)

• The White House plans to tell agencies to begin deciding how they would spend $3.1 billion should Congress approve the IT modernization fund. A draft policy obtained by Federal News Radio details the Office of Management and Budget’s four-part strategy. Under the draft policy, agencies would develop a business case for at least three systems in most need of upgrades. The criteria to decide on which systems need to be modernized would be based on six risk factors, including cybersecurity and mission impact. (Federal News Radio)

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