• Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey officially assumes duties as the new commander of U.S. Southern Command, making history as the first Black commander of SOUTHCOM since its inception more than six decades ago. Holsey replaced Army General Laura Richardson during a change-of-command ceremony on Thursday at the command’s headquarters in Doral, Florida. Prior to his new role, Holsey served as the military deputy commander at SOUTHCOM. In 2020, he served as the director of Task Force One Navy, analyzing and evaluating Navy readiness issues.
  (Navy Adm. Holsey assumes duties as commander of Southcom - Department of Defense)
• President-elect Donald Trump has a plan to relocate federal employees out of the DC area. In a video on his campaign website Trump said he’d relocate tens of thousands of federal employees out of the region. “As many as 100,000 government positions can be moved out and I mean immediately out of Washington to places filled with patriots who love America,” Trump said. During his first term in office, Trump moved the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado, a move that impacted thousands of BLM employees. The Trump administration also moved the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City.
  (Trump seeks to relocate 100K federal employees, doubling down on first-term playbook - Federal News Network )
• Representative Gerry Connolly has been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. The long-time Virginia Democrat made the news public this week. He said he’ll go under chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments right away. But Connolly added that he will continue to work on Capitol Hill as planned. He anticipates he may be somewhat fatigued due to the treatment, but he said he also looks forward to serving in his next term, which he was re-elected to on Tuesday.
  (Rep. Gerry Connolly (V-VA.) Cancer diagnosis announcement - WTOPnews)
• The Pentagon is committed to a “calm, orderly and professional” transition to the Trump administration. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a memo the military is ready to carry out its next commander-in-chief’s policy choices and “obey all lawful orders” from the civilian chain of command. The deputy Pentagon press secretary said Secretary Austin wanted to clearly communicate that the military is apolitical and that the incoming team will have everything they need to successfully carry out the mission of the department.
  (Pentagon committed to calm transition to Trump administration - Federal News Network)

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• Agencies are getting support to enhance their federal hiring practices. Training sessions on the federal hiring experience are now available to agency HR teams. Upcoming sessions hosted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will focus on how agencies can implement the recent hiring guidance from the Biden administration. OPM has also held recent events for hiring managers to walk through modern recruitment techniques, and had HR trainings to help staff with using OPM’s online hiring tools. The end goal comes in support of the first part of the President’s Management Agenda, strengthening the federal workforce.
  (President's Management Agenda updates - Performance.gov)
• Agencies have updated guidance for how best to work with federal auditors for the first time in 42 years. In the revised version of Circular A-50, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clarifies the roles and responsibilities among agency officials, Inspectors General (IG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and the part each plays in the resolution of audit, inspection or evaluation recommendations. Additionally, the updated circular aligns with the Good Accounting Obligation in Government Act, which became law in 2019. OMB last updated Circular A-50 in September 1982.
  (OMB updates Circular A-50 for first time since 1982 - Office of Management and Budget)
• The General Services Administration (GSA) continues to drive contracts to service-disabled veteran owned small businesses. Over the last fiscal year, GSA awarded 21 technology task orders worth a total of more than $484 million through its VETS2 governmentwide acquisition contract. This brings the total over the last seven years to more than 230 task orders awarded which are worth almost $4 billion. GSA said it expects that number to continue to grow. It trained more than 3,000 agency contracting officers last year on how to best use VETS 2. Earlier this year, GSA raised the total ceiling for VETS 2 by $1.1 billion to $6.1 billion dollars.
  (Empowering veterans in federal IT - General Services Administration)
• A doctor at the Department of Veterans Affairs is found guilty of sexually assaulting a female veteran patient in his care. A jury found the VA doctor guilty of violating a patient’s right to bodily integrity and unwanted sexual contact. The doctor based in Decatur, Georgia was charged with assaulting four patients during routine exams between 2019 and 2020. But the jury acquitted the doctor on charges related to three of the victims. The VA’s Office of Inspector General helped investigate the case.
  (Georgia VA doctor guilty of sexually assaulting female veteran patient - Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General)

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