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• It was standing room only during day one of the CIO Council’s hiring fair. More than 30 agencies heard from more than 1,200 applicants during the CIO Council’s first-ever, in-person governmentwide hiring fair yesterday. Acting Federal CIO Margie Graves said the goal is to hire at least 500 cyber and IT professionals during this event. Graves said the applicants came from 40 states and many were trying to get into the government from the private sector. Several agencies made on-the-spot hires using the direct hiring authority for cyber positions. Agencies will keep the job announcements open for another few months to continue to fill in-demand positions.

• Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin wants the veterans community to start thinking about VA benefits in a new way. Shulkin said he’s standing up a new veterans benefit advisory board to take a systematic and strategic review of 150 years of VA benefits programs. Administrative costs for VA benefits are up $4 billion since 2000. (Federal News Radio)

• Despite having more choices, members of the Federal Health Benefits Program clearly have a preference. Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans are by far the most popular FEHB option. It was the largest carrier in 98 percent of the country in 2015. The Government Accountability Office said it’s unclear whether the Office of Personnel Management should have more contracting authority to increase options. (Government Accountability Office)

• Outgoing IRS Commissioner John Koskinen offered words of wisdom and warning for his replacement and Congress. Speaking to reporters, Koskinen highlighted the consequences of underfunding the tax agency and blamed members of Congress for attempting to punish the agency. Despite numerous impeachment attempts, Koskinen said he does not regret taking the post. (Federal News Radio)

• The Office of Personnel Management has authorized special overtime for volunteers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration. All FEMA and Surge Capacity Force volunteers, and SBA Disaster Assistance Program detailees helping with hurricane response will be covered by an annual premium pay cap, bypassing typical biweekly overtime pay rules. (Chief Human Capital Officers Council)

• Two important White House nominations. Jerome Powell has been tapped to chair the Federal Reserve. Powell has been a Fed governor since 2012 and has an extensive business background. Also, Michael Atkinson has been tapped for the role of inspector general of the intelligence community. He’s worked as an attorney for the Justice Department since 2002.

• The Pentagon is assigning its inspector general to review how the military handled the criminal records of the man behind this weekend’s mass shooting in Texas. Former Airman Devin Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 on charges that he’d assaulted his wife and stepson, but the Air Force acknowledged on Monday that it had never submitted those records to federal criminal databases. The IG investigation will examine whether other DoD components are reporting their cases to the National Criminal Information Center. The Pentagon said the review is separate from the Air Force’s own investigation into how the Kelley case was handled. (Department of Defense)

• The Trump administration has asked Congress for an additional $4 billion for fiscal 2018. In a budget amendment, the White House wants $1.6 billion to build the wall on the southwest border, and $1.2 billion for its Afghanistan strategy, which calls for an increase in troops, and missile defense from North Korea. The final $700,000 is for repairs to the Navy ships that collided. (White House)

• NASA has launched a national competition to find companies capable of erecting buildings for astronauts remotely on Mars. That will require the use of remotely controlled robots. NASA project manager Tony Kim outlined the competition today. It will follow standards set by a consortium within the Associated General Contractors of America called Building Information Modeling, or BIM, Forum. The forum meets in Dallas this week. (Associated General Contractors of America)

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