Wednesday federal headlines – April 22, 2015

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows each day. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

• The Treasury Department is inconsistent when reporting how well its major IT projects are doing. That’s according to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-Del.). They want more details on the status of seven IT projects at the Internal Revenue Service. (Federal News Radio)
• Seventeen of the largest 24 agencies are buying sustainable products at least 95 percent of the time, according to the first report from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy on green acquisition since 2009. (Federal News Radio)
• The Veterans Affairs Department chief said a House subcommittee’s budget plan would cause veterans to suffer. The Appropriations subcommittee on veterans affairs would cut VA’s budget by nearly $1.5 billion. VA Secretary Bob McDonald called the funding “inadequate.” The plan cuts medical care for veterans by nearly $700 million. It also stops funding for four VA construction projects, including a rehabilitation therapy building in St. Louis. Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan wrote a letter to the House panel, objecting to the subcommittee’s plan. The full committee is set to vote on the budget plan today. (Federal News Radio)
• The Homeland Security Department is planning to open a satellite office in Silicon Valley. Secretary Jeh Johnson made the announcement at a cyber conference in San Francisco. Johnson said the office would help strengthen relationships between government and the private sector. The department is pushing for information sharing between industry and government to better prepare for cyber attacks. Johnson also said he wants to convince some of the workforce out West to come to Washington. Many Silicon Valley workers have already joined government. DJ Patil worked at LinkedIn, Skype and PayPal and is now the White House’s chief data scientist. David Recordon left Facebook to direct IT at the White House. And Megan Smith became Chief Technology Officer after working at Google. (DHS)
• Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Michele Leonhart is retiring. She’s been under pressure from members of Congress, who are dismayed at her handling of repeated instances of misconduct by DEA agents. The chairman and ranking members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hailed her departure. They called her woefully inadequate. Leonhart joined the agency more than 30 years ago. She’s been the administrator since 2007. She’ll leave in mid-May. Leonhart’s departure comes only a few months after the Secret Service director resigned following a series of mishaps. (Federal News Radio)
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is teaming up with several big technology companies on a big data project. It will establish five Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, or CRADAs. Participating companies are Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM and Microsoft. The fifth participant will be Open Cloud Consortium. Each will bring other partners into what NOAA is calling data alliances. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said the effort’s goal was to amplify NOAA’s efforts to put its vast data repositories to work. The strategy involves making data more publicly available on computing clouds. Pritzker announced the data alliances at a meeting of meteorologists. (Commerce )
• The National Science Foundation found spending is declining at federally funding research and development centers. The 40 centers spent less than $17 billion on research and development in fiscal 2013. That’s down about half a billion from the year before, and $1 billion less from a peak in 2010. Spending at Los Alamos Lab dropped by $300,000, and spending at Lawrence Livermore Lab dropped about $40,000. On the other hand, spending at Argonne National Lab is up $30,000 and up more than $100 million at Sandia National Labs. (NSF)
• A labor union is joining several lawmakers in their crusade to reform the Federal Aviation Administration. They want to privatize part of the FAA giving a private company authority over air traffic control. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said funding for the FAA is unstable and unpredictable. NATCA President Paul Rinaldi said that means the agency can’t finance its long-term projects, including modernizing its technology and switching from a radar to satellite system. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) recently introduced a bill to massively overhaul the FAA. It would split the agency in two, with one part becoming a private company. (GovExec)
• President Barack Obama’s nominee for attorney general is on the path toward a confirmation vote. Loretta Lynch’s confirmation hearing has been delayed in the Senate because of debates over a sex trafficking bill. The Senate is expected to vote on the trafficking bill today and could vote on Lynch’s confirmation as early as tomorrow. She’s expected to be confirmed. (Federal News Radio)
• The Defense Department named nine installations as winners of the 2015 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards. Some 35 teams and bases nominated themselves for the annual awards. Last year, DoD said it invested more than $4 billion in environmental programs. Spending helped restore damaged sites, improve the local environment and build sustainable energy sources. Among this year’s award-winners is Camp Blanding Joint Training Center of the Army National Guard, which boosted conservation programs. Robins Air Force Base, Georgia won for its recycling and water quality program. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejuenue, North Carolina, made progress in cleaning up 49 sites, collaborating with local agencies and towns. (DoD)
• Fish and Wildlife Service staff members will head to Alaska for a hunting trip. Not on vacation, but rather on official business. Their mission: Cull a herd of caribou on a remote island in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The Agriculture Department is worried the few caribou there could make more caribou, threatening the ecosystem of Kagalaska Island. Caribou swim to Kagalaska Island from the adjacent Adak. Both lie far out in the Aleutian chain. Meat from the slaughtered caribou will be made available to locals on Adak. (Federal News Radio)

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