Another federal official pleads guilty in Navy contracting scandal

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

• Paul Simpkins, a former Navy contracting official, became the 11th person to plead guilty in the massive bribery scandal with Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Simpkins admitted to accepting cash, trips and prostitutes in exchange for steering contracts to GDMA from 2006 to 2012. Thirteen other people have been charged in connection with the scheme. (Department of Justice)

• The Army will launch a new training brigade to prepare soldiers if an emergency arrises. Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley said the new train, advise and assist brigades will mostly help U.S. partner troops. They could also quickly train U.S. Army recruits in an emergency scenario. The Army is trying to maintain readiness despite a shrinking force. (Federal News Radio)

• The Air Force is launching a project to assess the military value of each one of its bases. The new study came about because of Congress’ refusal to authorize another round of Base Realignment and Closures, the usual process where an independent commission evaluates the military utility of every installation and decides which ones should be closed. The Air Force said it hasn’t decided what to do with whatever conclusions it comes up with, but DoD has some legal wiggle-room to close bases without congressional permission. In any case, officials said they needed to make the best strategic decisions they could about where to posture their forces even if they’re forced to keep operating more bases than are needed. (Federal News Radio)

• More federal agencies are able to move to the cloud now. The General Services Administration’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program issued its High Baseline Requirements that will allow systems with high-impact data to be handled by approved cloud service providers. Previously, the FedRAMP authorization process was only for low and moderate impact systems. (General Services Administration)

• It was a short stay for the first commissioner of the General Services Administration’s new service. Six weeks after being named the head of the new Technology Transformation Service, Phaedera Chrousos is leaving the General Services Administration. Chrousos said in an email to staff that her last day is July 15 after two years at GSA. David Shive, GSA’s chief information officer, will be acting commissioner of the TTS until a permanent one is hired. Along with Chrousos, Garren Givens, the director of the Presidential Innovation Fellows also announced he’s leaving after two years. There is no word on who will replace Givens. (Federal News Radio)

• The Labor Department said Virginia technology company Innovative Technologies Inc. owes $1.5 million in back pay and benefits to 140 IT workers. Labor said ITI failed to pay overtime and incorrectly classified some technicians and specialists at lower pay levels. ITI was contracted to install audio-visual equipment in government buildings across the country. Labor filed a lawsuit against ITI last year based on the findings of the agency’s Wage and Hour Division. (Department of Labor)

• House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) said he would introduce a new bill to let the Veterans Affairs Department fire senior executives more quickly. He said the measure would overcome the issue the Justice Department recently found unconstitutional in the VA Choice Act, which was the reason VA gave for not using the faster firing authority. (House Veterans Affairs Committee)

• A member of Congress wants to legislate around a court decision forcing federal employees to break the rules. The judge in Rainey vs. the Merit Systems Protection Board set a strange precedent: Employees can be punished if they don’t follow an order break a federal rule or regulation. Now, GovExec reports, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.) added an amendment to an appropriations bill to stop the State Department from how it’s treating contracting officer Tim Rainey. (GovExec)

• NASA extended the Hubble Space Telescope project’s science operations contract with the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy by five years. The contract value will increase by approximately $196.3 million for a total value of $2.03 billion. NASA said Hubble could continue to provide data into the 2020s. (NASA)

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