Wednesday Morning Federal Newscast – May 11th

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Amy Morris discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air.

• The General Services Administration wants to give agencies three new cloud computing options. GSA has issued a request for quotations for e-mail, office automation and electronic records management systems to be provided as online services. Agencies would pay for them on a per-user basis. GSA expects to award a five-year, blanket purchase agreement contract under its SmartBuy and Enterprise Software initiatives. Bids are due June 19th. Under a mandate from the Office of Management and Budget, several agencies have already moved their e-mail systems into cloud services from Microsoft and Google.
• Organizations struggle to reliably measure the success of cloud computing, a new survey finds. The report from The Open Group, finds more than 60 percent of IT professionals say they don’t have a way to measure their return-on-investment on cloud computing. 82 percent say cloud initiatives will have significant impact on business, but only 28 percent say they were prepared for the changes. The Open Group surveyed more than 300 cloud specialists, including government IT professionals.
• The Veterans Affairs Department has quietly awarded a nearly $500 million contract to Dell for 600,000 new computers. NextGov reports neither VA nor Dell made the typical press announcement of such a large deal. Instead, the VA put a notice in the FedBizOpps web site. The award follows a Dell contract from 2007 to lease a quarter million PCs. That deal, valued at $248 million, drew criticism from the VA’s inspector general. The new contract runs for eight years. VA’s first batch of new PCs will consist of 70,000 machines.
• Veterans affairs is looking for vets all over the nation to participate in an ambitious new research project. The Million Veteran Program wants to collect genetic information and data on military exposure, health, and lifestyle. All the information will be put into a single database. The program launched in January and is now expanding to 9 cities nationwide. Researchers at VA and other federal health agencies, want to use the database to study how genetic variations are associated with particular health issues. They’re looking for one million veterans to participate over the next five to seven years.
• A House hearing today examines how the Peace Corps treats volunteers who have been victims of rape and other crimes while serving abroad. The New York Times reports, from 2000 to 2009, an average of 22 Peace Corps women per year reported being the victims of rape or attempted rape. During that time, more than 1,000 Peace Corps volunteers reported sexual assaults. Many volunteers report returning home only to receive callous treatment from the agency. The Peace Corps has promised reforms. Republican Representative Ted Poe of Texas sponsors legislation to force changes in how the Peace Corps treats victims of sexual assault.
• A day after announcing it would train chaplains to perform same-sex marriages, the Navy says it is reversing that policy. The move follows a letter of protest from Capitol Hill sent to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. Sixty three lawmakers urge the Navy to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. The Navy hasn’t actually presided over any same-sex marriages. It was planning to wait until a declaration by the Defense Secretary that gay people could serve openly. Rear Admiral Mark Tidd, chief of Navy chaplains, issued a one-sentence statement that his earlier decision is “suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and interdepartmental coordination.”
• Jack Wheeler’s family is talking. Wheeler was well-known in defense circles and was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He was a top assistant to the secretary of the Air Force from 2005 through 2008. But his family has a lot of questions about his death. Wheeler’s body was found in a Delaware landfill last December. USA Today reports Wheeler’s widow and son say they’ve heard the speculation that Wheeler was killed in a federal plot involving his Pentagon post. But others suggest Wheeler was simply the victim of a robbery gone bad…even though his Rolex watch and West Point ring were not stolen.
• The Federal Bureau of Investigation had 100 percent of its requests to electronically snoop on suspects approved in 2010. The information has been released after a Freedom of Information Act request by arsTechnica. The Justice Department report shows all 1,500 applications to electronically monitor suspected agents, both on US and foreign soil, were approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court last year. Only 2 were not approved in 2009. The two-page report also shows a 13 percent increase in the number of monitoring requests between those two years.
• The nearly $31 million project to replace the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial is well underway. The project, which is scheduled to take a year and a half, will install pilings beneath the pool. The Washington Post reports the 50-foot timbers are being driven into the ground at the rate of about 500 per week. They’ll put in more than 2,100 to shore up the reflecting pool. The bulk of the 80-year old pool has been ripped out. It was not built on pilings. Work on the new pool itself will begin in July.

More news links

House begins work on $553B defense budget

Postal Service reports billions in losses

Senate panel grills Apple, Google on location data

Report: Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner Was FBI Informant (Time)

USS George H.W. Bush Strike Group to Deploy (Navy.mil)

22 quakes hit Italy, but none in Rome despite myth

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on In Depth with Francis Rose:

–Day three of “BRAC Impact: A Federal News Radio and WTOP In-Depth Series.” Eleven new organizations are moving to Aberdeen Proving Grounds. The Commander will tell you how they’re mixing with the personnel that’s already there.

–What traits make a good performance improvement officer at your agency? Two performance experts share their lists.

Join Francis from 3 to 7 pm on 1500 AM or on your computer.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.