In today’s Federal Newscast, Booz Allen Hamilton announced the Justice Department has launched an investigation into some of the company’s accounting and charging practices.

• The Justice Department is conducting a civil and criminal investigation of Booz Allen Hamilton. The company said DoJ is looking into certain elements of its cost accounting and indirect cost charging practices with the U.S. government. Booz Allen said its internal and external auditors have found no evidence of problems in these areas. (Booz Allen Hamilton)

• The Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security, and Justice departments said they’ll meet the Office of Management and Budget’s June 30 deadline to submit agency reform plans. They’re collecting public comments and feedback from their employees, and coming up with inventories of the best ideas. DHS got 2,400 comments from employees and more than 55,000 from the public. DHS said it sees the government reorganization initiative as an opportunity to hear from employees and turn around low morale. (Federal News Radio)

• The Office of Management and Budget is cleaning out its policy closet by canceling or modifying 59 data reporting requirements that it deems no longer necessary. A new memo details which policies OMB is rescinding. Of the 59, 32 are information-technology-related, such as seven from the Year 2000 migration and a 2008 memo telling agencies to transition to the Networx telecommunications contract. OMB estimated by canceling these 59 reporting requirements, agencies will save tens of thousands of staff hours. Later this fall, OMB said it plans to send to Congress recommendations to reduce outdated statutory requirements as well. (Federal News Radio)

• Proposed budget cuts to the EPA have drawn bipartisan criticism from Congress. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) told EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to proceed with caution before taking too many dramatic steps to reduce the agency’s funding, while Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) worries states will be stuck with more responsibilities if certain programs are eliminated. Pruitt appeared on Capitol Hill to defend the president’s proposed $5.7 billion budget for EPA, a 31 percent cut from last year’s spending levels. (Federal News Radio)

• More than 100 House Democrats have written to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in opposition to the proposed cuts to federal retirement programs included in the president’s budget request. The changes would ask federal employees and retirees to contribute more towards their retirement and get rid of the cost-of-living adjustments for current and future Federal Employee Retirement System participants. Federal employee groups said these changes would get $149 billion from the federal budget. (Federal News Radio)

• A date is set for Richard Spencer’s confirmation hearing to become the next secretary of the Navy. He’ll go before the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 22. Law360 reports Spencer told an ethics official in the Defense Department that he will shut down his venture capital and consulting firm Fall Creek Management if he’s confirmed. (Law360)

• The Defense Department is making it easier for warfighters to access secret information. DoD announced a new mobile command post which will set up Wi-Fi and LTE to securely handle classified information. The command post uses the National Security Agency’s guidelines to make sure the information is secure as it transmits. (Federal News Radio)

• The Pentagon is about to issue rules to implement a new personnel system for its cyber workforce. The Defense Department’s acting chief information officer said the personnel policies should be published within the next two months. After that, the Pentagon plans to begin moving existing employees and hiring new ones into the new system in a “phased approach.” It would give DoD much more latitude in hiring employees directly, bypassing the traditional civil service system and the USAJobs website. It would also let the department offer targeted pay incentives based on geographic location, its mission needs, and employees’ skills and certifications. (Federal News Radio)

• The Energy Department makes a big bet on supercomputing. Secretary Rick Perry said DoE has awarded six technology companies research and development contracts worth a total of $258 million over three years. The goal: hardware, software and applications for at least one exascale computer — a quintillion calculations per second — in the United States by 2021. Awards went to Advanced Micro Devices, Cray, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, IBM, Intel and NVIDIA (Department of Energy)

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