Federal Newscast

30,000 TSP participants take advantage of new Roth option

In a survey, about 93% of TSP participants who used the new conversion option say the process was “easy.”

Michele Sandiford

May 29, 2026 1:28 pm

< a min read

Some Thrift Savings Plan participants are taking advantage of a new option for Roth in-plan conversions. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board reported that roughly 30,000 TSP participants have converted some of their contributions since the feature launched earlier this year. In a survey, about 93% of TSP participants who used the new conversion option say the process was “easy.”
(May 2026 board meeting - Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)

The Trump administration is facing a new lawsuit over accessibility issues on government websites. The National Federation of the Blind is accusing the Trump administration of unlawfully delaying the addition of new features meant to help people with disabilities. Plaintiffs say the delays threaten online access to critical agency services, like healthcare portals and unemployment benefits. The delays are apparent on websites for the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.
(Lawsuit over delays to critical website accessibility protections - Democracy Forward)

The White House’s fraud task force is gaining a new member. The General Services Administration, which oversees contracting, IT and real estate governmentwide, will join the task force led by Vice President JD Vance. Membership includes about a dozen agencies that provide benefits and services to the public. GSA Administrator Ed Forst said the agency’s cross-government coordination and advanced analytics capabilities will help root out fraud.
(GSA joins presidential task force to eliminate fraud - General Services Administration)

The Agriculture Department’s relocation of food assistance employees will lead to major staffing losses, according to their union. USDA announced last month that it would shutter the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Food and Nutrition Service and several of its regional offices. Many of the agency’s employees will be asked to relocate to other parts of the country. But in a survey conducted by the National Treasury Employees Union, 80% of respondents said they would rather quit their jobs than move. Another union survey polling other USDA employees tapped to relocate found similar results. More than 82 million Americans rely on food assistance benefits under FNS.
(USDA employees in food assistance programs folded into relocation plans - Federal News Network)

The Defense Department is adding 15 new members to the Science, Technology and Innovation Board. The newly formed organization now has 33 private sector experts, many of which are former defense leaders. DoD combined the goals and focus areas of the Defense Innovation Board and the Defense Science Board when creating this new STI organization in January. Among the new members is David Norquist, the former deputy defense secretary. Among the board's top priorities are to help DoD accelerate digital solutions, specifically optimizing and securing software delivery processes across the department.
(DoD adds 15 members to Science, Technology and Innovation Board - Defense Department)

NASA came out on top on two more protests of its SEWP VI program. The Government Accountability Office yesterday denied the complaints by Insight Public Sector and by Strategic Communications in the last two weeks. Both companies protested being removed from competition for the governmentwide acquisition contract. GAO determined NASA acted properly in its decision. NASA still faces three other protests that could be decided in the next two months. In all, NASA has faced 16 protests of SEWP VI to GAO and of the 13 that have been decided, four have been denied and nine have been dismissed.
(NASA wins two protests of SEWP VI contract - Government Accountability Office)

The Office of Management and Budget is proposing revisions to the governmentwide grants regulations. In a new proposed rule, OMB is seeking to update 2 CFR 200 to bring more transparency and accountability to federal grant programs and to reduce federal reporting burdens on recipients. OMB said many of the changes are driven by the use of diversity, equity and inclusion or identity-based requirements in previous years. Some of the proposed revisions, OMB said, would ensure and emphasize the need for merit-based selection of recipients for discretionary awards. Another change would encourage the use of multi-year awards to reduce the frequency of applications and individual awards. Comments on the proposed rule are due by mid-July.
(OMB proposes major changes to grants regulations - Federal Register)

The Pentagon has a new contract vehicle to consolidate its spending on Microsoft licenses. Defense officials say they’ve awarded a contract worth up to $9.7 billion to Dell Federal for the Microsoft enterprise licensing agreement. The blanket purchase agreement is good for the next five years. Officials say it will be used for cloud services including Microsoft 365 licenses, and that it’ll replace “fragmented” Microsoft purchases across the department.
(DoD signs $9.7B enterprisewide deal for Microsoft licenses - Defense Department)