Agriculture Department
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The Agriculture Department is finalizing a new performance management system, which will move employees from a five-tier system to a "pass-fail" program. The new policy, which USDA plans to roll out Oct. 1, will allow supervisors to reward employees for specific mission accomplishments throughout the year, the agency said.
June 02, 2020 -
The Department of Veterans Affairs is applying artificial intelligence to help improve medical care. The Agriculture Department is giving its eight mission areas 360-degree views of metrics to answer mission-focused questions.
May 22, 2020 -
Thank the people who do the hands on work of government. There are many but as we head into the last week of our annual May We Say Thank You campaign, Federal Drive anchor Tom Temin highlights two in particular.
May 22, 2020 -
In todays' Federal Newscast, Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee worry the panel is failing to hold federal agencies accountable for their response to the coronavirus.
May 22, 2020 -
Under the Agriculture Department's reopening plan, subcomponent agencies and mission areas should provide masks and face coverings for their employees returning to the office.
May 21, 2020 -
The Federal Chief Information Officers Council selected 21 GS-14s and 15s from 11 different agencies to participate in an Agriculture Department-run Senior Executive Service candidate development program. The goal, USDA said, is to groom a new class of executives ahead of the presidential transition, often a popular time for SES retirements.
May 14, 2020 -
The coronavirus pandemic multiplied the need for agency wide telework capabilities and that also means more security concerns. Venice Goodwine, chief information security officer for the Agriculture Department, said her agency took a phased approach with capacity tests across different mission areas.
May 12, 2020 -
Don Bice, who recently left after 32 years in government, including the last two-plus years as USDA’s acting deputy assistant secretary for administration, said the agency challenged employees and executives to think differently in how they deliver mission services.
May 07, 2020 -
When you put those burgers on the grill this weekend, remember the 6,500 federal food safety inspectors working in meatpacking plants ordered to stay open.
May 06, 2020 -
Three trillion dollars and no face shields for meat packing inspectors?
May 05, 2020 -
Jeff Seaton is the new acting CIO at NASA while Jay Huie leaves GSA after 10 years and Vera Ashworth joins GSA after spending the last 15 years in the private sector.
May 04, 2020 -
A Federal News Network survey found the vast majority of employees say they're more productive and working more or the same number of hours at home compared to the office. But when asked to predict whether their agency might fully embrace telework in the future, federal employees were far more mixed.
May 04, 2020 -
Eligibility in federal telework programs dipped slightly in 2018, while participation experienced a small bump. The latest data from the Office of Personnel Management sheds light on the state of telework across government -- before agencies were forced to quickly "maximize" it during the current pandemic.
April 16, 2020 -
In today's Federal Newscast, the agency says nearly 10 million taxpayers checked on the status of their stimulus payment on the Get My Payment tool.
April 16, 2020 -
Don Bice, who left in March after spending the last two years as USDA’s acting deputy assistant secretary for administration, said more employees were eligible to telework after the policy change, which frustrated many agency workers.
April 09, 2020