Slight COLA for Social Security beneficiaries in 2017

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

• A 0.2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security beneficiaries is expected for 2017. The Social Security Board of Trustees releases its 76th annual report to Congress on the financial status of the Social Security trust funds. It said costs will increase over the next 20 years due to the number of beneficiaries rising faster than the number of workers. (Social Security Administration)

• An embattled Transportation Security Administration executive called it quits. Kelly Hoggan was chief of TSA’s Office of Security Operations when hours long lines developed at airport checkpoints. Last month, after a congressional inquiry discovered Hoggan had received $90,000 in a series performance bonuses, he was removed from his job but reassigned somewhere else in TSA. Now CNN reports, Hoggan has left the agency entirely. An agency spokesman said he left of his own volition. (CNN)

• Most members of the Senior Executive Service are eligible to retire within the next 10 years, but agencies are seeing little interest from those expected to take their place. The Partnership for Public Service said 55 percent of GS-14s and GS-15s expressed interest in joining the SES. The Obama administration hopes to use success stories to help other agencies recruit SES members. (Federal News Radio)

• A final rule published by the General Services Administration requires government contractors to report transactional data for orders placed under certain GSA contract vehicles. It wants details such as descriptions, part numbers, quantities and prices paid for items purchased. GSA said this would help improve competition and increase transparency. (Federal News Radio)

• The Defense Department’s top civilian personnel official is changing jobs. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civilian Personnel Policy Paige Hinkle-Bowles is moving from the Pentagon to the Navy, to take the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Civilian Human Resources. She takes over for Patricia Adams, who recently retired. Hinkle-Bowles’ deputy Julie Banks will be taking over the position until a permanent replacement is found. Hinkle-Bowles exit comes as DoD begins offering phased retirement for civilian workers. (Federal News Radio)

• Another agency is prepping a new contract for agile development services. The Homeland Security Department wants to put in place a new contract to buy technology services in a more agile way. DHS is reviewing comments on its request for information for a new planned procurement vehicle called FLASH— Flexible Agile Support for the Homeland. The department will hold an industry day June 29 in Washington, D.C. to detail more of its plans. FLASH would be an agencywide multiple award contract using concepts from the U.S. Digital Services Playbook such as user-centered design, dev-ops, automated testing and Agile development. (FedBizOpps)

• Efforts by the Health and Human Services’ Medicare Fraud Strike Force resulted in over 300 arrests this year. The Justice Department said the health care fraud schemes amounted to about $900 million in false billings. DOJ said the defendants billed for care that was not necessary or services that were never given. (Department of Justice)

• Congress passed a bill to make it easier for federal agencies to stop fraud. Sponsors said the Fraud Reduction and Data Analytics Bill requires the Office of Management and Budget to create guidelines for agencies to implement in order to prevent, detect and respond to fraudulent spending. The bill now heads to the White House. (Sen. Tom Carper)

• The Navy is trying to send the message that cyber threats aren’t just about traditional IT systems. Like the other military services, it’s increasingly concerned about vulnerabilities on the hardware that manages, for example a base’s power grid. A new order tells all base commanders and other military units that use Navy facilities that they must submit to cyber inspections of their industrial control systems. The inspections will be handled by the Navy Installations Command, which is also in charge of patching any vulnerabilities it finds.

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