Wednesday federal headlines – May 4, 2016

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

• The Partnership for Public Service has announced 32 federal employees as finalists for this year’s Service to America Medal awards as part of Public Service Recognition Week. The awards are designed to honor federal employees whose accomplishments often go unnoticed. Winners will be announced in September. (Service to America Medal)

• Interest in federal oversight is rising. The Government Accountability Office’s inspector general said subscriptions to its email alerts jumped by more than 300 percent since it was added to GAO’s publication list. The IG said  it fielded nearly 150 hotline complaints in the last six months. (GAO)

• The White House will host a series of workshops this summer covering to artificial intelligence. Administration officials said as this technology develops, so do questions about privacy, security and regulation. The workshops will address these along with the social and economic effects of machine intelligence. (White House)

• The IRS will beef up the long-neglected ranks of enforcement employees. Commissioner John Koskinen told employees the agency will hire as many as 700 new tax enforcement agents. The Wall Street Journal reports, Koskinen said he found the money from employee attrition, retirements, and other efficiencies he didn’t spell out. The new agents will be brought on board within weeks. They’ll concentrate on small businesses and the self-employed. Koskinen said it’s the first significant enforcement hiring in five years. (Wall Street Journal)

• GSA’s 18F branch has unveiled a new contract forecasting tool this week to help companies plan for upcoming opportunities to work with the government. It’s part of Administrator Denise Turner Roth’s “Making it Easier” initiative. It’s an open source tool that allows for keyword search and filtering. It also incorporated a Django application into the tool to help the Office of Small Business Utilization update forecasts throughout the year. (18F)

• The General Services Administration launched a third service to promote innovative technologies. The Technology Transformation Service brings together 18F, the Presidential Innovation Fellows program and the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies. GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth announced the new service, TTS, yesterday. It will help customer agencies identify the best path to take or the best tools to use in implementing technological transformation. Turner Roth named Phaedra Chrousos the service’s first commissioner, and Aaron Snow as its deputy commissioner. (Federal News Radio)

• Veterans Affairs selects a new director for its Center for Women Veterans. Kayla Williams will be the Secretary’s new advisor on Department policies, programs and legislation that affect women Veterans. Williams is a member of the Army Education Advisory Committee, and served five years in the Army as a linguist and operations specialist. The Center was created in 1994 to help coordinate VA programs and services for women veterans and current military members. (Veterans Affairs)

• Industry partners are trying to give the next Defense Health Agency chief information officer a leg up when taking office. Ten industry partners brought together by AFECEA said the DHA CIO should prioritize the transition to electronic health records. The report by AFCEA also states the CIO should understand funding sources, establish guidelines for industry interaction and give top resources to cybersecurity. Dave Bowen, DHA’s former CIO left in December. The position has yet to be filled. (Federal News Radio)

• The Office of Personnel Management is going to 33 cities in 19 states to work with agency hiring managers and HR specialists in the field. It’s part of the agency’s Hiring Excellence campaign. Acting Director Beth Cobert said  OPM wants to help them collaborate and communicate better about the kinds of skills sets needed to fill jobs. The campaign will start this year and go into next. (Federal News Radio)

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