The 16-day government shutdown forced federal employees to miss millions of days of work, agencies to forego millions of dollars in revenue and programs to grind to a halt. In a new report, the Office of Management and Budget estimates that federal workers missed 6.6 million days of work and the shutdown cost more than $2.5 billion in pay and benefits for employees, most of whom didn't work.
Some agency leaders who would be charged with implementing the bill are unsure the DATA Act can be brought to life successfully. Officials said the government can improve how it makes data accessible and publishes procurement and other spending information. But the DATA Act may be asking for things that aren't pragmatically possible.
The Obama administration trying a different tack on federal-employee bonuses and awards in fiscal 2014. A new directive from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management continues clear-cut spending caps on employee awards but won't outright ban them -- even if the across-the-board spending constraints, known as sequestration, continue.
Data center consolidation paving the way for JIE.
OMB is set to begin next week a 120-day review of three broad areas around security clearances. DoD and ODNI are pursuing initiatives to create a continuous evaluation process for employees with secret and top secret approvals. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee members say recent events show the process is broken.
In his first public comments since the portal launched, federal CIO Steve VanRoekel said agencies and contractors can learn from the problems the website encountered. He said many times big failures provide the opening for major changes.
The Office of Management and Budget rescinds CircularA-127 and issues new guidance to simplify financial system requirements. The goal is to improve quality, utility and the reliability of federal financial information.
In a letter to federal CIO Steve VanRoekel and federal CTO Todd Park, Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairmen want documents and information on whether the program went under a TechStat review and whether the White House made decisions that impacted the use of federal IT best practices.
Beth Cobert is on the job as the deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget. The Senate confirmed Cobert and 24 other nominees late Wednesday night.
The Office of Management and Budget is anticipating agencies will face some logistical challenges in reopening the government after a 16-day partial shutdown. But Brian Deese, OMB's deputy director, told Federal News Radio employees are eager to get back to work and to begin tackling those challenges.
The White House is finalizing its first major cybersecurity policy in more than three years.
Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee laud Beth Cobert's private sector experience. But Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said Senate leaders do not plan to debate or vote on any nominations during the shutdown.
Some government agency websites were essentially turned off Tuesday morning, as the shutdown officially got underway. Agencies also began sending out messages via social media alerting followers that accounts would not be updated during the shutdown.
OMB and GSA put out separate memos detailing steps agencies should take if the government shuts down. OMB reminded agencies to secure systems and how to deal with third-party social media sites. GSA gave agencies ideas to minimize the impact of having to shutdown websites.
What's your agency's shutdown plan? Federal News Radio provides links to each agency's guidance in the event of a government shutdown.