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Sources confirmed CIOs from State, DHS, EPA and OPM and the CTO from VA talked a variety of issues with the Trump transition team toward the end of Obama administration.
Rob Snyder, the acting secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, officially exempts some health care, construction and project management professionals from the President's short-term hiring freeze. Snyder's announcement comes after repeated appeals from some lawmakers, who said the freeze could impact veterans' ability to access health care.
The Defense Department and Veterans Administration tell Congress their still working out the bugs at their joint health care facility in Chicago.
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) is urging a handful of large agencies to quickly move forward in their efforts to roll out the DATA Act by the May 2017 deadline.
Veterans service organizations and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents roughly 230,000 employees at the Veterans Affairs Department, say the President-elect's nominee to lead the agency is a pleasant surprise. Dr. David Shulkin, the current VA undersecretary for health, should give the agency some continuity during the transition, they said.
President-elect Donald Trump says his choice for VA secretary is David Shulkin, who is currently the department's undersecretary for health.
Cybsersecurity, customer service, even deep space exploration are on the list of federal agencies' Performance.gov goals in fiscal 2016-17.
Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson wrote to Congress this week, asking that it begin work immediately to repeal cuts to the agency's award and incentive spending. Congress cut VA's performance bonus budget by about 20 percent next year to cover opioid-addiction treatment programs for veterans.
The FAR Council and lawmakers are updating federal procurement regulations to address long-standing concerns about veterans, prompt payment and privacy training.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) outlined their concerns with the Veterans Affairs Department in a letter to Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Meanwhile, current VA Secretary Bob McDonald said Congress has been the biggest barrier to true transformation at the VA.
President Barack Obama and senior administration leaders celebrated the achievements from the federal workforce over the past eight years. In his final days in office, Obama asked federal employees to think back to the moment they decided to join public service and encouraged them to continue their work as his administration leaves and another takes its place.
The Senate had a busy weekend, passing five major pieces of legislation that will impact veterans, inspectors general, FBI whistleblowers and others before the close of the 114th Congress.
Unless President-elect Donald Trump appoints two new members quickly, the Merit Systems Protection Board will likely have one voting member come March 1, when Chairman Susan Tsui Grundmann's term expires. But the upcoming seat-changes have federal employment experts wondering whether this is the beginning of the end for MSPB.
A new omnibus veterans package cleared the House Tuesday afternoon, but it doesn't address three controversial issues that both veterans affairs committees and the VA Secretary himself have spent the past year debating. That leaves a fix for the outdated veterans appeals process, an alternative or solution to the Veterans Choice Program and new accountability procedures to the 115th Congress and next administration.