New rule would give agencies more spending power during emergencies

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

• New guidance from the Office of Personnel Management urges agencies to give preference to national security Senior Executive candidates who’ve completed interagency rotations. The guidance is part of OPM’s new philosophy “Performance Management Plus.” OPM also laid out requirements and responsibilities for host and home agencies when handling a rotation, along with expectations for rotating employees. (Chief Human Capital Officers Council)

• The Veterans Affairs Department is no longer using its authority to fire senior executives more quickly. The VA said it made that decision after the Justice Department recently ruled a part of the VA Choice Act controversial. The decision was revealed when the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee asked if the VA was making any after DOJ’s ruling. (Federal News Radio)
• Protecting Personally Identifiable Information is still a sore spot for FEMA. Homeland Security’s Inspector General releases a report saying the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not follow federal guidelines to protect private information during the 2015 California wildfire disaster. The IG said FEMA must create a system to ensure compliance. (Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General)
• The landscape of Defense Department spending is changing, says a new study by Govini. One example is target tracking, which accounts for the largest segment of DoD’s weapons system spending. It declined by 18 percent in 2015. The study attributes the decline to a maturity in existing technology and a shift to modernization efforts. On the other hand, weapons segments like directed energy and hypersonic technologies saw growth in 2015. Hypersonic technologies grew 98 percent in order to combat increased spending by Russia and China in similar technologies. (Govini)

• The Pentagon said its first-ever “bug bounty” helped close almost 140 security holes on its public websites. The “Hack the Pentagon” initiative ran for three weeks in late April and early May. In all, it attracted 1,400 white-hat hackers from 44 states to test the vulnerability of DoD’s public websites. The Pentagon said the problems they found have all been fixed, and the entire project cost about $150,000, compared to the $1 million or more it would have spent to hire a private company to do a vulnerability assessment.  The hackers received bounties depending on the severity of the bugs they found, and how many, ranging from $100 to $15,000. (Federal News Radio)

• Contracting officers may have to explain why they’re not using the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative. The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council proposed a rule requiring officers to show a comparison of purchases made with ones available under the FSSI when it’s not used. The FSSI was enacted in 2014 to help agencies cut down on costs. (Federal Register)

• The FAR council also wants to give agencies more spending authority if there is an emergency. A proposed rule would raise the acquisition threshold for emergency procurment if there is a chemical, biological, or nuclear attack. The limit would increase from $300,000 to $750,000 for inside the U.S., and $1 million to $1.5 million for outside of the country. (Federal Register)

• The FBI and the Treasury Department are testing out a new approach to accelerate how quickly they can adopt digital services. The FBI and Treasury are taking advantage of a pilot program under a joint partnership between GSA’s 18F and the Presidential Innovation Fellows. The Digital Acquisition Accelerator brings together experts to help train agency personnel in buying  digital services in a “do it yourself” model. The pilot includes five phases, such as human centered design and agile methodologies as well as using modern procurement techniques focused on adaptable and reliable delivery models. (General Services Administration)

• As wildfires break out in the dry and hot west and southwest regions, federal officials are organizing against a related threat. That new threat is drones flying over wildfires. When they do, firefighting aircraft cannot operate in the same airspace.  A Utah TV station reports, a drone over a fire in the Dixie National Forest grounded all other aircraft. Interior, U.S. Forest Service and the FAA launch a public awareness campaign to warn drone operators against flying over fires. (Department of Interior)

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