The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear tells Federal News Radio the Board still anticipates May 31 as a rollout for the new site, but GovExec reports Executive Director Greg Long says the launch could be pushed back a few weeks into June. The board still needs to finish load testing, to find out how many visits the site can handle. No matter when it’s launched, you can expect retirement calculators, life stage guides and improved account access.
Some wounded troops coming to Walter Reed are being delayed because of an erupting volcano. Flights out of Iraq and Afghanistan are taking eight hours longer because of the cloud of volcanic ash hanging over Europe according to the Penatgon. Spokesman Bryan Whitman said the military is using the Navy’s Rota Air Base in Spain to fly troops back to the United States for care at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington. Typically, wounded troops are flown to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where they can be transferred to the Landstuhl military hospital for treatment. Flights to Ramstein have been halted by the giant ash plume from last week’s Icelandic volcano.
The Health and Human Services Department is publishing an online list of more than 60 breaches of private patient health care data. HHS hopes the list will help further research and investigation. FCW reports that under the economic stimulus law, HHS got authority to publish breach incidents that affect 500 or more persons. The largest breach was at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, where theft of hard drives affected data from more than 500,000 patients in October 2009. Most of the incidents involve theft or unauthorized access to laptop computers or other devices, but some involve hacking and scamming.
President Obama has nominated Dr. Donald M. Berwick, a health policy expert, to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The agency runs health programs insuring nearly one-third of all Americans. Dr. Berwick is a pediatrician and president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass. The Medicare and Medicaid agency has been without a permanent chief since October 2006.
The Defense Department will improve oversight of contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq. DOD is hiring more contracting specialists and providing training to Federal employees who supervise contract work. The Washington Post reports that Pentagon officials told The Commission on Wartime Contracting that years of attrition in the department’s acquisition workforce have hampered oversight of contracts, particularly as defense budgets have skyrocketed. The Army’s contracting workforce, for example, is only 55 percent of what it was in the mid-1990s, while the dollar value of contracts overseen has jumped from $11 billion to $165 billion.
A government watchdog says the Obama administration needs to do more to warn members of the public who seek mortgage assistance about potential fraud. Neil Barofsky says recent changes to the mortgage assistance program may make it more vulnerable. The special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program also calls for additional safeguards.
President Obama has established an independent council to advise the White House on federal management issues. The Presidential Management Advisory Board will offer advice on productivity, technology and customer service. The board will include 18 members, only one of which will be a federal employee — Chief Performance Officer Jeff Zients. The other 17 will come from outside of government, and might represent trade and public interest groups.
Major renovations are about to begin on the General Services Administration Headquarters building in northwest Washington. Federal Times reports, GSA expects to spend around $200 million in Recovery Act funds to renovate and expand the 1917 building. The building was last updated in 1935. The building will be outfitted with the latest electrical, plumbing and communication systems. Washington-based architectural firm Shalom Baranes Associates has completed the design work. Now GSA is searching for a construction firm to carry out the renovation, which is expected to last five years.
The Office of Personnel management is working to make government workers cool again. Like James Bond cool, and OPM Director John Berry is hiring a team of experts to do it. Right now the agency is surveying liberal and conservative citizens about their impressions of federal workers and issues most important to them. Then OPM and a contracted marketing firm will help draft a new message that will help change the image of the public servants. In recent years trust in federal workers has reached historic lows. Federal Times reports that the public discontent could hurt government agencies ability to recruit and retain employees. Berry is hoping the re-imaging of the federal employee will help bring more people into the government.
A group of retired military officers says high-calorie school lunches are threatening national security. A study by the group Mission Readiness says school lunches are making American kids so fat that fewer of them can meet the military’s physical fitness standards and that 27 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 are too overweight to join the military. Every year, the military discharges more than 1,200 first-term enlistees before their contracts are up because of weight problems.
A Jet Propulsion Laboratory worker who distributed religious DVDs on the job is suing the JPL for discrimination after he was demoted. David Coppedge’s lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles County says he was demoted last April for sharing his views in the workplace. The NASA contractor wants a court order allowing him to discuss his beliefs. Coppedge is an information technology specialist on the Cassini space mission exploring Saturn.
More news links
Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin in joint helicopter bid
Oklahoma City marks 15 years since bombing
911 calls tell of chaos after plane hit IRS office
US military operation in Haiti draws to close
Volcanic ash delays wounded troop flights
IRS promoting tax credits in new health care law
Court takes up public employees’ privacy case
Sebelius: Health workers need vaccination too (CNN)
THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO
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