Wednesday Morning Federal Newsstand

Written by Ruben Gomez and Jane Norris Edited by Suzanne Kubota This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED: Federal Employees may have to wait a little ...

Written by Ruben Gomez and Jane Norris
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

Federal Employees may have to wait a little longer for faster promotions. The Office of Personnel Management said it has cancelled a Bush administration personnel rule that would allow some high-performing General Schedule employees to be fast tracked for promotions. The rule that employees must serve 52 weeks in grade before a promotion to a higher grade will atay in place for now and will be considered again in a more comprehensive review of pay performance and staffing in the future according to OPM.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration’s Medical Device Division is stepping down. Staff scientists at the agency say that agency head Daniel Schultz was pressuring them to approve certain devices against their professional judgement. The scientists complained to the Obama transition team and now lawmakers are investigating the complaints.

The inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services is investigating a conflict-of-interest allegation involving the official in charge of drug approvals, the FDA said. The Wall Street Journal reports the investigation of Janet Woodcock, the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, stems from an ethics complaint filed by a California company.

Faulty and excessive billing for logistics services in Iraq and Afghanistan. That charge let the Army this year to reject millions of dollars in billings for by contractors Dyncorp, Fluor and KBR according to a Pentagon Auditor April Stephenson. Nevertheless, the Pentagon continues to allow those companies to use those unreliable business systems to calculate costs and bill the government.

The Social Security Administration will pay more than $500 million in back benefits. The Washington Post reports under a preliminary court agreement, 80,000 beneficiaries who were wrongly flagged as serious criminals will get the payments. A 1996 law allowed the government to stop the payments for people with outstanding arrest warrants but some of those snagged were elderly or disabled with minor offenses.

Regulators meet for the last time today in an effort to keep counterfeit technology out of your agency. The meeting between industry and members of the civilian and defense acquisition councils aims to find the right balance between security and contractor liability. Today’s public meeting starts at 9 a.m. in GSA’s auditorium.

You’ve heard of Google Maps: now comes a map that tracks Congressional earmarks. The searchable map contains links to information on more than 17-thousand earmarks, and it’s growing. You can find it at WashingtonWatch.com.

Other Stories We’re Following

EXCLUSIVE: Disaster plans leave disabled behind (WashingtonTimes)

Testimony puts Rove at center of Justice firings

Gonzales says he would ‘do some things over’

US official gropes to explain Clinton’s outburst

Another attack downs Twitter, briefly this time

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