IRS to improve privacy protections for its free-file program

• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will improve privacy protections and expand outreach for its free-file program by November 2025 after a new audit found shortcomings in its oversight. The tax agency told its inspector general that it is reviewing privacy disclosures from Free File partners to mitigate risks of exposing personal information. The IRS also is exploring new ways to reach eligible taxpayers such as text messages and through postal mail. In all, the IRS agreed with five of seven recommendations from a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report. The IRS disagreed with a recommendation to have partners share the cost of program promotion and said they will consider allocating their own funding for promotion.
  (IRS to implement TIGTA report recommendations - Oversight.gov)
• More than 6,700 Army and Air National Guard members from 16 states have been deployed to assist with Hurricane Helene response. National Guard personnel are supporting state and local emergency workers with distributing water and food supplies, clearing debris and search and rescue operations. The response includes 40 rotary-wing aircrafts and 600 military vehicles. In North Carolina, Guard members have delivered nearly one million pounds worth of supplies with 600,000 pounds transported by air to hard-to-reach areas. Approximately 500 people and 150 pets have been rescued through search operations. In South Carolina, the military personnel have rescued about 35 people.
  (Thousands of Guard members deployed to assist with Helene - Federal News Network)
• Processing federal retirement claims is not the daunting task that it used to be for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In a new report, OPM’s inspector general removed retirement claims processing from its list of the agency’s top management challenges. The IG office said OPM has made major improvements in how quickly it processes claims. The agency has also significantly reduced the size of the retirement case backlog. OPM still faces other major management challenges, though. Those include IT modernization, and governmentwide skills gaps in the workforce.
  (OPM’s top management challenges for fiscal 2025 - Office of Personnel Management OIG)
• An industry association piles on their concerns about the changes to the cloud security program known as FedRAMP. On the heels of concerns about the revamped FedRAMP process by Congresswoman Nancy Mace, the General Services Administration (GSA) is getting similar feedback from an industry group. In a new letter to Peter Waterman, FedRAMP's new director, BSA, the Software Alliance highlights similar industry pain points. BSA said GSA must address continued uncertainty about program authorizations that once were done by the JAB. Another big concern is how long the program management office reviews take to obtain an authority to operate. BSA said 24 weeks is creating unnecessary delays for cloud service providers.
  (Letter to FedRAMP program management office - BSA, the Software Alliance)

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• The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and National Cemetery Administration (NCA) are adding more rigor to their personnel suitability programs. In 2024, VBA completed four site reviews and performs quality reviews of adjudication decisions and verifications every two weeks. NCA has accelerated its efforts to adjudicate fingerprint results on average in four days. It also completed background investigations on average in 23 days and halved its backlog of security clearances waiting to be processed. These changes came after the Veterans Affairs inspector general found both VBA and NCA were assuming unnecessary risks by allowing staff who are not fully vetted to handle sensitive personal information and interact with veterans for extended periods of time.
  (VBA’s and NCA’s personnel suitability programs need improved governance - VA Inspector General)
• A historic backlog at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) is now almost down to zero. After two and a half years of work, MSPB has issued decisions for 94% of thousands of pending federal employee appeal cases. Those cases had been sitting stagnant during the record five-year period MSPB went without a quorum, between 2017 and 2022. The board expects to soon fully eliminate the remaining pending cases that built up over the last several years. According to an MSPB spokesperson, the agency is likely to reach zero cases in its “inherited inventory” by this December.
  (MSPB nearing full elimination of 5-year appeals backlog - Federal News Network)
• The Army’s program executive office for enterprise information systems has a new name. PEO EIS will now be known as Program Executive Office Enterprise, or PEO-Enterprise, to reflect a shift to a more modern organization. Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology Douglas Bush approved the name change last month. The shift follows an internal overhaul that transferred network portfolios to other PEOs, allowing PEO Enterprise to concentrate on broader, mission-critical areas.
  (Army’s PEO EIS has a new name - U.S. Army)
• The General Services Administration (GSA) is creating the Sixth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan (NAP) and is looking for feedback across four areas from the public. In a new request for information, GSA said it wants experts to weigh in on helping to identify a specific problem open government can address. GSA also wants ideas for how to expand existing open government efforts by the government or other groups. Additionally, GSA seeks input on innovative approaches or emerging technologies that could enhance transparency, public participation and accountability. GSA wants feedback on the RFI by Nov. 12.
  (GSA seeks ideas for Sixth U.S. Government National Action Plan - Department of Justice)

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