Huge pay raise in the works for America’s military

• The IRS has its third new technology leader in four months. Kaschit Pandya, the current deputy chief information officer for IT operations, is taking over as acting CIO of the IRS at the end of June. He will replace Jeff King, who had been acting CIO since March when Nancy Sieger moved to a new role in Main Treasury. King will head back to his former role as Treasury's deputy CIO. This makes Pandya the third lead technology executive in four months at the IRS. He has been with the IRS for more than a decade, serving in three separate deputy CIO roles.
  (Kaschit Pandya's linkedIn page - LinkedIn)
• The House’s version of the 2024 Defense spending bill includes some very sizable pay increases for the military’s junior enlisted members. All uniformed service members are expected to get a 5.2% raise next year. The House appropriations bill would go further though, with an additional raise for the E-1 through E-6 pay grades. The biggest increases would go to the lowest ranks: E-1s, for example, would get a 36% additional increase, and E-2s would get another 30.2%. The House bill allocates an extra $800 million to cover the cost of the enlisted raises. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to mark up the legislation today.
  (House defense bills include big push to raise pay for junior military members - Federal News Network)
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency is planning to bring employees back to the office on a more regular basis in the coming months. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell is notifying staff that the agency will bring employees back to the office for a minimum of four days each two-week pay period. Several sources confirmed to Federal News Network that Criswell outlined her return-to-office plans for the agency’s workforce at the end of a town hall with employees. The agency’s new return-to-office requirements will go into effect 120 days after it completes negotiations with the American Federation of Government Employees. FEMA’s return-to-office plans adhere to recent guidance from the Office of Management and Budget calling for an increase in-person work.
  (FEMA outlines plan to bring more employees back into the office in coming months - Federal News Network)
• Employees at the Department of Health and Human Services will soon have more say in any upcoming workspace reconfiguration plans. That change is just one of many, after HHS sealed the deal on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the National Treasury Employees Union. NTEU, which represents 16,000 field office employees at HHS, spent years during the Trump administration in contentious negotiations with the department over telework, performance appraisals, reassignments and more. Both NTEU and HHS said the new contract represents a significant turning point in labor-management relations. The new CBA, which cleared the agency review process Wednesday, will last for the next five years. Employees will see those changes take effect July 2.
  (HHS, NTEU ‘reset the relationship’ as ink dries on new five-year agreement - Federal News Network)

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• An important bill for U.S. intelligence agencies just took a step forward in the Senate. Reforms to the national security classification system are among the big-ticket items in the fiscal 2024 intelligence authorization act passed by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday. The bill seeks to reduce over classification and promote the use of technology to streamline how agencies declassify information. It would additionally require agencies to meet tighter timelines for vetting individuals seeking a security clearance. And the legislation includes a requirement for the director of national intelligence to establish policies around the use of artificial intelligence.
  (Senate Intelligence Committee passes the FY-24 Intelligence Authorization Act - Senate Intelligence Committee )
• The Interior Department's preparation to move to next generation cloud services kicks into high gear with two acquisition actions. First, Interior awarded its Cloud Hosting III Contract to Peraton. Under this single-award contract, that has a $1 billion ceiling, Interior wants Peraton to set up and manage its transition to a virtual private center and help modernize its existing and aging infrastructure. Second, Interior released the final solicitation for its Foundation Cloud Hosting Services (FCHS) multiple-award contract. Under this $2 billion acquisition, Interior is seeking a host of services ranging from cybersecurity to application modernization to case management. Bids on the FCHS are due by August 4.
  (Cloud Hosting III Award Notice - SAM.gov)
• Bargaining unit employees at the National Weather Service will be exempt from the broader telework policy at the Commerce Department. That is after the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the union representing NWS employees, filed an unfair labor practice charge, alleging the department implemented a new telework policy in 2022 without first consulting the union. Commerce settled the charge in May, prior to a scheduled case with the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Commerce’s telework policy will still apply to most other department employees outside the union chapter. The policy, last updated in March 2022, limits many Commerce employees to two days of telework per week.
  (Employees exempt from DOC-wide telework policies - National Weather Service Employees Organization)
• A Department of Homeland Security Office would get some stability under a bill that is on the move in the Senate. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the Offices of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction and Health Security Act yesterday. The bill would permanently authorize DHS’s Counter-WMD Office. It would also expand congressional oversight by requiring a counter-WMD strategy from DHS every four years. And the legislation would codify the responsibilities of DHS’s Office of Health Security, which was just elevated into an independent DHS organization last year.
  (Committee passes Peters and Cornyn bipartisan bill to counter attacks from weapons of mass destruction and improve health security at DHS - Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
• Veterans are about to see a higher cost-of-living adjustment. President Joe Biden signed the Veterans Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act. The bill will increase the rate of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities, as well as for survivors of some veterans. The increase, which would go into effect in December, will equal the cost-of-living increase provided to Social Security beneficiaries. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) led the bill, along with Congressmen Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas).
  (Bill Signed: S. 777 - White House)

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