Tag Archive: federal


Agriculture, Interior hiring 20,000 youths to work outdoors

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.18, 2012

Here’s one way to get young people into public service: Pay them to spend time outside.

The Obama administration announced Friday its intention to hire more than 20,000 people ages 15-25 for summer jobs in national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges and other public lands.

Of the total, 12,000 will work for the Interior Department and 8,000 will work for the Forest Service within the Agriculture Department. Though the agencies routinely hire young workers for summer restoration jobs through programs like AmeriCorps, the number of those workers has been steadily increasing: Interior, for example, has increased its cadre of young summer workers by 35 percent since 2009, according to department spokesman Matt Lee-Ashley.

Of the outdoor jobs, 500 will be filled through $3.7 million in competitive grants funding projects at public lands in various states. The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management will fund $1.4 million of the grant money, which will be matched by $2.3 million raised by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through private partners.

Lee-Ashley said the young outdoor workers would not replace any full-time federal employees.

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AFGE, Social Security reach agreement

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.16, 2012

It’s taken more than two years, but a large federal employees union has struck an agreement with the Social Security Administration that will last another four.

The American Federation of Government Employees has reached a formal deal with SSA over nationwide agency employee benefits after 27 months of contract negotiations, according to an AFGE press release. The two parties had previously reached a “conceptual” agreement in March.

AFGE lead negotiator Witold Skwierczynski said the union “made improvements in eye care and travel benefits, strengthened employee rights in the workplace and allowed for the union to have broader ability to represent employees in meetings with SSA management,” according to the press release.

Negotiations had become so stagnant that AFGE had referred the matter to the Federal Services Impasses Panel in September 2011, according to the release. The previous contract between the two groups was signed in 2005.

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Lawmakers urged to bring Hatch Act into the age of telework and social media

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.16, 2012

Congress should address technology and social media in current legislation that reforms the law restricting government employees from certain political activities, a panel of witnesses told House lawmakers Wednesday.

Legislation circulating in the House and Senate would update the 1939 Hatch Act, which prohibits federal, state and local government employees from running for office in partisan elections or engaging in political activity while on duty or in a government office. The bills under consideration include a broader range of penalties for federal workers who violate the law, ensuring they do not automatically lose their jobs; the legislation also would allow state and local government employees to run for partisan political office.

But none of the bipartisan bills in their current form defines what constitutes the federal workplace in the age of telework and social media, witnesses pointed out. Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner, whose office enforces the Hatch Act, said Congress should consider clarifying that prohibited political activity under the law applies to employees while they are teleworking, as well as address the prevalence of laptops, BlackBerrys and iPhones throughout government. “The Internet and social media have dramatically changed the way we gather and share information, communicate our views, or engage in the political process,” Lerner told a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee. “These changes were not contemplated when the Hatch Act was last amended to restrict political activity on duty or in the federal workplace.” The Office of Special Counsel has issued guidance on the use of social media and the Hatch Act.

Scott Coffina, a former official during the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, agreed that lawmakers should take the opportunity to address the major technological advances that have occurred since the Hatch Act was last revised in 1993. “Useful amendments to the Hatch Act ought to account for the ease with which government employees can communicate with other on political matters without the use of government resources and with minimal disruption to the work day,” said Coffina, who now works at law firm Drinker Biddle.

He noted the prevalence of smartphones “creates a real obstacle to enforcing the Hatch Act prohibition on federal employees participating in political activity in the workplace, which literally requires employees to leave the building to make a phone call or send an email for a partisan political cause. However, the ease with which the employees can dash off a ‘political’ email from their own personal smartphones [not using government resources] makes the time to go outside seem wasteful and enforcement of this restriction quite impractical.”

Lerner said Congress also might consider whether emailing on a dot-gov email domain to engage in political activity, even while the employee is off duty, is consistent with the goals of the Hatch Act.

Many have criticized the Hatch Act as confusing, ambiguous and overly restrictive. For instance, the law in its current form has resulted in cases such as a Pennsylvania police officer in a K-9 unit who was told he couldn’t run for his local school board because he received some funds from the Homeland Security Department for his dog. And in many circumstances, a deputy sheriff who wants to run for sheriff is ineligible to do so, Lerner noted. Also, federal, state and local employees are allowed to run in nonpartisan elections, making enforcement of the law inconsistent and dependent on a locality’s rules regarding what’s partisan and nonpartisan.

Lerner said allowing state and local employees to run for partisan political office “will promote good government, demonstrate respect for the independence of states and localities, and allow OSC to better allocate its scarce resources toward more effective enforcement of the Hatch Act. This expansive application of the law leads to absurd results and does nothing to advance the law’s purpose or the public interest.”

Those state and local employees still would be subject to the law’s prohibitions on misuse of official authority and coercive conduct, she noted.

Lerner has made reforming the Hatch Act a top priority since her arrival at OSC nearly a year ago. More than 45 percent of OSC’s overall Hatch Act caseload, including more than 500 investigations during the past two years, involved state and local campaign cases that did not involve any allegation of coercive or abusive political conduct, she said.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., sponsor of a bill reforming the Hatch Act, said he expected to schedule a committee markup for May 31. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee postponed its Hatch Act reform bill markup scheduled for Wednesday.

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Defensive Positions

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.16, 2012

The federal civilian workforce has labored under a two-year pay freeze and countless efforts to further reduce their wages and benefits during the past year. It appears that military families are not immune to fears over pay and benefits either.

Changes to pensions, pay and other benefits rank at the top of issues military families are most concerned about, according to a new survey from Blue Star Families, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. Thirty-one percent of respondents, which included military spouses, children, vets and service members, listed retirement benefit changes as their No. 1 concern while 20 percent ranked pay and benefits issues in general as their biggest worry.

Of the 4,234 respondents to the survey, 2,891 completed the questionnaire, which also evaluated their views on the effects of deployments on children, length of deployments, military spouse employment and combat stress.

The survey cited media coverage related to the Defense Business Board’s recommendations, as well as the uncertain economic climate and high levels of military spouse and veteran unemployment, as factors contributing to military families’ concerns.

They have reason to be worried, as Congress, the Obama administration and observers debate proposals ranging from restructuring the military’s retirement system to increasing health care premiums and other fees for retirees. Changes to the pay and benefits of service members and retirees has long been a politically sensitive subject, with lawmakers and military advocates wary of appearing ungrateful for the sacrifices of service members. But like most federal agencies, Defense is under pressure to significantly cut costs and streamline its operations.

In addition to fears over bread-and-butter issues, respondents overwhelmingly reported feeling unappreciated by the civilian population. “Unfortunately, the gap between our military and civilian communities continues to persist, with 95 percent of respondents agreeing with the statement, ‘The general public does not truly understand or appreciate the sacrifices made by service members and their families,’ ” the survey stated.

Defense Pay and Benefits

Pay and benefits for service members and their families are very much a part of the House 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, which the chamber expects to vote on Friday. Last week, the House Armed Services Committee advanced its version of the bill, approving a 1.7 percent pay raise for military service members in 2013, as well as limiting increases to pharmacy co-pays under the TRICARE program. The panel, led by Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., rejected the administration’s proposals to increase the amount military retirees pay for their health care insurance, including one that would raise premiums for military retirees based on their retirement pay. The TRICARE co-pay increases in the House bill are smaller than those the president proposed.

Obama will veto the $637 billion bill if it reaches him, according to a statement from the White House.

The Senate’s version of the Defense authorization act likely will resemble the White House plan, including the retiree premium increases and higher drug co-pays.

Salary Data

Want to see how much the guy in the next cube over is making? The Asbury Park Press earlier this week released its 2011 database of federal salary and bonus information. Check it out here.

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Romney: Government Isn’t the Hero

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.15, 2012

Mitt Romney stepped up his attacks on President Obama as leader of the federal government Tuesday, calling Obama an “old-school liberal ” who sees “government as the hero.” Romney said his policies, by contrast, were aimed at creating a “simpler, smaller, smarter” government.

From Romney’s remarks at an appearance in Des Moines, Iowa:

Almost a generation ago, Bill Clinton announced that the Era of Big Government was over.


Even a former McGovern campaign worker like President Clinton was signaling to his own Party that Democrats should no longer try to govern by proposing a new program for every problem.

President Obama tucked away the Clinton doctrine in his large drawer of discarded ideas, along with transparency and bipartisanship. It’s enough to make you wonder if maybe it was a personal beef with the Clintons … but really it runs much deeper.

President Obama is an old school liberal whose first instinct is to see free enterprise as the villain and government as the hero. America counted on President Obama to rescue the economy, tame the deficit and help create jobs. Instead, he bailed out the public-sector, gave billions of dollars to the companies of his friends, and added almost as much debt as all the prior presidents combined.

The consequence is that we are enduring the most tepid recovery in modern history.

Romney went on to characterize the federal government as the least efficient and responsive sector of the economy:

During my time in business and in state government, I came to see the economy as having three big players – the private sector, the states and localities, and the federal government.


Of these three, the private sector is by far the most efficient and cost effective. That’s because scores of businesses and thousands of entrepreneurs are competing every day to find a way to deliver a product or a service that is better than anyone else’s. Think about smart phones. Blackberry got things going. Then Apple introduced the iPhone. Now the Android platform leads the market. In the world of free enterprise, competition brings us better and better products at lower and lower cost. Innovate and change or you go out of business. And the customer–us–benefits.

Government doesn’t begin to compare when it comes to change and improvements that provide better and less expensive services and products. But among governments, the states and localities are more responsive than the federal government, probably because there is a degree of competition between them.

The slowest, least responsive sector is the federal government. Nobody hears “Washington, D.C.” and thinks “efficiency.”

Imagine if the federal government was the sole legal supplier of cell phones. First, they’d still be under review, with hearings in Congress. When finally approved, the contract to make them would go to an Obama donor. They’d be the size of a shoe, with a collapsible solar panel. And campaign donors would be competing to become the all-powerful App Czar.

My point is this: as President Obama and old-school liberals absorb more and more of our economy into government, they make what we do more expensive, less efficient, and less useful. They make America less competitive. They make government more expensive.

What President Obama is doing is not bold; it’s old.

As president, I will make the federal government simpler, smaller, smarter – and, by the way, more in keeping with the vision of the Framers of our Constitution.

Finally, Romney declared that Obama’s efforts to reduce waste and inefficiency in federal operations have been a failure:

The President has made little effort to rein in redundancy and waste.


In 2011, the Government Accountability Office found 34 areas where agencies, offices, or initiatives in the federal government had overlapping objectives or were providing similar services. The GAO estimated that fixing this redundancy could save over $100 billion. Yet, one year later, only three of these 34 areas had been fully addressed. Only one program was actually defunded.

In 2010, 17 federal government agencies gave $7.7 billion to more than 25 United Nations programs, billions of it voluntarily.

Another example: There are 94 federal programs in 11 agencies that encourage “green” building. A report found that the results of their initiatives and investments are, quote, “unknown.”

We see the same bureaucracy and overhead in our anti-poverty programs. Last year, the federal government spent more than $600 billion on more than 100 different programs that aim to help the poor.

My approach to federal programs and bureaucracy is entirely different. Move programs to states or to the private sector where they can be run more efficiently and where we can do a better job helping the people who need our help. Shut down programs that aren’t working. And streamline everything that’s left. It’s time for the people of America to take back the government of America.

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Bye-Bye BlackBerry?

Filed Under: Homeowners Insurance
May.15, 2012

iPhone touch-screens are commandeering BlackBerry thumbs across government, according to new studies. But replacing the only government-certified smartphone with consumer electronics is forcing federal chief information officers to rethink mobile security and contracting. 

The Government Business Council, Government Executive’s research arm, identified huge shifts in BlackBerry use among federal managers between August 2009 and September 2011. Most managers were “crackberry” addicts in August 2009—77 percent—and now less than half are Berry users. At the same time, iPhone use has nearly tripled, reaching 23 percent. The iPad also is stealing federal customers from BlackBerry, claiming 17 percent of the market, and smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system are hovering at 25 percent. 

The shift from the BlackBerry is being driven by federal employees who prefer a wider array of sophisticated apps, communications consultants say. Age also is a factor, according to GBC’s research. Older managers like plain-vanilla voice cellphones and younger execs use smartphones. Managers between 41 and 50 years old opt for Apple’s iOS, which runs the iPhone and iPad, while the youngest managers, 40 and under, use Android-based smartphones. 

The CIO shop at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants to satisfy those employees who favor iPhones and Android devices over BlackBerrys, made by Ottawa-based Research in Motion. When its RIM licenses expire this summer, the agency’s roughly 2,000 BlackBerry users will get new phones, NOAA officials say. 

Stefan Leeb, the NOAA program manager involved with the changeover, says his agency needs to be able to recruit talent that is more comfortable with the newer devices. “We don’t want to be stuck with BlackBerrys,” he says. “It’s not because we don’t like BlackBerrys. It’s because we want to have other capabilities.” NOAA wants to foster a platform-agnostic workforce that is not beholden to any specific brand or device. The first step, Leeb says, is assigning iPhones and iPads, because they are the easiest commercial devices to manage within the agency’s existing computing environment. Meanwhile, NOAA is testing Android products to make sure they comply with agency security requirements.

“We’re not buying additional BlackBerry devices,” Leeb says. “Our intention is to be off BlackBerrys by June 1.”

Price also played a part in NOAA’s decision to ban BlackBerrys, at least for now. “We need to reduce our operating costs and the cost to license, operate and manage BlackBerry devices is very high compared to alternatives that support multiple mobile platforms,” he says.

RIM officials said in a statement that current customers would save money if they stick with the company’s services and upgrade their BlackBerrys. “By leveraging their existing investment, no capital expense is needed to use the BlackBerry security model proven over the last decade, which then seamlessly extends to all of the latest BlackBerry smartphones,” they wrote. 

The decline of the BlackBerry in government tracks with national trends. Data from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project shows a 4 percent drop in Berry users between May 2011 and February 2012, and a 9 percent rise in iPhone users during that period. As of February, 6 percent of cellphone owners had Berrys, while 19 percent used iPhones and 20 percent owned Android devices.  

Some federal information technology personnel, however, moan about agencies allowing employees to work on personal phones, a practice called BYOD, or bring your own device. The concern is colleagues could inadvertently compromise agency networks with infected apps downloaded for fun and entertainment. 

“It’s difficult to prevent people from loading applications or jail-breaking their phones, and that complication is largely solved in the BlackBerry,” says Tom Hallewell, president of the Information Systems Security Association’s Washington chapter, whose members are mainly feds and contractors. “Everyone is clear that you can’t load apps on your government laptop . . . you can’t smoke cigarettes at work, and you have to take a drug test and you can’t use a Droid.” 

But Hallewell admits the BlackBerry is still far from perfect, and other experts note its track record for reliability has deteriorated. Because BlackBerry data travels outside the United States through Canada, government information escapes the reach of U.S. legal protections. Some agencies don’t like having their data subject to potentially conflicting foreign privacy and e-discovery rules, he says. “Physically, the device is pretty secure, but the data path is maybe not so secure,” Hallewell says. 

During a three-day period in October 2011, RIM email service failed worldwide intermittently. “When the BlackBerry service went down, it provided momentum for the switch” to other smartphones, says Warren Suss, president of Suss Consulting. 

Officials said RIM “continuously upgrades our device portfolio, introducing significantly greater functionality and speed, allowing government workers to enhance their productivity while remaining secure.” And the BlackBerry remains the device of choice for federal managers between 51 and 60 years old, according to the Government Business Council’s research. “It’s not going to evaporate immediately,” Suss acknowledges. “In recent memory, the BlackBerry was the only acceptable form of mobile device from a security point of view, and that is changing.” 

By August, the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Defense Department’s IT support division, expects to release security guidelines that will cover the Android mobile platform and iOS. The agency also is compiling blanket requirements that will apply to any current or future phone in the consumer space. “Our intent with this document is to establish a better partnership with industry so that any vendor interested in doing business with DoD can provide a release that is designed to our security goals at the same time the product is released to the commercial marketplace,” says Mark Orndorff, DISA chief information assurance executive. 

In addition, DISA is working with Apple to reconcile outstanding security concerns regarding iOS, such as incompatibility with a government encryption standard called Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2. Next-generation BlackBerrys already are compliant.  But, Suss says, “Apple phones are here to stay—it’s a change being driven by user demand.” 

The government’s shopping agency, the General Services Administration, just wants everyone to recycle the BlackBerrys they stop using. In February, GSA, a newcomer to the commercial smartphone fray, issued an advisory that prohibits agencies from dumping electronic devices, including BlackBerrys, in landfills and incinerators. Mandatory e-recycling is expectedto follow, GSA officials say. Agencies with functioning BlackBerrys left over can transfer them to other government offices, donate the phones to nonprofit organizations or auction them off through GSA for money back, according to GSA. 

Leeb says he has not determined what NOAA will do with its excess BlackBerrys, but, “we’re not going to throw them away. That’s just ridiculous.” 

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Uncle Sam scales back on bonuses

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.15, 2012

The government handed out less bonus money to federal employees in 2011 compared to 2010, according to new data.

Uncle Sam paid at least $439 million in merit awards to federal workers last year, down $43 million from 2010. The Asbury Park Press reported the findings Tuesday.

The data, obtained from the Office of Personnel Management, excludes the military, Defense and Treasury departments, White House, and U.S. Postal Service. The Veterans Affairs Department, the largest agency after Defense, administered the most, according to the analysis, with almost $68 million in bonuses. The Homeland Security Department handed out $61 million in awards, according to the newspaper.

In June 2011, the Office of Management and Budget and OPM directed agencies to scale back on bonuses paid to Senior Executive Service members and other senior-level employees through fiscal 2012. Total spending on individual performance awards for SES and scientific and professional employees must equal no more than 5 percent of aggregate salaries, the memo stated. For bonuses paid to all other workers, that total drops to 1 percent.

At that time, Carol A. Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, expressed concern that the total number of awards would decrease as a result of the directive. Previously, agencies could spend 10 percent of aggregate salaries on bonuses, and employees were eligible for a minimum increase of 5 percent and a maximum of 20 percent.

A two-year pay freeze on the civilian federal workforce is in effect through 2012, although employees can continue to receive pay increases through promotions. President Obama has recommended a 0.5 percent pay raise for federal workers in 2013 and a 1.7 percent boost for service members.

(Image via alexskopje /Shutterstock.com)

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OMB instructs agencies to further cut travel and conferences

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.11, 2012

Acting Budget Director Jeffrey Zients on Friday instructed all agency heads to step up efforts to economize through more selective employee travel and conference planning, as well as through improved management of vehicle fleets and disposal of unneeded federal properties.

In a memo, Zients directed agencies to build on cost-containment strategies in the works since President Obama’s Nov. 9, 2011, executive order on efficient spending. Zients noted the president’s 2013 budget identifies $8 billion in reduced costs as a result of that order.

“From his first days in office, President Obama has led a concerted and aggressive effort to streamline government and cut wasteful and inefficient spending wherever it exists so that we can focus our resources on serving the American people,” Zients wrote in an accompanying blog post. “From slowing the uncontrolled growth of federal contracting to getting rid of excess real estate held by agencies and reining in spending on federal employee travel, this administration has already cut billions in inefficient spending across the federal government.”

He added, “these efforts and others have already produced more than $280 million in reduced costs in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 compared to the same period in fiscal 2010.” In the area of travel, every agency is to spend at least 30 percent less in fiscal 2013 and maintain that level through 2016.

On conferences, the memo requires deputy secretaries to review any such event if it could cost an agency more than $100,000. It requires department secretaries to personally sign a waiver for conferences costing more than $500,000. It also requires agencies to post publicly each January on the prior year’s conference spending, including descriptions of agency conferences that cost more than $100,000.

On fleets, agencies will use existing General Services Administration fleet services, or initiate a replacement and renewal schedule that is consistent with requirements spelled out in a May 2011 presidential memorandum and the Federal Management Regulation.

On property ownership, agencies are barred, as of Friday, from increasing the size of their civilian real estate inventory, except under specified conditions.

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House passes fed pension hike

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.10, 2012

Federal employees would have to contribute more to their government pensions under a bill approved by the House Thursday.

The House voted 218-199 with one Republican voting present for legislation (H.R. 5652) that requires current federal workers to pay 5 percent more toward their retirement, with the increase introduced incrementally over the next five years, beginning in 2013. Members of Congress enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System would have to contribute an additional 8.5 percent to their defined benefit plan, with the hike added during the same time period. Federal employees hired after 2012 would begin contributing the additional 5 percent immediately.

The Democratic-led Senate is expected to reject the legislation. President Obama will veto the bill if it reaches him, the White House said in a statement opposing H.R. 5652.

Under the legislation, current workers would pay an extra 1.5 percent in 2013; 0.5 percent more in 2014; and an additional 1 percent in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Federal employees currently contribute 0.8 percent of each paycheck to their pensions. That figure does not include their contributions to Social Security or to their Thrift Savings Plan accounts. The bill would result in employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System paying 5.8 percent of their salaries by 2017, plus contributions to Social Security and TSP accounts. Government workers enrolled in the Civil Service Retirement System — who currently contribute 7 percent of each paycheck to their defined benefit plan — would give 12 percent by 2017 under the legislation.

In addition, the bill eliminates a current supplement to benefits of feds who are not subject to mandatory retirement and are covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System and retire before age 62, or the age at which their Social Security benefits can kick in. The change would apply to those employees hired after Dec. 31, 2012. One bright spot for federal employees was a provision in the bill allowing retiring federal and U.S. Postal Service employees to deposit lump sums from their unused annual leave into their Thrift Savings Plan accounts to boost their savings.

The federal retirement provisions are part of the 2012 Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act, shepherded by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. The bill includes more than $300 billion in spending cuts during the next decade identified by six authorizing committees, including the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In late April, the oversight panel approved the changes to federal pensions — which would yield $83 billion in savings — and sent the measure to the Budget Committee to incorporate into the reconciliation package. The spending cuts in the reconciliation bill are intended to relieve the Defense Department from significant budget reductions resulting from sequestration, which is set to take effect starting in 2013. Defense is on the hook for $600 billion in automatic spending cuts under the 2011 Budget Control Act, which calls for $1.2 trillion in reductions governmentwide during the next decade.

Democrats, led by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., failed in their efforts to put forward for consideration an alternative to the Ryan bill.

The Ryan bill is the latest congressional effort to reduce federal pay and benefits. New federal hires have to contribute 2.3 percent more toward their government pensions under a deal Congress approved in February to extend the payroll tax holiday.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., defended the changes to federal employees’ defined benefit plan, pointing out that the bipartisan fiscal commission known as Simpson-Bowles and the Obama administration both have recommended feds contribute more to their pensions. Issa, chairman of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called the spending cuts related to federal retirement benefits “a reasonable sacrifice” to ask of the federal workforce. He also praised federal employees, acknowledging it won’t be easy for government workers to pay more for their pensions.

“Many people will talk about public servants in a less than kind way,” Issa said. “I am not one of them.”

Maryland Democrats Van Hollen, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and Elijah Cummings, criticized the measures related to federal pensions. Hoyer pointed out that federal employees already have contributed $75 billion in the name of deficit reduction through the pay freeze. “You treat federal employees in this House as second-class working people,” Hoyer said, speaking to his Republican colleagues. “That’s wrong.”

Cummings, who noted it is Public Service Recognition Week, listed the achievements of some finalists for the Service to America medals, annual awards that honor the top federal employees for their work.

Federal employee advocates this week have sent letters to House lawmakers urging them to reject the measures related to pay and benefits, likening the change to a 5 percent payroll tax increase on government employees. “Singling out federal employees for disparate treatment threatens to do permanent harm to a federal civil service critical to meeting the increasingly complex and deeply important tasks of government,” Joseph Beaudoin, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, said in a May 8 letter to House members.

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Senators invoke GSA scandal during procurement nominee’s hearing

Filed Under: Insurance News
May.09, 2012

President Obama’s nominee to be administrator of the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy testified on Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, whose leaders invoked the recent spending scandal at the General Services Administration as reason for action against waste.

“With more than $500 billion going to federal contracts every year — about one out of every $6 spent by the government — it is imperative that our acquisitions produce the best possible results and value for the American people,” said Jordan, who currently is a senior adviser at the Office of Management and Budget.

Nominee Joseph Jordan’s three themes for improving federal procurement were buying smarter, building the right supplier relationships and strengthening the acquisition workforce.

He promised to “work closely with agency chief acquisition officers and senior procurement executives and our federal training institutions to identify training needs and facilitate cost-effective pooling of resources to meet the needs of all agency personnel who play a role in the acquisition process. This includes not just our essential contract specialists, but also contracting officer’s representatives, who are responsible for contract management, and program and project managers, who are instrumental in acquisition planning and the development of contract requirements,” he said. “I will also continue OFPP’s proud tradition of convening the Front-Line Forum, where contracting officers from around government meet with the administrator to share their real-time on-the-ground perspective.”

Jordan would replace Dan Gordon, who left the post in December 2011 for a slot as a dean at The George Washington University Law School. The job is being filled on an acting basis by Lesley Field.

The committee did not vote on Jordan’s nomination, but is expected to do so at its next meeting later in May.

OFPP “needs to double down on its oversight of contract spending to make sure we don’t purchase goods or services we don’t really need and to ensure that we get the most for the taxpayer money we do spend,” said panel Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. “Fiscal discipline is good policy no matter the dollar amount, but in a weak economy when we are looking to significantly reduce the deficit . . . discipline is a must.”

Ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Jordan’s nomination comes at a critical time. “The flouting of acquisition rules by the General Services Administration in connection with a lavish 2010 conference underscores the importance of adherence to these rules as protection against the waste of taxpayer dollars,” she said. “Ultimately, however, it is OFPP that has the obligation to ensure — across the government — that the federal acquisition system promotes economy, efficiency and effectiveness in order to deliver the best value to taxpayers.”

Jordan was the associate administrator for government contracting and business development at the Small Business Administration from 2009 to 2011, and before that he worked at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

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