• Civilian federal employees just got a 2% average raise added to their pay checks. But Democrats are already looking ahead to next year’s federal pay raise. The FAIR Act would give federal employees a 4.3% pay increase beginning next January. Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) have reintroduced the bill each year for about the last decade. But beyond its introduction, the legislation has never seen action in Congress. Still, Democrats said the larger raise in the FAIR Act would help federal pay keep pace with rising costs of living.
  (FAIR Act - Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii))
• The incoming Trump administration will keep the IRS’ free online tax filing platform running this filing season. President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent said he’ll let the IRS keep running its Direct File platform during this year’s tax filing season if confirmed. “I will commit that for this tax season that Direct file will be operative," Bessent said. The IRS launched Direct File as a pilot in 12 states last year. It’ll be available in 25 states during this year’s filing season. Republican lawmakers said it competes with private-sector tax software and are calling on Trump to axe the project.
  (Scott Bessent confirmation hearing - Senate Finance Committee)
• Federal agencies should make their data sets available to the public by default and come up with open data plans to make that data even more accessible. Those of are some of the key points from the Office of Management and Budget’s latest guidance to agencies. The guidance comes six years after Congress passed the Evidence Act. The legislation requires agencies to inventory all their data assets and presume data is open to the public except in cases where the law restricts access to sensitive records.
  (Phase 2 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act - Office of Management and Budget)
• House Democrats are reintroducing legislation to try to protect federal employees against a return of Schedule F. If enacted, the Saving the Civil Service Act would prevent any career federal positions from being reclassified without congressional approval. In practice, the bill would bar agencies from taking away employees’ civil service protections and making them easier to fire, the intentions of the original Schedule F order. Though it’s been rescinded, President-elect Donald Trump has promised to revive Schedule F in his next term. The Saving the Civil Service Act to prevent Schedule F has been reintroduced for several years but has so far not gained much traction.
  (Saving the Civil Service Act - Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) )

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• The application window for direct loans from the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital, which plans to disperse up to $1 billion in credit, is now open. Companies may seek financing to procure, refurbish, or install manufacturing equipment that supports the production of technologies deemed critical to national security. Applications are due by Feb. 3. The Office of Strategic Capital expects to issue the first loan awards by early summer, although it will depend on the quality of applications the office receives.
  (Pentagon’s office of strategic capital begins accepting loan applications - Department of Defense office of strategic capital )
• Whistleblowers had a record year under the False Claims Act. New data from the Justice Department said whistleblowers filed 979 qui tam lawsuits in fiscal 2024, breaking the record of 757 set in 2013. Overall, DoJ said it recovered $2.9 billion dollars across 558 settlements and judgements last year. That is up from $2.68 billion in 2023. While healthcare False Claims Act lawsuits accounted for more than $1.6 billion in those recoveries, procurement and cybersecurity fraud also brought in some big wins. These included Skirosky paying $70 million to settle claims it over charged the Navy and Guidehouse paying almost $8 million to settle cybersecurity allegations.
  (False Claims Act settlements, judgments exceed $2.9B in fiscal 2024 - Justice Department)
• President-elect Donald Trump taps Troy Meink to serve as the next Secretary of the Air Force. Meink currently serves as the principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office. He spent most of his career in the Air Force working in space-related roles, including serving as the undersecretary of the Air Force for space. Meink was appointed to his current role at the NRO in 2020 during the previous Trump administration. Trump has already picked businessman John Phelan to be the next Navy secretary and Daniel Driscoll, an Army veteran and senior advisor to Vice President-elect JD Vance, to lead the Army.
  (Trump taps NRO’s Troy Meink to lead the Air Force - truth social)
• The first enterprise software deal is done and GSA hooked a big fish. Microsoft is the first major vendor to agree to a set of governmentwide terms and conditions for civilian agencies under GSA's enterprise software initiative. GSA said agencies using these standard terms and conditions could save up to 5% when buying Microsoft products and services. But GSA also said they anticipate making it easier, faster and 20% more efficient to buy from Microsoft through the use of pre-negotiated legal and security requirements, templates and best practices. GSA and Microsoft will hold training sessions for contracting officers later this year that will focus on cost management, governance, cross-tenant access and conditional access controls.
  (GSA, Microsoft agree to enterprise-wide terms and conditions - GSA)

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