Monday Morning Federal Newscast – June 27th

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.

• Homeland Security Department Chief Human Capital Officer Jeff Neal is retiring after 31 years in government. In an e-mail obtained by Federal News Radio, Neal told staff he would not have traded his experience for anything. He joined federal services in 1978 as a GS-5. Neal has been in charge of personnel at Homeland Security since 2009. Earlier he held senior HR roles at the Defense Logistics Agency and the Commerce Department. Neal has been a leader in hiring reform, helping get rid of the knowledge, skills and abilities essays, or KSAs. Vicki Brooks is the DHS deputy CHCO. She will likely replace Neal on an interim basis.
• Federal workers in national security could get an opportunity to rotate through a variety of jobs at different agencies. A new Senate bill seeks to improve the efficiency of national security via job rotation. GovExec reports, the bill would create a Committee on National Security Personnel. It would develop a human capital plan for integrating security activities and people, governmentwide. Jobs open for rotation would include engineering, information technology and cybersecurity, but not administrative jobs. The bill was introduced by Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. A companion bill was introduced in the House.
• Small businesses received almost $98 billion in government contracts in 2010, but agencies still missed the government-wide goal for the fifth year running. The Small Business Administration releases its annual report. It finds agencies awarded 22.7 percent of their contracts to small firms, falling just shy of the 23 percent goal. But, SBA says the percentage was the largest increase in five years. Along with releasing the small business contracting totals for 2010, SBA also issued the agency report cards.
• The General Services Administration is asking for a monthlong extension before it awards a major government-wide small-business IT contract. Federal Computer Week reports, the agency wants to get better prices from companies bidding on its five-year, $10 billion STARS II government-wide acquisition contract. GSA will give small businesses time to adjust the prices they offered in their initial bid proposals. GSA says it intends to make the final awards by the end of July.
• The Los Alamos National Lab is closed for a while. A fast-moving wildfire near there has grown to more than 3,500 acres, covering nearly five and a half miles. The Los Alamos Monitor says that all lab facilities are closed and that nonessential employees should stay away. Emergency crews are standing by to protect key facilities and materials, including the lab’s proton accelerator and supercomputing centers. The website also says that all radioactive and hazardous material is accounted for and safe. The fire started around one o’clock yesterday afternoon about 12 miles southwest of Los Alamos.
• The Obama administration will spy on doctors to see how hard it is to get an appointment. The New York Times reports, the plan is to gather data on whether there is a shortage of primary care physicians. The Health and Human Service department is recruiting a team of mystery shoppers who will pose as patients.
• The Transportation Security Administration is standing by its officers after a 95-year-old woman was asked to remove her adult diaper during an airport security screening. CNN reports it happened at a Northwest Florida Regional Airport. The woman was selected for random screening. That’s when TSA workers felt something suspicious on her leg and couldn’t determine what it was. They asked the woman’s daughter to take her to the bathroom and remove the adult diaper she was wearing. The TSA issued a statement saying their officers handled the situation in a “respectful and sensitive manner” and “according to proper procedure.”
• It’s the kind of play that the fans at Yankee Stadium will be talking about for a while. And it was made in the stands — by Michael Kacer, a veteran who lost his left arm in a rocket attack in Afghanistan a few years ago. The 29-year-old Pennsylvania man was watching the game with his 13-year-old nephew when Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson fouled one back and to the right of the visitor’s dugout. The ball took a big hop and headed toward Kacer, who was sitting in the first row. He reached over the railing and caught it — with his hat. And then, as the crowd cheered, he immediately handed the ball over to his nephew, Isiah — a big Yankees fan who was attending his first game. Video of the grab quickly showed up on the web, and ESPN showed it on SportsCenter. Kacer says all the attention is “like a wild roller coaster ride.” You can see the outstanding snag for yourself on MLB.com.

More news links

Obama meets with Senate leaders on debt limit

AP EXCLUSIVE: Power grid change may disrupt clocks

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