USDA investigating Vt. slaughterhouse
November 6th, 2009 | Agencies Agriculture | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The Agriculture Department shut down a Vermont slaughterhouse following the release of a video of animal abuses allegedly witnessed by a USDA inspector.
In the video, an employee at Bushways Packing Inc. in Grand Isle tries to skin alive a days-old calf in front of an alleged USDA inspector, among other abuses. A Humane Society investigator took the video while employed undercover at the slaughterhouse.
“This government official tells the worker, on hidden camera, that if another USDA inspector saw this, the plant would be shut down, but he allows the abuse to continue,” the Humane Society said in a news release.
Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack called the abuse “deplorable” and “callous.” He said employees are obligated to report noncompliant behavior.
Both USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and inspector general are investigating.
Union faults SSA H1N1 prevention efforts
November 6th, 2009 | Agencies Social Security Administration Unions | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The Social Security Administration isn’t taking swine flu precautions seriously and risks exposing employees and their families to the virus, the American Federation of Government Employees says.
In a Nov. 4 letter to SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue, AFGE Council 220 President Witold Skwierczynski said an SSA negotiator told Council 220 members in October that swine flu “is not a serious communicable disease.”
Skwierczynski also said the negotiator and other SSA managers have threatened employees with disciplinary action should they decline to do face-to-face interviews with people who appear to be ill.
The negotiator said anyone who appears to be sick could be taken to to a private room and an SSA employee could telephone the room to interview the client regarding benefits, Skwierczynski said. The union leader called on SSA to change its policies to meet Health and Human Services Department guidelines for swine flu prevention.
“We regret that Mr. Skwierczynski continues to fabricate reports for media attention on this important public health issue,” said SSA spokesman Mark Hinkle. “Our policies meet or exceed everything Health and Human Services is recommending.”
Industry issues Recovery Act report card: B-
November 5th, 2009 | Agencies Economic Stimulus Procurement | Posted by Elise Castelli
Government averages a B- when it comes to managing Recovery Act spending. At least according to the grades issued today by market research firm INPUT, in its second report card on the Recovery Act.
Here is how government performed, according to the INPUT report card:
Speed of Spending: B+ (Previous Grade: B+)
Reviewer’s Comments: “The federal government has continued to show unusual adeptness in dispensing a tremendous amount of money very quickly…At its current spending pace, the federal government will achieve 87 percent of the goal set by the president of having $350 billion spent by Sept. 30, 2010”
Contracting Effectiveness: B (Previous Grade: C-)
Reviewer’s Comments: “Federal agencies significantly improved in the use of fixed-price contracts and the percentage of contract awards made to small businesses…The federal government has awarded 48 percent of reported contract obligations using fixed-price contracts, a 30 percent increase over INPUT’s initial report card.”
Transparency and Reporting: C- (Previous Grade: D)
Reviewer’s Comments: “Each new report has been late…and the data quality of each new report has been poor upon release. However, overtime the quality and completeness of reports have improved. INPUT expects this will continue to be the case with the new recipient reports…A major area of disappointment continues to be the lack of transparency surrounding grant applications for many of the grant programs funded by the Recovery Act.”
Jobs Created: Incomplete (Previous Grade: Incomplete)
Reviewer’s Comments: “While the efforts to count jobs created or saved is a laudable goal, INPUT believes that accurate reporting of job creation is ultimately unknowable because of the number of recipients reporting, the complexity of the reports and the vagueness in the definition of a saved job.”
Tags: INPUT, Recovery Act
Streaming live: GreenGov meeting
November 5th, 2009 | Agencies | Posted by Tim Kauffman
Federal officials charged with developing sustainability plans to carry out President Barack Obama’s Oct. 5 executive order on greening the government’s operations will be meeting at 3:30 p.m. today in Washington.
During the meeting, members of the Steering Committee on Federal Sustainability will be presented with some of the top suggestions from employees who participated in the White House’s GreenGov Challenge last month. More than 5,300 ideas were submitted during the two-week challenge.
The meeting will be streamed live online. Check back with www.federaltimes.com for a full report on the effort to go green.
Tags: GreenGov Challenge
GAO to report on GSA
November 4th, 2009 | Congress General Services Administration Procurement | Posted by Elise Castelli
The Government Accountability Office will report on the General Services Administration’s management of its supply schedules in the spring,said John Needham, a director of acquisition and sourcing management for the watchdog agency.
The report will look at whether GSA’s reorganization improved management of the Multiple Award Schedules program and the effectiveness of the management tools GSA has in place, he said. Mismanagement of the schedules program led to a series of contracting scandals five years ago. The scandals prompted GAO to add interagency contracts to its High Risk List.
In addition, the report will address concerns raised by the congressionally charted Acquisition Advisory Panel in a 2007 report, Needham said. The panel found that agencies weren’t competing orders placed through established interagency, multiple awards contracts. In addition, the panel raised concerns that there were too many interagency contracts competing with each other and hampering the government’s abilities to get a good price.
Needham spoke at the Coalition for Government Procurement’s fall conference today.
Rep. Lynch knows his video games
November 3rd, 2009 | Agencies Congress Pay & Benefits | Posted by Rebecca Neal
In the video game world, your Web site is ‘Pong.’”
– Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., told Greg Long, executive director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, at a Nov. 3 hearing in reference to the state of the TSP’s Web site, comparing it to one of the first arcade games.
The board is working to make its Web site more user friendly and improve the information available, Long told members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s subcommitee on the federal workforce, postal service and the District of Columbia.
One step closer to OFPP, TSA administrators
November 3rd, 2009 | Congress Homeland Security OMB Procurement Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Elise Castelli
The Office of Management and Budget’s prospective procurement policy chief, Daniel Gordon, will face his first confirmation hurdle one week from today.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will quiz Gordon on his vision for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at 10 a.m. on Nov. 10. Gordon is slated to have his confirmation quiz alongside the president’s choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration, Erroll Southers.
Check in with FedLine and FederalTimes.com that day for complete coverage.
Tags: Daniel Gordon, Erroll Southers, OFPP, TSA
2009 intelligence budget: Almost $50 billion
October 30th, 2009 | Agencies Intelligence | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
How much does the (civilian) government spend on intelligence? $49.8 billion last year, according to Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, who released the 2009 spending figure earlier this morning.
That figure includes only the non-military intelligence budget. Blair said in a conference call earlier this year that the entire intelligence community budget is $75 billion — suggesting that the military intelligence budget, still technically classified, is about $25.2 billion.
Tags: Dennis Blair
Deadline looms to submit green ideas
October 30th, 2009 | Agencies | Posted by Tim Kauffman
Heads up, federal procrastinators: You’ve got until midnight Saturday to submit your suggestions for making the government more environmentally friendly and to vote on those ideas already submitted by your more industrious colleagues.
As we reported earlier, the most popular ideas submitted during the GreenGov Challenge will be presented to agencies, which are right now figuring out how to meet the ambitious environmental goals laid out earlier this month by President Barack Obama.
With a portfolio of more than 500,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles, the government is a prime target for testing ideas to conserve energy, reduce carbon emissions and promote environmental sustainability, Vice President Joe Biden said.
Any idea, big or small, about how to make this government more efficient can make a significant impact on our energy consumption and our energy future.
As an added incentive, Biden recorded a special message encouraging federal employees and military service members to participate. Check it out below, and then submit your own ideas.
Senate confirms surgeon general
October 29th, 2009 | Agencies Congress HHS | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Senators unanimously confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin Thursday as the next U.S. surgeon general.
Benjamin is the founder of the Bayou Le Batre Rural Health Clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., a fishing village, and has served as its chief executive officer since its founding in 1990.
Benjamin has rebuilt the clinic several times, including after Hurricane Georges in 1998 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Atlanta neurosurgeon and CNN correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta was rumored earlier this year to be Obama’s first choice for surgeon general, but Gupta pulled his name from consideration, citing his desire to spend more time on his current work.