Monday Afternoon Federal Newscast

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) today filed its 2009 fiscal year-end financial results, showing a net loss of $3.8 billion for the year - despite cost-cutting efforts resulting in $6 billion in cost savings and a $4 billion reduction in required payments for retiree health benefits. Cost savings reflect a reduction of 40,000 career USPS employees as well as reductions in overtime hours, transportation and other costs. The $4 billion reduction in required retiree health benefit payments was passed into law for fiscal 2009 to allow USPS to maintain fiscal solvency while continuing to provide universal, affordable service to the nation. Copies of the 2009 financial results can be found here.

Did you suspect a gap in pay between GS and non-federal salaries? Turns out, you're right. A new report from the Federal Salary Council finds that the overall gap between GS average salaries and non-federal average salaries is almost 51 percent. To make up for the gap, the council is recommending an average locality pay increase now of nearly 44-percent for fiscal 2011. The current average for locality pay increase is 19.4 percent.

The Census Bureau is about to get a little help from Lockheed Martin...and create thousands of jobs in the process. Contractor CSC says Lockheed has won a subcontract to provide "data capture support" for Census. It's a 15-month deal worth 75-million dollars. The move will mean 25-hundred jobs to process more than 65-million forms for the 2010 Census. CSC will operate the Baltimore Data Capture Center to retrieve data for the Census Bureau.

The Justice Department today announced it is joining a whistleblower lawsuit against two Kuwaiti-based companies that provided food for U.S. troops in the Middle East. The suit has been filed against the Public Warehousing Company, and the Sultan Center Food Products Compan. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleges that the firms overcharged the U.S. for local fruits and vegetables supplied under contract to the Defense Logistics Agencyn for troops serving in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan. Under the False Claims Act, the U.S. could colelct as much as three times the amount of its losses, plus civil penalties if the firms are found guilty.

Space shuttle Atlantis has rocketed into orbit with six astronauts and a full load of spare parts for the International Space Station. The supply run should keep the space station humming for years to come, and the shuttle astronauts in space through Thanksgiving. About 100 Twittering space enthusiasts won front-row seats to NASA's first launch "tweetup." Atlantis will reach the space station Wednesday. The space agency expects to keep the space station flying until 2015, possibly 2020 if President Barack Obama gives the go-ahead.

Other News Links

Is a legislative fix in FISMA's future? (FCW)

Amanda G. Fredriksen Selected Assistant Commissioner in Federal Acquisition Service (GSA)

Rule would require contractors to vet employees for conflicts of interest (GovExec)

DHS considers contracts for collecting disaster-related imagery (FCW)

General Electric Pursues Pot of Government Stimulus Gold (WSJ)

DoD expands access to Defense Connect Online (GCN)

DoD Social Media resources (DoD)

Open-source tools could make it easier to build a hybrid cloud (GCN)

It's a Free Country... ...So why can't I pick the technology I use in the office? (WSJ)