Paid leave regulations on the table for federal contractors

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive.

• Paid leave regulations are on the horizon for federal contractors. Labor Department Secretary Thomas Perez, speaking at a roundtable event on paid family and medical leave, said requirements for all federal contractors to have leave policies will likely be enacted by the end of the year. The department is offering a $1 million grant for research on how paid leave programs can be implemented across the country. (Labor Department)

• The Postal Service didn’t save as much money as it thought by cutting hours and staff at some post offices around the country. USPS originally said its Post Office Structure Plan would save about $500 million from 2012 to 2015. But it only saved $337 million. That’s 35 percent less than the original estimate.  The Government Accountability Office said the Postal Service used inaccurate data when it made its estimate. It also didn’t consider how cutting hours might impact retail revenue. (GAO)

• Energy saving measures have proven to be tough for the Air Force. The Defense Department’s inspector general said the branch’s Civil Engineer Center did a poor job managing $849 million worth of energy saving performance contracts. The report also said the center doesn’t even know if any of the 52 contracts met their energy saving goals. This is the second in series of audits on these types of contracts. The IG made nine recommendations including establishing a mechanism to track energy savings and project status. (DoD IG)

• A request for proposals from the Energy Department looks for a new Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The agency is looking to build a Modular Chemical Process Intensification Institute to find ways to increase energy efficiency in some industries manufacturing techniques. Proposals for the $70 million funding opportunity are due by June 15. (Energy Department)

• The Defense Intelligence Agency is putting another piece in place for its part of the Intelligence Community IT Enterprise (ICITE) program. DIA awarded Booz Allen Hamilton a $400 million contract to provide help desk support for the common desktop environment. Booz Allen received a five-year deal where work will be doled out through task orders. Under the ICITE program, DIA and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency are working together to develop and test out the common desktop environment. The entire intelligence community is expected to move to this common desktop by 2018. (DIA)

• With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, one agency is making sure those thanking their moms don’t put the nation’s ecosystem at risk. Customs and Border Protection has several agriculture specialists in El Paso-area ports of entry this week, making sure Mother’s Day flowers don’t include and pests or diseases. CBP recommends anyone looking to import floral arrangements consult their website first. (CBP)

• Attempts to change TRICARE by the House Armed Services Committee may lead to some modest savings in the future. That’s according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It said TRICARE reforms in the House version of the 2017 defense authorization bill could save $7 billion over the next five years. (Federal News Radio)

• The latest draft of a cybersecurity guide from the National Institute of Standards and Technology may help agencies choose the right tools to secure their systems. NIST Special Publication 800-160 looks to show agencies how to assign value to their assets so they can make better cybersecurity decisions. Comments are being accepted on the draft until July 1. (Federal News Radio)

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