• As we enter the final leg of election season the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reminding employees to stay above the political fray while they’re on the job. In a new memo to DHS staff, the department’s top lawyer runs down what is and isn’t allowed under the Hatch Act. That law prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities in a federal workplace while they’re on duty. The law also bars feds from using their official position to affect the outcome of an election. And DHS IT policy also prohibits employees from using government-issued equipment and services for political activities.
  (DHS memo: Hatch Act reminder - Department of Homeland Security)
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing for another devastating storm. FEMA has more than 1,000 staff in Florida to help respond to Hurricane Milton. The storm made landfall on Florida’s west coast last night. More than 8,000 federal personnel are already deployed across the southeast in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. But FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the agency is ready to respond to multiple major disasters. “I want the people to hear it from me directly: FEMA is ready,” Criswell told reporters Wednesday. FEMA is currently supporting response and recovery for more than 100 declared disasters across the country.
  (FEMA surges fed responders to Florida ahead of Milton - Federal News Network)
• A former Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employee is convicted of defrauding the agency out of nearly a million dollars. A federal jury ruled a former engineer at the VA medical center in Philadelphia made up fake work and submitted false invoices to a shell company he owned. Prosecutors said the former VA employee kept his bogus billing scheme going for seven years. The former employee was convicted on 22 counts of wire fraud and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count.
  (Longtime Department of Veterans Affairs supervising engineer convicted at trial of defrauding the agency of nearly $1 million - U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania )
• An online hub for Americans to access benefits and services across the federal government is giving users a new option to sign on. The General Services Administration (GSA) will begin offering facial recognition technology as an option for users of Login.gov to verify their identities. The site is a one-stop for government-provided benefits and services. Login.gov will allow its users to match a “selfie” with the photo on a government ID, such as a driver’s license. GSA said Login.gov does not use these selfie images for any purpose other than verifying a user’s identity. GSA started testing the facial recognition option this spring.
  (Login.gov facial recognition option gets GSA approval - Federal News Network)

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• Agency acquisition experts and contractors here is your chance to give the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council a piece of your mind in a constructive way that is. The FAR Council is hosting a listening session on Dec. 4 in Washington, D.C. around three main areas. The council wants feedback on any new laws or draft legislation that it should focus on; How the council can improve the acquisition process and how it can better integrate commercial practices into federal acquisition. If you want to attend in person, you have to register by Nov.15. The council also is offering a virtual option.
  (FAR Council to host listening session on Dec. 4 - Federal Register)
• 5,000 more National Guard members have been mobilized to assist with Hurricane Milton. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the number of National Guard personnel activated to respond to Milton will soon increase to 8,000. The response includes 450 tactical vehicles, including 140 high water vehicles and aerial, water, and ground National Guard search and rescue teams. “This is probably the largest National Guard mobilization in advance of a storm in Florida history.” Additionally, the U.S. Army North has moved its personnel and equipment from its contingency command post to Fort Moore in Georgia to assist requests from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state leadership.
  (Over 5,000 Guard members mobilized to assist with Milton response - Federal News Network)
• Federal employees who have pending cases with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) will soon see new options for settlements. After seeing success in its alternative dispute resolution (ADR) program, MSPB is making its case settlement pilot, permanent. Feds always have the option to use a third-party mediator and settle an adverse action case, rather than go through the formal appeal process. Regardless of how far along a case is, MSPB usually asks parties to consider settling, because it gives both sides better control of the case’s outcome.
  (Petition for review mediation appeals program - Merit Systems Protection Board)
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development is looking to help its workforce develop better AI skills. Training and development opportunities for HUD employees will soon include a stronger focus on AI. HUD is currently assessing where AI skills gaps exist in its workforce not just for technologists, but across all of the department’s offices. “Not only will they have the opportunity to find out where their skills lie, but then based on the results of their assessment, they’re going to get personalized recommendations on what they need to take to actually help them improve,” Matisha Montgomery, HUD’s chief learning officer, said in an interview.
  (AI skills assessment - Department of Housing and Urban Development)
• The Navy spent more money with small businesses last year than ever before. The Department of the Navy spent almost 21 billion dollars with small businesses in fiscal 2024. New data from the Navy shows that it increased its contract awards to small firms by 35% since 2018, including spending almost 1 billion dollars more last year than in 2023. The Navy said awards to small, disadvantaged businesses increased by more than 200 million dollars and awards to service-disabled veteran owned small businesses increased by almost 8 million dollars last year. Beyond an increase in total dollars awarded to small firms, the Navy said 15 hundred new small business entrants won more than a billion dollars in contracts in 2024 as well.
  (Navy IT day - AFCEA Nova)
• The Defense Department will soon release an unclassified version of the implementation guidance for its industrial base strategy. The guidance is still in review and will head to Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks for approval shortly. Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Deborah Rosenblum said the document will have a “level of specificity that is valuable” to all government partners. The document will include measurable criteria to evaluate the health of the defense industrial base. The DoD released its first defense industrial strategy earlier this year.
  (Unclassified DIB implementation plan will soon head to Deputy Secretary for review - Professional Services Council)

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